Playmakers III

DHPH quarterback, Chris Sandoval.

Some times less really IS more.

Trying to come up with a dramatic portrait for the sport of football is something that many other photographers have been very successful at, I on the other hand have struggled.

I had been looking for ideas in every place I could think of prior to my heading out to Dolores Huera Preparatory High School to photograph Scorpion quarterback, Chris Sandoval. And honestly, I had no idea what I was going to do other than drag the kid out into the nearby prairie.

(I mean, heck, he is a Scorpion right?)

There was nothing too exciting about the day, it was warm and sunny and their wasn't a cloud in the sky. So the whole dramatic cloud-filled sky photo wasn't going to work and when I looked to the west all I could see was that incredibly bright sun!

I figured maybe I'd just use what I was being given. There was no way I was going to get any kind of image of this kid with him looking into the sun unless I wanted a photo of him with his eyes closed, which I didn't.

I thought of what it might look like if I had him with his back to the sun and stood in silhouette. With him being six foot-plus tall, he made for a powerful looking silhouette. Then I figured I would want to see his face so I would have to do some lighting. The sun was so bright that I had to use my flash at full power. At first I tried to use two flashes, but that was too much light on the body of my subject so I went to one strobe and moved it a little closer to him. I really make use of the fact that you can zoom the strobe in and out. In this case I zoom it to the max which is 135mm (or maybe 105mm) to get as much light on the subject in a small area.

Quarterback and a flash.

When you shoot a photo like this and you don't have anyone assisting you, the key is to stand in your subject's shadow. Otherwise there is going to be all sorts of lens flare and the image just won't work. I am glad that Chris is so tall because it allowed me to step back and stand in the very top of his shadow when I took this photo.

I use Pocket Wizard radio remotes to trigger the SB-800 strobes that I use to light my subjects, this allows me to stand a ways away and use longer lenses. I used a 70-200mm lens to shoot this photo. It is one of my favorite lenses and I would say that I use it more than 50% of the time.

I used the cloning tool in Photoshop to remove the barb wire fencing that was behind my subject. I wouldn't normally do this, but the Playmakers are stylized images and to get the looks that I go for in these portraits, I do some altering in Photoshop. I don't do this kind of thing in my regular daily news and sports photos. They are all straight up un-retouched other than the things that you could do in an enlarger such as toning and cropping.

The entire time I spent on this set up, photo, and tear down was about 30 minutes. Now I will spend hours trying to figure out what I will do for next year's football portrait, and after all that, I may scrap the plan and just wing it in the hopes of doing the player justice. 

Playmakers II

Mitch Klomp and Mattie Jesmain

One of the most difficult sports to photograph in my mind is running. I don't say this because I dislike the sport, I don't. It is just that there is very little photographic variety in the sport of running other than the lighting, backgrounds, and locations for the subjects.

I mean, how different is running from year to year or season to season? I consider it a challenge to make an image of cross country athletes that is unique. This year I thought I'd put both the boy and the girl runner into a single image. That, in and of itself was different.

Then I wanted to find a suitable background for the photo. I chose the sailboard beach at Lake Pueblo State Park. If you follow the Playmakers from year to year you may have already noticed that this is one of my favorite places to shoot these portraits. I have used Liberty Point above the park several times. For me the view from there just never gets old!

Mattie from Pueblo West High School and Mitch from Pueblo South High School were really good sports for this shoot. The sun was setting fast and it was getting a bit chilly so I had to be pretty quick to set up and get the photo I wanted.

I found a place on the beach that had the background that I wanted and I set my lights up. There are two lights for this image. One on either side. They are flashes mounted on lightstands and pointed directly at the runner. This made for some nice separation from the background and the light that was spilling over from each flash did a nice job of lighting the back of the opposing runner.

Casualties of this photo shoot.

The only problem with the section of beach that I chose was that it was only about three strides wide. After that you were in a bunch of mud. And to be honest, there was another problem and that was to be in the location that I needed to be in to make the photo, I had to stand in that mud.

I don't know what is in that mud, but it sure did a number on my shoes! The paper was kind enough to replace my shoes since they were pretty much un-wearable after that.

The runners measured their steps and after one stride would do what I call a leap-stride. I wanted the part of their stride where both of their feet were off of the ground. That really isn't that tough to do if you are just shooting one runner, but when you are trying to get two runners to do that at the same time, it becomes all about the timing.

