Who ever said Lacrosse isn't physical is WRONG

Just by the first picture of this blog and by the title you can see where this is going to be going. After 3 hours of covering baseball I was at Southern Lehigh's Football Stadium to cover a lacrosse game against Easton. By talking to some of the kids on the team this was going to be a huge game, they also said that Easton isn't known for their skills but they are physical so I was pretty excited and looking forward to the game.

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Above Long pole Brett Ryan looks like he is about to curb stomp a kid.

About 5 minutes into the game I knew that I was in for a treat and that this would be a hard hitting game from beginning to end.

Below middy Greg Parker levels a kid in the open field.

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Easton got out to an early lead with 2 quick goals in the first two minutes and kept going after that.

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Above middy Greg Parker attempts to block a shot on goal.

With the first half coming to an end I got one of the biggest hits I have ever seen in person. middy Dave Stohl was in the open field and got leveled on a break away. I put the shots into a movie, there are five clips of the hit total but it plays it through 3 times. Look in the middle of the shot and you will see the hit.

After getting about 5 txts from friends in the stands asking if I had got the shot I went up and showed them myself and they agreed that the hit would have made ESPN's jacked up list.

Here are a few stock shots from the game.

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Above attack man Jake Metzger out runs an Easton defender.

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Above middy Steve Lick sprints down field with his 4.6 speed lol.

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After I thought that the game was going great for me, I hadn't missed anything big and I had gotten alot of cool shots, I missed a BIG hit from Long Pole Brett Ryan. I let go of the shutter 1 or 2 frames to soon. Sorry Brett....

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And that wraps up a big hitting lacrosse game for me.

High School Baseball.......91mph???

Last Friday I had to shoot two sporting events, Baseball and Lacrosse. The first game was at 4:00 so i got there at around 3:30 to get set up and get some good spots to get some unique shots. Being that it was the first really nice day of the year I was really excited to be out side and having a good time doing what I love to do.

This shot is one of my all time favorite image in my archive. I was sitting on the third base line about 30 to 40 feet away from the dugout and the sun was facing straight into the dugout. I notice that a coach had his face just outside and into the light so I under exposed the image by a couple stops just so have the light on his face and shoulder showing. Idk maybe it's not that great but I like it lol.

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Sitting on the first base line i was hoping to get some good batter shots but the sun wasn't cooperating so what ended up happening was just getting some good shot of home plate. On a past ball a runner tried to steal home and was tug out by the catcher in plenty of time.

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After a couple innings of not much action the pitcher for the other team came and talked to me. Being a former classmate of mine we talked for a minute or too and he said that there was a scout in the stands with a radar gun and that he was hitting 90-91 Mph. Now idc what level that is that is still pretty impressive. Being 18 years old I would say that he has a pretty good chance of going somewhere.

Here are the rest of the shots of the game. Sorry for the short blog I am 2 behind and its like 11:30 anyway.

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Portraits.......Day 2

Today was my second day in a row shooting portraits. My good buddy Trevor and I set out to a couple places that I had been scouting at around 1. The first place we went to was right behind my house in a nice woody area that would provide a nice place for some pictures.

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After about 30 or 45 minutes Trevor and I decided to go to another place, a place that not many people know about. My Dad showed me this place when I was real little. He was a Police Officer for 15 years in Upper Saucon Township so he knows the area like the back of his hand. Anyway he showed me the biggest tree in Lehigh County. In all honesty it would take about 4 guys arm to arm to wrap around the tree.

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After we got done shooting at the massive tree we went to this old shack that is right next to a road. I'm not really sure what it was used for but it looks really rugged and good for pictures.

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Then we went back to my house and got some studio lighting going and had a little fun with his guitar and my poker table.

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After we were finally done Trevor did something dumb and got arrested. JK

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That ends my second day of shooting portraits. Thanks Trevor.

Portraits..........Day 1

The blog that I am writing to you now is going to be 1 of 3 days of getting away from shooting sports. April 4th, 5th, and 7th I have portrait shoots. The first day will just be a practice day with my lovely girlfriend and maybe her brother or sister who knows they might want to get a picture or two.

This might be my second time ever doing portraits so what i have been doing alot lately is reading the blog of legendary photographer, Joe McNally. I also have been doing research on how to use multiple flashes to create a mood for the picture. My girl friend and I spent a good 3 hours in her basement so that I could get the hang out it before the actual shoot that matters which is tomorrow.

