My 2024 Highlights - What a year!

2024 has been an incredible year for my photography. I continued covering sports for VivaLoudoun and the Loudoun Times weekly newspaper as well as yearbooks for high schools in the northern Virginia area. This keeps me so busy that the joke at my career job is that photography is really my full time job! Hmmm. Sometimes I think there is some truth to that.

There were many highlights throughout the year, but the top two are come from :

I covered the boys and girls Virginia High School League basketball state championship games and the University of Richmond. Shooting in a college arena is wonderful. My photo of the Woodgrove girls celebrating their championship win was the first page highlight for the Loudoun Times. The photo also appeared on the cover page a second time at the beginning of 2025 for the  paper's "Year in Photographs" paper. 

The Loudoun Times entered one of my photos in the Virginia Press Association photography contest and my photo of a winning touchdown catch was awarded first place sports news photo in their non-daily newspaper category!

I was hired to shoot the throwing events at the Atlantic 10 college track and field championships at George Mason University. It was a great experience despite the pouring rain throughout most of the weekend.

I was also hired for a soccer tournament and several individual games with the VA Revolution soccer club in Loudoun County. 

Another Year and a Half Slipped By

Another year and a half slipped by and I haven't posted to this blog. Why? Well, I had great intentions but life gets in the way and before you know it you've forgotten to post. Soon after the previous post, family medical issues kept me busy. That also coincided with getting very busy with sports photography shooting high school yearbook candids as well as covering other games. Then it became out of sight out of mind. My 2025 New Year's resolution is to post more often. (Well, technically, even one post would be "more often", so let's say I'll post regularly.) Expect a few over the next week. Happy New Year.

Where has the year gone?

It has been one full year since my last post! So much for my commitment to post at least once a month. You miss a month. Then two. The next thing you know a year has gone by. 

What a year its been. Soon after my latest post, I decided to go all in on my sports photography. I splurged on a top of the line Canon R3 mirrorless camera. In addition to covering games for VivaLoudoun and our newspaper, the Loudoun Times Mirror, I began shooting yearbook candids for local high school sports. My schedule got out of control at some points but it was great fun. 

Highlights of this year include covering: several D1 college football games as well as NFL and XFL games; Major League Soccer, National Womens Soccer League, and United Soccer League games; as well as all levels of high schools sports up to and including a state championship game. What a great time. Here are a few shots from the Tuscarora Girls soccer team in the Virginia High School League class 4

state championship game.  

 

Is it Fun or is it All Business?

 

My Mother recently asked if I have fun when I’m covering sports events or if it is all business. The question took me by surprise because I never thought about it that way. Yes, I have to take an all business approach to focus on getting an image that captures the essence of the game or a critical play. But part of that business approach is the enjoyment I get from being on the sidelines witnessing the action up close. It is a different perspective than when I’m sitting in the stands as a spectator.

After covering several collegiate and professional sports you get to know different photographers from freelance photographers to major media outlets like Getty Images, USA Today, Washington Post, etc. to name a few. They focus on their business but also take time to enjoy the event and socialize with each other.  For example, after the FC Bayern Munich at DC United soccer match, we were all putting our gear away and having a good time talking and joking around. Then Berni, the FC Bayern mascot walked by the photographers corral. What did we do? Naturally, we all wanted to get selfies with Berni!

So my answer is – It’s a fun business on the sidelines!

High School Playoffs

 

ABC Wide World of Sports used to have a catch phrase – “The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat” that they would say as they showed clips of victorious athletes celebrating interspersed with clips of a skier wiping out on the ski jump and other athletic failures. That phrase captures the range of emotions on display during the high school soccer playoffs in Virginia this year. Tuscarora High School in Leesburg had a successful athletic spring season with five teams making the post season playoffs and two teams making it to the Virginia High School League Class 4 championship game. Along the way, I was able to capture several shots of athletes celebrating when they scored or won while the opponents showed their agony or consoling teamates. 

Memorial Day

 

Happy Birthday Dad. We all miss you. It’s May 30

th, your birthday and the traditional Memorial Day in the U.S., or as my grandparents called it, Decoration Day. Although his birthday was a day to celebrate, it was also a very somber day as the nation honors the service of military members who paid the ultimate price for their service. Dad served but we were fortunate that he did not pay the price unlike so many others through the years. WWII ended before he was able to join the Marines and served for a couple years.

Our family had one veteran who paid the ultimate price – my Great Uncle Lynn Mort. He fought in France during the first world war. He contracted Spanish Flu, which was a pandemic at the time, and passed away from it like so many other military members. He was honored with the naming of the Lynn Mort American Legion Post in Lake Elsinor, California. Today, both Dad and Lynn are memorialized in our hometown with these flags on a pole outside my boyhood home.

Penn State Blue-White Game

It was a great day at Penn State’s Beaver Stadium last Saturday. It was the annual Blue-White football game at the end of the Spring practice sessions. The best part was having a field media pass that enabled me to get some great photos. I’ve covered a couple Penn State football games when they visited the University of Maryland, but this was the first time with access to Beaver Stadium. I am definitely planning to get back there in the Fall to cover a game. 

Penn State football is one of the nation’s top programs with a devoted fan following. Like the other top teams, they have been doing Spring practices to review their new talent and get ready for the fall season, impress potential recruits, and entertain their fans. Penn State delivered on all three areas. Several new players were showcased and around 200 recruits got the Happy Valley experience in front of an estimated 62,000 fans. I can’t wait to cover a real game there this Fall.