The sun was setting and the light was going away fast so we were working pretty quick and Mattie and Mitch were very patient with me. I would have them do it a couple of times, then I'd make an adjustment and they would do it a few more times, and the cycle would repeat until I figured that we had lost the light necessary for the sky and background.

Both of these kids are skilled athletes and were able to do what I asked them which allowed me to not have to worry about them, but mostly about me and my shoes. Ha!

There are always things that you might do differently or something you'd wish you had thought of when you do a photo like this, and this situation was no different.

Next time I think I would try to do a better job of scouting my location so as to not lose another pair of shoes.

The day I shot two priests and got away with it.

Msgr Delaney

When I first started working as a photojournalist, I looked down upon portrait photographers. I never want to be one of "them". That kind of photography was just beneath me. Now after years and years of making images for a daily newspaper I have come to the conclusion that I AM a portrait photographer. who knew?

The majority of the photo assignments that I get when I am at work are of the portrait variety. So I have come to the conclusion that instead of trying to avoid doing portraits, I may as well admit that I actually enjoy doing "that" kind of photography.
This past Wednesday I had the opportunity to photography two priests. Each of them continue to say mass in the Pueblo area. One of them is in his 80s and the other is a centenarian. I wanted to photograph them in a way that lent itself to their calling, faith and longevity.

Monsignor, Delaney was the first of the two that I photographed. He is 100 years old and still very much "with it". When I arrived Chieftain reporter Loretta Sword was just meeting him in the office he shares at the parish. I was introduced to him and was asked where I'd like to photograph Msgr. Delaney, I asked if we might be able to use the church's sanctuary. So we moved into the church. I took a look around and the magnificent sanctuary and decided while I liked the stained glass windows in the rear of the room, I liked the faux painted wall and the virgin Mary that were on the stage area behind the pulpit.

Beauty dish

I put one speedlight flash on a light stand to my left and pointed it in Msgr. Delaney's direction. I and used a "beauty dish" to soften the light giving him a very natural look. The beauty dish as a diffuser that can be stretched over the entire front of the dish which I also used to soften the light even more for this photo. The soft light spilled past him and lit the likeness of the virgin Mary that was behind him. I played with this for a while working to get enough light on both my subject AND the background.

I didn't want to allow too much of the ambient light into the photo because it had a green cast to it that I wanted to avoid. To do this I wanted to make sure that there is enough light coming from the strobe to completely light my background. The tones in the photo were all on the brownish-red part of the spectrum and I think that worked here especially because of his skin tone and the clothes that the subject was wearing.

To get everything to kind of work for this image I shot it from a low angle to get the background likeness where I wanted it to be in relation to the subject. I really like to incorporate my subjects' hands into my portraits so using the cane for his hands was a no-brainer. I just asked if he'd put his hands on it and I didn't do any other instructions in that area. What he did just look so natural that I was good with what he was doing. I made a few test images to get the light settings right, then made about a doze or so photos while moving a bit and having him look at me. Then it was just time to tear down my little set-up and get outta there while the reporter continued to talk to him.

A little later that same day I went to St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral. I was there to photograph Msgr. Racki who had just finished saying a noon mass. He asked if it was okay to wear the robes or should he go change? I figured that the robes would work great so I told him to keep them on and I began to get the light and beauty dish set up for this portrait that would be a full length image.

Msgr Racki

I looked around and noticed that there was some sunlight spilling into the sanctuary through a window right where I was going to shoot this priest. So I positioned him in that sunlight and placed the light  with the beauty dish to the subject's left. I made a couple of adjustments to allow for some ambient light to be used to light the background.

I also shot this one from a low angle. I did this because first of all, that he was a bit on the short side and that I wanted to give him some  decent space  in the image. I also wanted to frame him in the center of the arch but not have anything seem to be growing out of his head while he stood there.

It turned out to be pretty simple really. There are always little things that I might change to improve the photo if I were to do it over, but all in all this one seems to have worked out. I have come to really enjoy using a beauty dish. Maybe one day I will get the hang of it. Til then I will just have to make due with the knowledge I am gaining each time I use it.

Playmakers part I

Centennial High School soccer player, Ian Parker, leaping at Liberty Point.

There are stories behind most of the images that I make for The Chieftain some of them are even worth telling.  Here is one of them.

When I begin planning for the "Playmaker" series I do some research on the internet. I look for photos that others have made of the sports of the season. I google the sport and then look at as many photos as I can to get ideas. I may use the entire idea or just a part of it in my photo.