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Because I am poor (jk) I cant afford pocket wizards, so I used the fake Chinese triggers or aka (omg I hope to god they fire triggers). On more than one occasion they didn't fire and Amanda had a great pose and the shot was ruined. For the most part they worked great and I should stop complaing because without her Father I wouldn't have access to half of this gear.

I really like this shot un cropped because it gives the shot feel. Doing what I do I get really excited when I look at a shot off the screen of my camera and I stare at it for like 30 seconds and automatically that is my favorite shot from the shoot not matter what else i get the rest of the time.

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People say that guys do better with real hard light......idk if I agree. The light in the above picture is really hard on the left side of her face (my left not hers) and I love the picture, once again the light gives the picture feel.

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Photo by: Alan Sunners

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Thanks again Amanda and Alan Sunners

Baseball on a nice day and a bad day

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Today I went to Limeport stadium to shoot the baseball game of Southern Lehigh vs. Pen Argyl. I was planning on getting there early but some how that never works out. I was running about 45 minutes behind and by the time I got there everyone was done with batting practice and the game was about to start. This gave me no time to set up and get my stuff dialed in. I started out on the first base line and got the above shoot of the winning pitcher Gary McCool as he throws one of the last pitches of the inning.



SL started out kinda slow but Rocco DelPriore managed to get on base. He also managed to almost get picked off.......twice.






















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SL only had a 1 nothing lead into the 5th inning and I wasn't really getting anything great from where I was set up so I decided to move to the third base line to see if I could produce anything better. Below coach Greenwald gives the players in the field signals.

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The weather and light were staying pretty consistent so I thought that I could keep shooting the rest of the game with this set up because it was working out pretty well for me. You know, I shouldn't say stuff like that even if it's to my self because as soon as I do everything goes wrong. A Pen Argyl runner steals second with the throw from the plate just a tad late.

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Normally I do every thing I can before I bump the iso above 1000, 1. because I HATE noise 2. because it looks unnatural. But because i made a comment on the weather being so nice I would end up having to do this and have pictures look like crap because they are noisy.

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For the next picture I really wanted to get the coaches sun glasses the only thing that was lit in the frame so I under exposed the picture by a few stops and this is what I got, nothing use full.

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Right after I got this shot I noticed a pair of sun glasses just sitting on top of the dugout and form where I was sitting looked like it had potential to be a pretty cool photo.

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To me it was worth the 15 minutes of waiting for there to be nothing in my way to get the shot. In the bottom of the 5th inning SL finally opened it up and had a break out inning.

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Right fielder Kyle Behemlander slides into home base and the catcher clearly has him dead to rights but he was called safe. A couple of my friends sitting behind the dugout yelled and to me and asked if I got it, I said yes. Then they go was he safe, I walked over and showed them the picture and they agreed that it was a bad call.

Team mates yell from the dugout to the batter to try and get on base. The final score from the game was SL 10 Pa 1

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New Sigma 120-400 and a Lacrosse game

Today was my first time using my brand new, right out of the box Sigma 120-400mm lense. I have to say that I may be in love with it. The week before the game when it was on it's way I was really looking forward to using it on a sport such as lacrosse because it's a fast sport on a big field.

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Team mates Steve Lick and Nicky Daniels pose for a picture during warm ups. I got there way early to get a feel for the new lense and try to see what works with it and what doesn't. After about 45 minutes of me talking to friends the game started and my settings were still not dialed in. After I got to work it didn't take to long because it was a very nice day out and there was really really good light on the field.

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I really like these two shots because he is doing the "Jeter" lacrosse style, there isn't much difference.

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After a very busy first quarter from the Spartans the second quarter started out fast. Greg Parker #16 sprinting down the field and turns a defender around as he flys past.

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Whats funny to me is I got a great shot of him but I also got one that might make him a little mad that i put this up here. There was a ground ball around mid-field and Greg was going to get but didn't know that there was a kid behind him and he got trampled.

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I'll be hearing about that one for awhile in school but I still think its funny. At half time Greg's girl friend and a couple other of my friends were treated to some humus and pita, now this was my first time eating humus and I have to say it wasn't bad.

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Then once the game was over my friend Trevor thought he could throw a football better than Rachel.........sorry bro didn't happen.

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