Savage Academy Boxing Tournament at EB Fitness

Photographing boxing is a REAL CHALLENGE!!!

The whole purpose of the sport is to inflict damage, while avoiding being hit. So the athletes are constantly bobbing and weaving, moving eratically all over the ring, trying to avoid being hit…which translates into “avoiding being photographed”! Not to mention that the ring is surrounded by ropes that block your view and screw up the autofocus. But the worst part is, the ring is usually poorly lit…forcing you to shoot at obscenely high ISO if you have any hope of freezing the frantic action!!!

It was an honor to be invited by my friends Jason and Erica to come out and photograph a boxing tournament at Erica’s gym last weekend. This was my first time photographing boxing. I have a newfound respect for those who photograph this incredibly challenging sport!!!

* Nikon Z9, Nikkor 24-70 f2.8 Z, Nikkor 70-180 f2.8 Z, Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 Z, ISO 10,000 with Lightroom AI Noise Reduction *

Orangegrove Basketball

My friend Erin called me the other day and invited me to cover a high-school basketball game for her. It was so much fun!

Shooting with the Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 70-200 f2.8 in 3D tracking mode with eye-detect turned on was a dream. I also frequently switched into DX mode, providing an effective focal length of 105-300 f2.8. Settings were ISO 8000, 1/1000sec, f2.8, Auto WB, 10fps, and JPG fine.

The girls of Orangegrove played hard and eked out a thrilling victory in overtime over CE Williams. CONGRATULATIONS to Coach Alex and the girls. And MANY THANKS to Erin for the invitation.

FX Dance Performance at Queen Street Playhouse

It was both a pleasure and a challenge photographing the FX Dance Performance at the Queen Street Playhouse!

Capturing explosive movement in extremely low light conditions is probably the most difficult scanario for any camera to handle. But even with pushing the Z9 to 8,000 and 16,000 ISO, I was very impressed.

Many thanks to Allie for inviting us. She did an amazing job leading and choreographing this talented group of dancers!

Lucky Shots Tennis Tournament

I’ve been the official photographer of the Volvo Car Open for about 15 years in a row! So it was with great sadness that I received the news that the tournament had been cancelled this year due to the Corona Virus outbreak.

Last weekend I decided to get my “tennis photography fix” by bringing a camera to a local tennis tournament that Cami was playing in. The St. Andrews Tennis Center was hosting their Lucky Shots Tennis Tournament, which they do every year around St. Patrick’s Day. Phil, the athletic director, always does a great job with the tournament. Players come from all over the state to compete. I appreciated him letting me come out and photograph it.

CONGRATULATIONS to all the players for coming out, sharing their enthusiasm, and having an amazing time in spite of the current situation in America!

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VCO 2019 – Day 6

Semi-final Saturday at the Volvo Car Open was an absolutely thrilling

In doubles, the team of Anna-Lena GROENEFELD and Alicja ROSOLSKA as well as the team of Irina KHROMACHEVA and Veronika KUDERMETOVA are moving on to the finals. In singles, Caroline Wozniacki was too much for Petra Martic to handle. And Madison Keys was on fire against Monica Puig.

As an added bonus, the Invesco Series brought big name stars to the stage! It was thrilling to photograph legends Mats Wilander, Jim Courier, Andy Roddick, and Lleyton Hewitt as they duked it out on the court…and hammed it up for the crowd!

So the stage is set! Let’s see what happens at the finals?!?

VCO 2019 – Day 5

Day 5 at the Volvo Car Open delivered the drama!

Highlights included Madison Keys finally beating her friend Sloane Stephens for the first time in four attempts. Plus, Petra Martic upset the No. 9 seed, Belinda Bencic, to get to the biggest semi-final of her career. Others moving on to the semis included Caroline Wozniack, who beat a feisty Maria Sakkari, and Gold Medalist Monica Puig, who defeated Amarican Danielle Collins.

Any one of these final four could win the tournament.  Grab a ticket and come on out for some exciting tennis!

VCO 2019 – Day 4

And then there were EIGHT!!! The round of 16 at the Volvo Car Open saw some surprises, and the best players are rising to the top. Here are a few shots from the day’s action. Can’t wait to see who is left standing at the end of the week! 🙂

VCO 2019 – Day 3

We survived “Hump Day” at the Volvo Car Open! The best part was, the sun came out. YAY!!! There was a ton of AMAZING action, both on and off the courts. Here are a few selects from another incredible day of WTA tennis…

VCO 2019 – Family Day

The first day of qualifying at the Volvo Car Open (www.volvocaropen.com) was absolutely EPIC!!! Between Family Day, VIP clinics, all the special player autograph sessions, and the Draw Party, there was so much to see and photograph. It kept me hopping while I hustled to cover everything…including even a little bit of tennis action!  🙂

Colorado

The Pomona-Pitzer Women’s Water Polo team has its sights set on a three-peat for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championship in 2019.

The Sagehens are coming off of a historic season in which they repeated as SCIAC Champions and went a perfect 14-0 in conference play. The Sagehens went 22-11 overall and had impressive regular season wins over the Chinese national team and Brown before falling in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament to UC Irvine.

Many of the experienced players from The Sagehens return from seasons past with a total of eight seniors to lead the team, including star goalie Morgan Stockham. This season, Morgan appeared in 29 games with an 18-8 record and 125 saves.

I had the distinct honor of photographing Morgan at the team’s training center in Claremont, CA. Many thanks to her amazing mother, Sarah, for inviting me on this shoot, and capturing the behind-the-scenes shots as I worked!

Volvo Car Open – Day 7

Well, it was an eventful week! After eight 12-hour days in a row, of constant hustling, shooting, editing, and transmitting images for the tournament, we finally have a NEW Volvo Car Open Champion!!!

Congratulations to the French duo of Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic for taking home the doubles trophy.

And congratulations to American Sloan Stephens for weathering several years of early-round losses before finally going the distance and taking home the 2016 crown…AND a brand new limited-edition Volvo Car!!! 🙂