I found an idea for a soccer photo where the soccer player was stopping the ball with his chest. I thought I might get this to work but I added one of my favorite backgrounds, Liberty Point. Liberty Point is a high bluff that overlooks Lake Pueblo and Lake Pueblo State Park. There are some pretty amazing background possibilities there at dusk so I thought we'd give it a go.

Centennial High School senior, Ian Parker, was the athlete selected. I got in touch with him asked him to bring his varsity uniform, a ball and a buddy to toss the ball. Ian went one better, he brought to buddies, one to throw the ball and one to shag the throws that may get away from Ian.

Ian Paker stands on a rock near the edge of Liberty Point.

 As it turned out having the second helper was both a good and a not-so-good thing.
Ian was leaping into the air from a flat rock (in photo above) that was about 6 or 7 feet away from the edge of the bluff/cliff that dropped a couple hundred feet or so.

The ball got away from Ian a couple of times. The first time his buddy moved toward the ball was unable to get to it before it dropped the entire distance to the bottom. Of course when it stopped, it came to rest in a cactus. So Ian's friend and soccer teammate, headed down, what could loosely be referred to as stairs, down to the ball.

After the run-in with the cactus, the ball was starting to go flat (it was the only ball that Ian brought). So we rushed to get some more photos before the ball went totally flat.

Then it happened again. The ball was heading for the edge of the bluff when Ian's buddy went into over drive. He dove head first after the ball on the shale-covered ground to get the ball. He slid across the ground and the sharp-edged stones grabbing the ball and stopping inches away from going over the edge.

He had saved the ball but nearly lost himself. His buddies got a great laugh out of his efforts, but he climbed back up from the edge with the ball and new bleeding wound for his efforts. I told him that I didn't want him doing that again.

A ball could be replaced, but he couldn't.

The best play rehearsal assignment ever!

Actors rehearse a scene from 'It's a Wonderful Life'.

One of the many duties that constantly falls on  my shift is to do the photographs of play rehearsals for all of the local companies prior to the performance of their productions. I typically show up at the theaters where rehearsals are being held and shoot a photo of a scene in progress. I find that this makes far better photos than trying to pose the actors in an artificial scene.

  Recently I was given another assignment to shoot a play rehearsal. The address, however, was on 36th Lane. Now if you know Pueblo at all you know that this is in the rural part of the county. I figured that I would be going to someone's home and trying to get some sort of photo of a rehearsal in a living room or something. I was thinking that since it was an overcast day that I may just bring the actors outdoors and shoot the photo maybe in the front yard or something.

  There was something much better in store however.

  When I arrived at the address it was a farm. The house was near the front of the property with barns and out buildings in the back. I grabbed my gear and headed toward the house. I was met by a fella who was dressed for farm work who told me that the subjects of my assignment were waiting for me in the quonset hut/barn that was straight back from where I had parked.

  A few steps toward that building and I was met by first one of the three actors and then the other two stepped up to welcome me. "We are right over here." I was told and after coming around the corner what I saw can be best illustrated with a photo...

Rehearsing 'It's a Wonderful Life' in a barn!

As I am originally from Iowa I think it is very cool to have a play rehearsal going on right next to one of those HUGE International Harvester tractors! I almost didn't take this photo, but when I thought about it I asked them to pose one more time so that I could get this image. While Lifestyle editor, Scott Smith liked the barn photo, the writer wanted to use the photo you see at the top of this post. Oh well, at least YOU get to see it here.

Thank you Photo 101 students!

I want to thank everyone who took part in the Photo 101 class Saturday. It was great to spend time with a group of folks who are as interested in photography as I am and willing to engage in conversation to that end! I can't wait to do it again!

Stay tuned and I will let you know when we might get the chance to do another one. (I am thinking late spring might work.)

Til then please keep in touch and let me know the kinds of topics you might like me to cover.

Welcome!  I'd say that it is time that I got this blog rolling again. I have been far too lax about blogging in the last couple of years. I am hoping to post a minimum of once a month here to share images, ideas, and other stuff that just plain needs to get out of my head!

Saturday will be the first "Photo 101" workshop held at The Chieftain. I am really looking forward to making some new friends and doing my best to share what I know. (Whatever that is! Ha!)

So beginning with this post I want to make myself available to answer any photo questions you might have. Just post them here and I will do my best to get you an easy to understand answer.