A few iPhone shots

 

Not all my photos from the Washington Wizards game were taken with my DSLR. My camera gear was limited to a 70-200L and a 300L lenses. My 45-105L was left at home because it would not be very useful from the distance the photographers in my group were stationed. My iPhone was pressed into service to get a few wide shots of the court, scoreboard, and stands.

Covering an NBA Game

 

Last weekend, I covered the San Antonio Spurs at Washington Wizards basketball game. My first National Basketball Association (NBA) game! Saying it was a different experience than covering college and high school games would be a gross understatement.

I went in with good ideas about how to cover the action. I’ve covered a few D1 college games at George Mason University in addition to numerous high school games. Photographing these games is relatively easy. Your access lets you shoot from behind the baselines or sidelines and move around.  But not at the Wizards game.

My media credentials were for Tier 2 access, which put me in an assigned seat in the media area at the top of the lower bowl of the arena. As the photos below show, the view was looking down rather than my preferred court level location (very limited – Tier 1 only). However, the different angle made it easier to capture some of the action. At court level, player movement can easily block the photographer’s view.

The game was a blast. The score was close the entire game with Spurs pulling out the win 157-153 in double overtime. It was the highest scoring NBA game of the season at that point. An enthusiastic crowd added lots of excitement.

[My recent resolution called for me to post each month. Okay, okay. I missed February! Since February is only 28 days, I counting this post as meeting my resolution! 😊]  

Loudoun Holiday Lights

 

Leesburg is a beautiful town with a vibrant downtown area. Holiday seasons are filled with activities and decorations. The Loudoun County Courthouse in the middle of town always has displays to celebrate holidays from different religions. This season, the courthouse was lit in a beautiful shade of green. Other buildings were also decorated with lights and displays. Enjoy some of the beauty of the season.

2022 Photography Resolutions

Its been nine months since my latest post. The lack of posts to this blog and the level of my sports coverage over 2021, leads me to these resolutions:

1. Post to my blog at least once per month, more if there is something to cover. This should be easy, if I maintain the discipline. 

2. Take less photos but of higher quality. I took over 167,000 shots last year with my Canon 5D Mark IV at more than 100 sporting events. The time covering the games and the post processing time afterward are difficult to manage with a full time career job. My goal is to be more discerning while covering the games to reduce unwanted shots. Also, I hope to take better quality shots so it takes less post processing time. More shots like the one with this post.

3. Cover a game at Beaver Stadium! Okay. Okay. That's more of a goal than a resolution. But I want it down on paper/electrons. The Nittany Lions roster includes local players and I plan to use the opportunity to cover them as a way to achieve this goal. It's a great atmosphere. 

Sports Back in Action

Sports are back in action at Segra Field with the inaugural home opener for the Old Glory DC professional rugby team. Old Glory is one of 12 teams in the Major League Rugby league in the U.S. and Canada. The league is in its fourth year and this is the team’s first season at its new home – Segra Field in Leesburg.

My latest post was a full six months ago a few weeks after the professional soccer season came to an abrupt end at Segra Field due to the COVID pandemic. The fall high school sports season was dead in the water and there was little hope of restarting anytime soon.  Athletes hoping to have a great fall season to impress college coaches and get a precious scholarship offer were out of luck at that point.

Things changed a few months later as sports leagues found ways to get back in action. Professional teams broadcast their games with empty stands, piping in crowd noise to give some appearance of normalcy. College sports leagues did a variety of approaches from out right cancellation of seasons to delayed and shortened seasons. The Virginia High School League decided that they would play abbreviated seasons for all of the sports beginning with the winter season, followed by the fall season and spring season. Fan attendance was extremely limited to start but gradually was allowed to increase as a vaccine was released and to number of vaccinated people increased.

This approach was the best that could be done safely under the conditions at the time. Players had their seasons and their chance to impress scouts. Those chasing school career records were hamstrung by only playing six games instead on 10 or 11.

Professional sports found their way to play through the winter and are in the preseason preparations for the sports playing throughout the summer. Baseball is starting in April, although the Washington Nationals had to cancel their opening day game due to COVID infections among their opponent. Soccer leagues are playing preseason games and starting their season next week. Major League Rugby already started their season.

Multiple vaccines are now on the market to protect against the coronavirus and jurisdictions around the country are loosening restrictions. Hopefully, we will soon see all sports going on as before, or at least some semblance of normalcy.

Some images from the inaugural game at Segra Field.

Soccer Swan Song Sunset at Segra

The Loudoun United Soccer team took on the Pittsburgh Riverhounds at Segra Field near Leesburg a couple Saturdays ago. Both teams had several supporters scattered around the stands keeping social distance for safety from the coronavirus. Fans were treated to spectacular early autumn weather as the early evening sun warmed the east side of the stadium and shade began to envelop the western side. Seemingly without warning, the sunset snuck up on Segra Field. The clouds in the sky captured the warm colors of the setting sun and showered the stadium with golden colors. Unfortunately the beautiful sight turned out to be the swan song for soccer at Segra this season as the team soon found several coronavirus cases in the organization and cancelled their remaining games. (As the Count on Sesame Street would say – This post is brought to you by the letter ‘S’.)