2016 Centennial Conference Swim Champs!

02/19-21/2016 - Gettysburg, PA: It was another amazingly wet weekend in Gettysburg covering the Centennial Conference Swimming Championship. This 3 day marathon is certainly the most physically grueling of my work. But with all its challenges it presents us with some fabulous moments. Unlike the formulaic developments of most of my other land-based sports, swimming rivals most with explosive action & emotion, as well as beautiful candid opportunities on the deck. As long as I'm physically able, I hope to be able to get my knees & elbows low on the deck, fight to keep too much water off the elements, and freeze those drops in time - in wonderfully infinite & unique patterns.

Women's Lax opener

02.18.15 - Gettysburg, PA: It's going to be a weird seasonal transition this week as I move between a snowy Lacrosse & a balmy Swimming Champs, both at Gettysburg. It's weird first because Lacrosse, once the stalwart of my outdoor athletics, has issued three postponements in my first four Lax games due to the prospect of "inclement weather". All already following my Baseball opening day on 2/7. Hopefully, this won't be trend, otherwise I'll need to build a staff of photographers to cover work in an already narrow spring season. And as far as the changing conditions ... weird is interesting right? Credit to Nikon for forging weather-tight gear.

Opening Day Gem

02.07.15 - Marymount U., Barcroft Park, Arlington, VA: Setting a February 7th opening day was a little gutsy here in the mid-atlantic. But the risk paid off with really mild weather (for this time of year), & the second game of the doubleheader was gifted with this sunset over right field. It's good to be outside again.

Haverford Men's Cross Country Finish Big

11.01.14 - Haverford, PA: A great moment yesterday at the Centennial Conference Men's Cross Country championships as Haverford wins the race finishing their top three; Joel Christian, David Roza, & Charlie Marquardt celebrate bringing in the rest of their team. Haverford scored 21 points claiming the team victory, and Junior Marquardt legged out the 17th individual title for the Fords in the conference's history (right, pointing). Here's the full story & photo gallery.

Full moon over Homewood

10/8/14 - Baltimore, MD - It was a beautiful Full Moon tonight over Johns Hopkins. Great light all around for Women's Soccer vs. F&M.

New Year Resolution #1 - 2013 Recap

I've finally made an attempt at one of my first resolutions of the year … to wrap up my best of 2013 before the 2014 Centennial Conference Swim Champs! Ironically, it was this 2013 event that hung me up for so long. I hadn't finished isolating favorites from last years set until this week. But it's always a good learning exercise, and its kind of energized me a bit leading up to this weekends championship marathon. My friend Ryan Murray and I regularly tackle this event, which can be said is really just controlled photo chaos. There's so much going on, so much opportunity & content to cover. It's really nice to have a second set of eyes to help & push me to see new things. Ryan, this best-of set is to you. Cheers! Let's destroy-it this weekend!

Peerless Naval Lunar

9/24/12 - York, PA: For a second, I thought that Navy was waxing where NASA is now waning. Instead it was just a exceptionally unusual scene from what I normally bare witness as I'm hammering away on astroturf. I'm not sure if this was Naval training, or observation, or just a joyride, or even if it's typical. It's certainly not something that I see everyday, and I'm trying to make a point to "capture-it if I like it" ... especially fleeting momentary visual opportunities like this. The shot has been tweaked for affect in Lightroom + about a 15% crop, otherwise the elements of the composition are true ...

Selective Light

It was one of the most beautiful days to be outside this season. The humidity was low, the air was crisp with a cool breeze, it was dry, and it was bright. And there were some georgeous cumulous clouds that dodged & burned my canvas for about 5 hours today. Here's a fun shot that almost seemed to involve a little divine intervention ...

Arm Chair Jockeying

… a moment from a private party this weekend, near the finish of the Kentucky Derby, when the attendants diverted their attention from each other to "I'll Have Another".

Bankers' Hours

I guess it's that time of year ... when the sky opens up unexpectedly and you just have to roll with the punches. But that makes it fun, & my school needed some rain-out stock anyway. Plus, I made it home before dark ... it was a good spring day.

Pic of the Day - Green Men

3/3/12 - Lancaster, PA: It was the second round of the Men's Division III NCAA playoffs, and all came out to cheer-on their Diplomats drop Western Connecticut State 82-72.

Off the Wall ...

01/14/12 - Erie, PA: I had a request from a good friend & colleague to make some maternity images of her, while in Erie covering some sports for her school. Now I usually stray from this type of work, but the stars were in allignment & we went for it. We did a lot of conventional shots & used some researched stock for ideas. This image began as a typical "pregnant woman peaking around the corner of a wall" shot. We did that, than I noticed that cool homemade wall art & the clean walls. So I did a 180° and put a umbrellad strobe behind her & camera left. I got the belly highlight I was going for, and I was pleasantly surprised with the light's reflection off the foreground wall. I've never made an image quite like this, & it may be one of my favorite personal portraits. And I really dig the wall art.

The Unassuming Fan

11/27/11 - Westminster, MD: These kids were really into the game. Really. It's just that their team took a turn for the worse, so they turned to their iPods. Seriously. Fair weather? How dare you. Hardened fans? Yes. And slightly sensitive too, so please refrain from your judgement.

Winter? Yikes.

11/9/11 - Gettysburg Wrestling: I'm kind of bummed that my last football game is this weekend and that I'm covering winter season athletics already. I should be mentally prepared to move indoors, with the October snow & end of Daylight Saving Time, but I'm still a little upside-down about it all.

Pic of the Day

There were lots of great celebration this weekend, this moment topped the chart for expression ... 10/9/2011 - Lancaster, PA: Franklin & Marshall junior defender Alex Grassi (16) erupts after his blast found empty net. The second team goal in 46 seconds and third of the second half left McDaniel's defenders stunned. The Diplomats dug in further with a final score at 87:31, ending with a 4-1 win over the Green Terror at home.

Noodling ...

Summertime is a time for me to regroup, plan, wander, and do some decompression … like digging in the earth. My Father in law is an old share cropper from Missouri, so he felt right at home as we were walking around my garden looking for a little extra something for dinner … when he dove straight into my potato patch and pulled out a new potato. "We call it Noodling for potatoes" … and that just made me smile.

American Ingenuity ...

... or as my neighbor calls it an "Old Hill Billy Trick" used on a water pump off a 1973 Firebird, to protect the flange belt from its hose.

An offensive backing ...

3/30 - Haverford, PA: Haverford's Baseball club calls on their tenth man on the field, a tiny Buddha, for a little offensive support. Here against Penn State-Berks, the belly shinned in their favor sending the Fords on the winning path. They added a go-ahead two run homer in the sixth and four more in the eighth to end up ahead of the Lions 8-3.

Why, you ask?

... Because the 1650m is a really long race - @ F&M Swimming.