God used a photo to change me

I can't believe that is has been almost a year since I last posted on this blog. For those of you who have taken the time to read my ramblings I apologize for my absence. Much has changed in the past 12 months. I won't bore you with the details, but I do want to share this story with you.























Last November I was out looking for a feature photo that would be used on one of our newspaper's section fronts. It was a fairly mild fall day. The sun was shining and I was driving around town looking for something of interest.

I had no idea that what I was about to find was going to be much more than just a subject of a photograph.

I was driving past the local low-income housing project when I spotted two kids playing in the leaves. I drove around the block and came back to where I had spotted them. They were moving the leaves with a rake and a snow shovel. They were dressed in t-shirts and jeans. I saw their mother sitting in a chair nearby keeping an eye on the youngsters. I approached her, identified myself and asked her if it would be okay for me photograph her children for the newspaper. She said it would be fine and then I told the kids (as I tell all children who see me taking their pictures) to just ignore me and go back to playing like they were before I got there. Kids are pretty good at that adults on the other hand, not so much.

I moved off to one side and used a telephoto lens (300mm) to photograph them playing. It wasn't a cold day, but it wasn't warm either. The two, brother and sister, didn't seem to mind. It was then that I noticed that they were running around outdoors in their socks. I had seen this kind of thing before and really never paid much attention to it. It was little more than a footnote this time as well.

I thanked the mother, waved goodbye to the kids and left. The photo didn't run the next day. It was published the day after that. When I saw the paper, the fact that the kids were in just socks really hit me. I knew that I needed to go back to see that family. I made a couple of 4x6 prints of the photos. The photo of the little boy was the one that got in the paper so I made sure to take one of his sister for the family as well. I grabbed a few extra copies of the paper and headed to the projects.

I went to the door of the family's apartment. The mother answered the door. I presented her with the papers and the photos. Then God took over. I said that I had noticed that her children were not wearing shoes when I had been there before. I asked her if I could buy her children shoes. I had never done anything like this before and I had photographed many people who were in greater need than these folks. I believe that God was talking to me. He may have been talking to me before, but now I was listening. The mom told me that they had shoes, but what they needed was pants, shirts, and a winter coat for a toddler that I didn't even know she had. I told her I would get the clothes if she'd let me buy them shoes too. She smiled and said "Sure."

I got all the necessary sizes and told the mom that I'd be back some time in the next couple of days. I headed directly to Payless Shoes. I bought two pair of shoes along with a dozen pairs of socks and never had more fun buying shoes in my life! Then I headed to the ARC to see what was available in second-hand clothes for these kids. I found several pairs of pants, shirts, and even the winter coat that the family was in need of. I could swear that I was walking on air.

All in all it took me about an hour to get the items that the family needed. I returned to the apartment. When mom answered the door I held out my hand holding a large bag of clothes and shoes. She took it, smiled and said "Thank you." It was at that point that I said something I had never heard myself say before. "Don't thank me, thank God." "This came from him, not me." It wasn't something that I had planned to say, it was just what came out. I knew at that moment that what I had been experiencing was the Holy Spirit working through me.

In that one afternoon I felt like I was able to accomplish more than the entire 21 years I had spent working as a photographer at the newspaper. I can tell you that if you asked me now if I would trade my entire career for that kind of an experience, I would tell you that I would in a heartbeat! I doubt I would have said that a year ago.

While walking back to my truck I realized that there was more work like this to be done and that there was no way I could bankroll it. So I prayed and thought about it. In the meantime God was working. I had done a freelance job some months before and if your image is selected for the cover there is a bonus fee that is paid to the photographer. I discovered my photo was selected for the cover. when I received the payment I went to work to use it to help more children in the projects.

God led me to design bracelets. They are like the ones that Lance Armstrong uses in his "Livestrong" campaign to battle cancer. The ones I designed say "I Believe" and John 3:16 on them and are red in color. I purchased 500 of them at .50/ea and have been selling them for $2/ea. The proceeds all going to help additional families in need.

I have named the venture "Mission Possible". I have gotten a good deal of support from the church I attend, The First Church of God. I have also found that many folks are willing to give a couple of dollars to help make a difference in the lives of local kids. The money pays for basic clothing needs for children in the one housing project, nothing else.

