Need a Light?

Once again, those October late afternoon/early evening sporting events do wonders for my photography. The light is low in the sky, nice and golden and not too contrasty.

I first drove to the Gonzaga College High School campus in downtown DC looking for a soccer game. What I found was a gang of football players practicing in purple (obviously). I then find out (from DCSportsFan) that Gonzaga plays their "home" games at an auxiliary field of RFK Stadium. I arrived at 4:20pm (insert weed joke here) only to find out that it was halftime and that the game had started at 3:30pm. Luckily, the better team was coming right into the light. Shout out to my BlackBerry for getting me directions to the game on the fly.

Fanatic

Once again, I know, too many days between posts. Once again, I attribute the lack of Untitled activity to being preoccupied with stacking money to the ceiling (aka just been busy). Last Thursday, I photographed a game between DeMatha and Good Counsel which just so happened to be nationally televised on ESPN2 which in turn brought out a few of the local sports celebrities (Kevin Blackistone, Dave Feldman, Mike Wise, Ralph Friedgen...yes very local).

DeMatha and Good Counsel are two of the best teams in the DC area and have sustained a significant rivalry over the years. So much so that over 4,000 people sold out the stadium days before the matchup. A few of those thousand were goofy teenage fans. The final score was 42-21 in Good Counsel's favor. At one point, Good Counsel was up 28-0 thanks to three rushing touchdowns by one Caleb Porzel (2) who runs the 40-yard-dash in 1.6 seconds (well it seemed like it). Shout out to to leaving at the beginning of the 4th quarter just to beat the traffic.

What's with the black?

By judging the content of some of my sports posts, you might think I'm partial to this school they call Gonzaga College High School. Truth be told, they play pretty close to my apartment. The games I decide to shoot are determined by proximity and not by importance of match up, as one may think. Last week this game between two of the best high school soccer teams in the region (DeMatha and Gonzaga) was played at Trinity University here in Washington DC. The usually purple Gonzaga Eagles decided to go black a la the Georgia Bulldogs (you see where it got them). But instead of incurring the same fate as the Bulldogs, the Gonzaga Eagles did one better by finishing with a 2-2 tie.

Luckily for them (because I captured the game in such magnificence) the location was right in my wheelhouse. In case you're a big high school soccer fan, details of the actual contest were provided by the good folks at DCSportsFan.com.

Golden

Allegedly, photographers and filmmakers alike adore the "golden hour"; the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset. I'm not sure there is a universal admiration amongst visual artists (hence the word allegedly) but I'm a fan. There is nothing particularly great about these shots...I just like the light.

Road Trip

It's Friday again, and usually on Friday's, Untitled's lone contributor is shooting a football game in the near future. Last Friday I spent all day with the Coolidge Colts on a road trip to old West Virginny where they played (and lost) a game to the Bridgeport Indians of Bridgeport High School in, you guessed it, Bridgeport, West Virginny.

This is the third consecutive year that I've gone on an out of state road trip with the team and each time has been pretty interesting. Once again we were driven through the interstate highways of America by an old man with a scraggly gray beard and a dingy white cap who also closely resembles "Grady" from Sanford and Son.

Coolidge lost and luckily for them, it was too dark for me to record any game evidence. I liked the fluorescent lights of the locker room anyway.

Quakers & Saints

Driving up and down Wisconsin Ave. here in Washington DC, I occasionally pass Sidwell Friends School. The only thing I know about the school is that it was once the academic playground of one Chelsea Clinton. After stepping on the campus last weekend to shoot a football game between Sidwell Friends and the St. James School I learned a few more things: a) it's not an all girls' school b) I attended the last football game to be played on that particular field c) Sidwell Friends football runs a Peyton Manning style hurry-up offense, the likes of which I've never seen in high school.

Besides all that other stuff, I got a lot of good photos from that game. I can comfortably attribute those good photos to abnormal amount of passing that went on during that game...and my uncanny ability to shoot sports of course.

The Adventures of Good Hood

I've featured Deuce, Sabrey or both on Untitled in the past. And if you're one of six of my faithful readers, you would know that when their powers combine, they make up Good Hood (the soon to be famous hip-hop music duo). Last week I was privileged to join the two, along with Queen and Jordan for a performance during the Baltimore Music Conference at The Black Hole.

First of all, Deuce tells me that the performance is in Baltimore. Cool, no problem, I've been to Baltimore before...multiple times. But the show is actually in Dundalk, which is a little further east of Baltimore. I've never been to Dundalk; therefore, I have no problem with Dundalk. But here go Deuce and Sabrey with the stories of performing in small towns that begin with, "Remember that time...". The Black Hole, known for its rock and roll, was a solid venue. There was an actual stage equipped with lights and sound people (to be PC) and the french fries were pretty good. The only thing that worried me were the biker dudes with grey-ing pony tails sitting at the video poker machines. I don't know if anyone told them it was hip hop night.


Jordy and Sabrey trying to correct the wackness playing on the jukebox.