Father and son at end of baseball game

father and son leaving fields after final game of day 2011-9-14-00074

I’ve waited for this photo for several weeks. The scene has happened a number of times but usually too cluttered in the background or lacking the touch of a hand on the shoulder. As luck would have it, this was the last father-son duo to leave the fields. They stayed for throwing practice past the [...]

Put down your camera phone and the point & shoot!

sports illustrated derek jeter 3,000 hit photo

I wanted to offer congratulations to the youngster wearing New York Yankees t-shirt and baseball cap, the man wearing a light blue shirt and baseball cap, the man in uniform and the young woman standing in front of him. Congratulations too for the other true baseball fans in John Iacono’s photo of Yankees’ Derek Jeter [...]

Not the expected result

OSU Michigan football Saturday closed barber shop

I’ve spent many a Saturday at Ohio Stadium shooting football as an Associated Press staffer. That ended when I left the company in 2004, during the football season. Missed only one season during that time while I was temporarily assigned to the team installing and training newspapers with the new Leaf picture Desk. The Leaf [...]

Maintaining a high speed – Shutter Speed #6

Middle school track shutter speed determines camera settings

The day was cloudy, cold and windy. My spirits suffered under the poor conditions and I knew shooting track, even middle school age kids, was going to be difficult. I’d already decided to shoot at f4, the widest opening on my Nikon 300mm lens. I wanted to maintain emphasis on the runners without a distracting [...]

High Speed Corners – Shutter Speed #2

High speed shutter stops bike racing action

Finding the spot was easy. I knew that when I laid down on the wet sidewalk I’d have a great low angle to frame a bike racer against the skyline as he made a turn into Uptown Westerville. The low view would place the rider in an exaggerated angle with the city’s small town building [...]

So much to do in so little time

Spring training in 10 minutes

“Your pizza will be ready in 25 minutes.” Just enough time to find a feature. My daily hunt for another photo to add to the My Final Photo collection is the most challenging aspect of my daily life.

It’s all in the eyes

Gymnast prepares for horizontal bar event

An annual assignment for me is the Arnold Sports Festival where as many as 17,000 athletes compete in about 40 sports. This will be my 16th year shooting the weekend having made the transition from processing color film in a utility closet to a staff of six photographers all shooting digital and delivering photos in [...]

Picture Of The Year – 2009

outdoor softball player portrait nikon d300 cls sb-800 strobist

Every year, as I ponder my new year’s resolutions, I always try to find the one photo that best describes how I met last year’s promises. The process keeps me grounded in success and helps me determine realistic goals for the new year for creating better photos. This year’s best photo is of a young [...]

Watch your athlete prepare

Watching your athlete subject prepare

Being a good photographer means more than having technical skills. It means more than understanding light. It means more than understanding composition. It’s easy to learn these things. What is important is arrive early and stay late. Not matter the job, no matter the subject, no matter the need. Get there before everyone else and [...]

Anticipating and staying out of trouble

Anticipating and off the field photos

Shooting indoor hockey is, at best, very difficult. It’s almost impossible with a point and shoot camera although there are a few tips that can help make it easier for you to get good photos.

A psychologist one told me that I needed to quit anticipating. She wanted me to pro-active but not always be looking ahead, to concentrate on the moment and find ways to work through its content.

I appreciated what she was telling me but I told her that would be exceptionally difficult in my line of work. Anticipation is a core technique element for all photographers.