I found an amazing woman who works at the Boys & Girls club in the neighborhood who helps us. She identifies need, contacts the family to see if they are interested and then she passes the information along to me. We are on our way to helping the fourth family and hoping to assist many more.


That one afternoon completely and totally changed my life. God moved in me and I will never be the same. I now know that I was put here to serve Him and those in need. I feel so used! And I absolutely love it!

This photograph was worth much more than 1,000 words.

Hobie for Canoe & Kayak Magazine

In November Canoe & Kayak Magazine assigned me to shoot a portrait of Ken "Hobie" Hoeve at his home in Gypsum, Colorado. Hoeve is the brand manager for Dagger Kayaks and also the weather man at the local television station in Avon, Colorado.

Hoeve is great to work with as he is very media savvy and willing to take direction during a photo shoot. When I arrived he was under the weather and yet willing to do whatever it took to get the photos that I needed for the assignment.

I made use of two SB-800s on lightstands with snoots for this assignment. I also used pocket wizards to trigger them from my Nikon D2Xs. The strobes worked like a charm and I was able to make some nice images of my subject without having to carry bulky studio strobes to the assignment.

Ken was gracious enough to loan me a small step ladder to make the photos since he is over 6ft tall and I on the other hand am vertically challenged. He also had a large number of kayaks at his home that we used to add color to the portrait on a gray fall day.

I would like to thank Ken's wife Brandy for the photo below which gives you an idea of what the set up was like. Thanks for showing my best side Brandy!

(Photo by Brandy Hoeve)

I'm back (stroke)

After a bit of a hiatus I have returned to the land of the blogger. From time to time I have a reality check and have to tend to other parts of my life. I am hoping that I will be posting more regularly from here on out, but as we all know "life happens".

As a former competitive swimmer I have always enjoyed shooting swim meets. It isn't an assignment that I usually have to fight for as the rest of the staff is happy to let me shoot all the swimming I want. LOL. Over the years,I have tried many different lighting set-ups, lenses, and camera angles to try to get interesting and unique swimming images. And of course when it comes down to it keeping it simple seems to payoff more often than not.

At a recent multi-school meet I decided that I would skip mounting heads on stands and lighting the entire pool. So I just went with an on-camera strobe and used the built-in bounce card. I was encouraged by the light I was getting while shooting test images in the warm-up period. So I figured I would go with it.

In swimming, once you get the lighting, the rest is timing. The photo I wanted to try would only allow me one shot and as luck was on my side, I managed to get the image I was hoping for. I guess crossing my fingers, holding my breath and saying a little prayer did the trick.

Next time I will have to cover my camera so that it doesn't get soaked too.

It's always something...

Fire on the Beech (Street)

For the most part, working during the holidays is pretty uneventful in the Pueblo Chieftain photo department. Each year the paper's editors find a way to fill much of the paper with an in depth series or extended project allowing many members of the staff to take vacation time between Christmas and New Years.

Since spot news doesn't seem to follow a schedule both the police reporter and members of the photo staff may find themselves in the middle of some pretty interesting and intense stories while other members of the staff are saying "Pass me another piece of fruit cake."

Wednesday was one of those days.


After doing spending some time in front of my work station I asked the paper's managing editor if there was anything else he needed me to do (even though I didn't do much to that point), he said no and I headed out the door after writing my cell number in the book so that if something were to happen my number would be easily located.

About 90 minutes after I left the newsroom I got a call from our weekend editor to tell me about a house fire. It was kind of hard to understand what she was saying as she was suffering from a cold. I did manage to catch the two cross streets and the word fire from her virus-laden utterings.

I, hung up, grabbed my coat, and told my kids I had to go to a fire. Any more, they just nod and say "Okay Dad, see you later." My boys aren't easily impressed any more. They have been to so many assignments with me that most of the time they are happier to stay home.

As I was heading across town I could see the column of thick black smoke rising from the burning home. When this happens it is easier to get to the fire without having to look for a particular address and it also tells me I am missing some really good flames.

My days of driving to a fire like I was driving the fire truck are behind me now, but I still get frustrated when I feel like I am hitting every red light all the way to the scene. This time was no different. Most of the time when covering fires there isn't much to shoot other than wet ashes when I get out of my truck. That was what I thought I would be shooting at this fire. I jumped out of my truck, grabbed my camera and bag and headed toward the fire.

I have been on scenes like this so many times over the years that most of the police and fire personnel leave me to my job. Many of them have seen me at fires and crime scenes before and those who haven't don't say much as I look right at home in these situations. (Usually if you walk in like you own the place, most people will think you do.) At this fire my access was good and I went to work.

The light was fading and the fire was being attacked by an aerial truck. I figured there would be no more flames. There were two fire fighters standing near the house with a hose. They had been spraying the fire but stopped when the aerial truck started to attack the fire. Then there was a bit of a pause and the flames popped back up, but the fire fighters in front of me weren't moving. I shot a few photos of them standing there with the flames dancing on the roof of the house. It was good flame, but no action. I crossed my fingers and waited. Then they picked up their hose and directed a spray of water into the window of the home as the flames on the roof made another appearance. I got my photo and then made my way back to my truck to head back to the newsroom.

While driving back I heard one of the firefighters on the radio say that they would probably be there a while as the roof of the home was insulated with straw.

I mused to myself that had the house not burned it may have been blown down by a wolf!

Cornered!

The playmakers are over for the fall season and I am back to doing regular daily assignments. While biding my time until the winter sports season ends and I get to do five more playmakers.

The other day I was sent to shoot some high school girls swimmers as part of their season preview. I shot the head shots I needed to do and then needed to a portrait of two of the girls. I thought I had the photo worked out in my head on the way to the school. But when I got there, one of the two girls was absent and wouldn’t be there for the photo as scheduled.

I had to come up with a photo of the one remaining girl that would carry the story as well as the page in the sports section that it would run on.

I knew I wanted to shoot her in the water, but at the same time I wanted the image to have a bit of a “different” look to it. I don’t know why I came up with the photo of Madison Krall in the corner of the pool, but I did.

The photo had a bit of a “playmaker” feel to it but I give all the credit to Madison. She is the reason that the photo works. Her “permasmile” as well as her hand placement really completed the image.

I count myself lucky as I managed to shoot the photo from the side of the pool and do two very important things. I kept my feet out of the frame and stayed dry. Woohoo!

Madison is the kind of subject that photographers dream of. She is was patient, and a a real joy to work with. Plus she did things on her own that helped. I look forward to getting to shoot her again.

Tennis playmaker

Last but certainly not least, Pueblo County High School’s Joey Patti is the playmaker for boys tennis in 2007.

I told Joey to wear his varsity uniform and bring his racquets and a can or two of balls to the studio. Joey was happy to honor my request even though he didn’t seem real sure of what kind of photo we were going to do.

Before he showed up I spent a little time getting things ready. I found a green gel that I could use to throw some color on the background. The school’s colors are green and gold so I figured the green gel would be the best color to go with.

I got the lights set up. Then I asked Joey for his racquet and one of the better looking tennis balls that he brought with him. Joey watched as I grabbed a couple of zip ties, zipped them together, and to the face of Joey’s racquet. In hindsight I think I would use some string or fishing line to do this the next time. It was just too much work to remove the zip tie from the image with the help of Photoshop.

After we got everything set I started to photograph Joey. When I use the SB-800s in the studio it is a bit more difficult because the strobes don’t have modeling lights. What we did was set up the camera on a tripod, then I would pre-focus on Joey and turn off the overhead lights to shoot the photo. I coached Joey with, “Don’t move, don’t move, don’t move, don’t move.” He did a great job and made my job easy.

Thanks Joey.

Volleyball playmaker

The girls volleyball playmaker for 2007 is Brittany Maab of Pueblo West High School.

I showed up at the school near the end of the school day. We couldn’t use the gym after school as basketball practice was going to be taking place in the gym at that time. The school’s athletic director was gracious enough to set it up so that the P.E. class would us an auxiliary gym so that I could photograph Brittany in the main gym.

Brittany, along with the help of one of the P.E. instructors put up the standards and the net for the photo. I brought all my cameras, flashes, light stands, remotes and yes a mini trampoline. At first Brittany was a bit apprehensive about jumping on the trampoline as earlier in her high school athletic career she had knee surgery on each of her knees to repair torn anterior cruciate ligaments.

I couldn’t blame her, but I also told her I would let her jump on the tramp a couple of times to see if she thought she could do it and if not, we’d just scrap it. She gave it a try and decided that it wasn’t going to be that hard on her knees and we went ahead and used it. I brought the tramp because typically high school volleyball players don’t have a vertical jump that gets their faces above the net and that was where I wanted her for the photo.

I placed the tramp to the side and Brittany would take a few quick strides and then jump onto it and raise her arms as the P.E. instructor would through a ball for her to block. After a couple of dozen runs, jumps tosses, and blocks I had enough to chose from and our time in the gym was over. I thanked Brittany for all of her efforts and headed back to the paper.

After a few days of looking through the images I made in the gym I decided that the photo just needed something more but I wasn’t sure what that was. I finally decided that I would do some post processing to see if I could spice things up a bit. I happened upon an idea to add several more balls to the photo and that seemed to do the trick. The only other thing I did was add a bit of motion to each ball so that the balls didn’t look like they were hanging from strings or something. I am not big on doing post processing and most of my work doesn’t allow it, but this time it seemed to work.

Can you tell which ball is the only one in the original frame? I'll never tell.

Cross country playmaker (boy)

Pueblo Central High School’s Dominique Rael is this year’s cross country playmaker on the boys side of things.

It is always an extra challenge when I have to shoot two photos of athletes in the same sport in the same season. It means that I have to come up with two unique images to illustrate the same sport. But the cool thing is that I love challenges. And while the athletes may be in the same sport, they most certainly aren’t the same person, so that is where I start.

As it turns out, Dominique was actually taking part in two different sports in the same season. Pueblo Central High School didn’t have enough athletes to field a soccer team and a cross country team at the same time so Dominique signed up for both.

I wanted to illustrate Dominique’s dual sport season even though he was selected as the playmaker for cross country I wanted to make soccer a part of the photo.

I asked him to meet me at a local soccer complex and to wear his varsity cross country uniform. Dominique showed up and was a great subject. I lucked-out as there were a group of guys having an informal soccer practice on one of the fields at the soccer complex.

We found a piece of ground near where the soccer players were practicing and I set things up. I asked him to take up a position with his back to the soccer field and to get into a hurler’s stretch and actually lean forward and really stretch. I think that this was more difficult than all those times I had Sarah run toward the camera for the girl’s cross country photo.

You see, I had to wait for there to be good soccer action going on in the background before I could get the photo I wanted. He needed to be stretching the entire time to make this work. It did work and we got the image I was hoping for. However, I am afraid that Dominique had a difficult time walking when we had finished and he went to stand up.

Hopefully by now the cramp has worked it’s way out of his hamstring and Dominique can walk with out that pesky limp.

Cross country playmaker (girl)

Cross country runner, Sarah Kettelkamp, of Pueblo Centennial High School is the playmaker for her sport this year.

I spent weeks researching this photo. Well, sort of. Most mornings during the warmer months I ride my mountain bike along the “Nature Trail” from my home to the dam in Lake Pueblo State Park. (About 15 miles round trip) During these rides I do a lot of looking for photo locations. I guess I can’t help it. Some people see dead people, I see photo backgrounds.

This was one of the first photos on my list. I had to get to it soon because the leaves were quickly falling from the trees and I wanted to have a bit of a golden background with a fall flavor to it.

Sarah was very patient with me while we were shooting the photo. I had found the location on my bike rides and decided we’d go to that section of trail for the back ground. The early afternoon sun worked great as a rim light as it fell through the trees and onto her head, shoulders and back.

I set up a couple of strobes on the trail and positioned myself. Then came the fun part, at least for me. I had looked at a lot of running photos to find the way I wanted to pose Sarah. I didn’t want her to run directly at the camera because that can end up with a photo where you can only see one leg. It happens when one leg is bent and can appear to be amputated at the knee.

I decided to have her run down the left side of the trail (her left) and then at a predetermined point she would cross the trail so that I could see both of her feet in the photograph. Sarah was very good at getting the stride I was looking for. There is a place in a runner’s stride when for a split second both of the runner's feet are off of the ground and it was what I was shooting for.

After about 30 times running down the trail through this spot I had plenty to chose from and Sarah had gotten a pretty good warm-up if she wanted to go for a run.

Glad I could help.

Gymnasics playmaker

Tera Sisson was selected as the playmaker for girls gymnastics. There is only one gymnastics team in town and it bears the name of Central High School, but is made up of girls from several different schools in the district. Tera is actually an honor student at Pueblo South High School.

The team practices in a local gym that supplies gymnasts with every piece of gymnastics equipment available. That is great for the athletes, but can make for a rather cluttered background due to limited space in the gym.

Taking this all into consideration I had determined ahead of time that I wanted to shoot a photo where there was a cloud of chalk in the air. I hadn’t really figured out how I was going to do this prior to going to the gym to make the photo.

I decided that the best piece of equipment for the chalk would be on the uneven bars. Tera was very helpful in making things work for the photo. Originally I had her leaping to the low bar and grabbing it. I thought it might make for a chalk cloud , but it produced little or no cloud so we had to come up with something else.

We eventually decided on having her jump up and slap the lower bar which was achieving the desired effect. What really made the photo was when Tera filled her hands with chalk before turning them over and slapping the bar. Sure it was over the top, but that was what I was hoping for.

Now if I can just get this taste of chalk out of my mouth...

Soccer playmaker

Matt Karn of Pueblo Centennial High School was chosen as the playmaker for boys soccer.

I have seen many amazing action portraits of soccer players. Now I had a chance to try something a little different myself.

A couple hours before Matt showed up at The Chieftain I was across the street at the glass store trying to buy a piece of glass that would support a 170-pound high school athlete. The response I got from the folks at the glass company was, “You want to do what with the glass?” I am not real sure that they understood what I was going to do with the Plexiglas even after I explained it to them.

They did find a piece of Plexiglas form me. I got it, headed back across the street to the paper and proceeded to try to figure out what to do next. Originally I was going to shoot the photo on the school’s practice field, but it was an extremely windy day so that was out of the question.

I walked around our building and managed to find a corner of the parking lot that was shielded from the wind by the building. It also offered me a chance to plug an extension cord in to an outlet in the building for the one Elinchrom strobe I would be using.

I kidnapped four chairs from our lunchroom to rest the Plexiglas on. I then set up the light and crawled under the Plexiglas with my camera and wide-angled lens. Matt was tentative at first, but after he realized that the Plexiglas would support his weight he was fine.

I discovered that the chairs that the Plexiglas was resting on were about 6 inches too short to get the photo I was trying to get. I basically had to frame the photo and then place the camera on the ground to squeeze him in to the frame.

You can picture me laying in the parking lot under glass with a high school soccer player standing on glass suspended on chairs above me as I squirmed around with my camera and my boss was listening to my direction and trying to aim the light and softbox diffuser the direction I needed it. It was quite a site!

All in all I would say it was worth the effort and the stains to my clothes from laying in the parking lot. And mother nature did a pretty amazing job on the sky too!

Football playmaker

The football playmaker for the 2007 season is Mike Bechina (BA-KEEN-A) of Pueblo Centennial High School.

Mike was very open to the ideas that I had for his portrait. The sportswriter who selected informed me that Mike is not only a football player and a 4.0 student, but he also plays guitar in a band that specializes in classic rock and roll music. The light bulb above my head instantly lit up.

I have been looking for an excuse to do a portrait of someone in mid-flight doing what I call the “Eddie Van Halen Jump” for a long time. This was my chance. To aid Mike in doing the jump I went to a local sporting goods store and purchased a mini trampoline.

The idea was to get Mike to jump on the tramp and do the jump while wearing his varsity football uniform and holding his guitar. I set things up in the studio at the paper and used Nikon speedlights instead of the big studio strobes that are on a track system in the studio. I did this because the speedlights allow me the ability have more precise control of the light.

I used four speedlights. I used snoots on three of them to prevent too much light spill. The set up was tight as our studio isn’t all that big. I was against the back wall of the studio and Mike was nearly out-jumping the background. All in all it went well and with a little coaching on the body position I needed from him we were able to get the above photo.

I think that by the time we were finished, Mike was really starting to get into the rock’n roll mentality. I think it shows in the photo. Rock on Mike!

Softball playmaker

Amber Pacheco of Pueblo Central High School was chosen as the playmaker for softball. I had decided that I wanted to do a photo of the Wildcat shortstop sliding head first into second base.

I wanted the photo to give the illusion of her sliding into the bag and yet still show off one of her trademark ear-to-ear grins.

I was able to get Amber’s coach to provide us with a helmet that didn’t have the required football-style facial protection. That way I could get an unobstructed view of her face.

I had Amber lay down on the ground with her hands stretched out to the bag as if she were sliding into it. I also asked her to lift her feet to give it more of an actual slide feel.

Then the fun began. My boss, and Amber’s coach began throwing hand-fulls of dirt at Amber’s legs and feet as I was shooting the photos to add the look of her in motion. Amber was covered in dirt when we finished but she was still smiling.

What a great sport she was!