This was published on May 20th, but I guess with the Final Four going on, I utterly missed it.
Until recently, lacrosse — America’s other stick and ball sport — was rarely on TV and only its championship games generated much in the way of media coverage. It was mostly played on the East Coast, and it was often viewed as a game for private-school kids. Some of the game’s most electrifying athletes — Gary and Paul Gait; Casey, Ryan and Michael Powell — were little known outside core followers.
Duke midfielder Ned Crotty does an ESPN filming segment. The takes from these segments were shown during the Final Four on ESPN.
Over Memorial Day weekend, I was commissioned by the Duke Athletic Department to chronicle their men’s lacrosse team on their Final Four trip to Boston, MA. Duke had beaten Navy and UNC to earn a place in the Final Four. A free trip with a team is always fun, but also a lot of work. The photography is non-stop except when sleeping or downloading photos. Still, I surely can not complain, nor could I think of anything else I’d rather be doing.
Duke did loose to Syracuse, so the trip was shorter than hoped. I can blame myself for that. I was sending a little friendly trash talk to my buddy and great IL photographer John Mecionis (whose son played for Syracuse).
The trip had some interesting moments. One of the more interesting moments were the times spent in the hotel lobby. While we were staying there, the 2009 Anime Boston convention was also going on. The costumes were interesting to say the least. I see that UVA also ran into the convention.
Thanks to the Duke team for letting a Tar Heel in their midst.
I’m starting a new segment today that I’m calling “Ref Ass”. It will be dedicated to all the photos that refs have put their posterior into, destroying what would have been great photos. I have always said that if there was a market for people who had a fetish for the rear ends of refs, I could create a website and make a fortune. But, given that I have yet to discover that market, I can only offer up some photos so that you can laugh at my pain.
The photo at the left is of Zach Howell of Duke Lacrosse winding up to take a shot while playing Syracuse.
Ben and Chris Hunt’s dad spoke with me earlier in the year about commissioning me to do some portraits of his sons. They are both players on North Carolina’s varsity lacrosse team. Ben is graduating this year so all involved wanted to get some pics of him in his lacrosse gear on campus before he entered the “real world”. We finally went out Wednesday and got some pics of them on campus, just one day before Chris had to leave town. Here is one picture from our session today. In the background is Morehead Planetarium on UNC’s campus. I thought they turned out well overall. The effect in the photo below was accomplished by using two off camera strobes.
Shane Walterhoefer facesoff against Sam Payton in the NCAA quarterfinals.
I traveled up with UNC for the quarterfinals to Annapolis, MD. They gave a great showing, lossing by just 1 in a 11-12 loss to the Duke Blue Devils. The Blue Devils will now advance to the NCAA Lacrosse Final Four in Foxborough, MD. I will be traveling up there with them and it should be ton of fun; they have always been great to cover. Until then, here are some photos of Duke Lacrosse vs. North Carolina.
A picture I took yesterday at the Duke Lacrosse game (smashing) vs. Navy. Just before the game a bad storm came through leaving some perfect clouds in its wake to create a stunning sunset. Okay, so I did bump the saturation. Still, the photo turned out beautiful.
Duke Lacrosse won their third consecutive ACC title
A great ACC championship game was played last Sunday when Duke defeated UNC 15-13 to take the ACC crown. Only days before Duke had crushed UVA 15-4 and UVA had been the seen by the media as the favorite to win the ACC title (at least at the outset of the season). I never like loosing, but I thought the Heels played very well against a team that has been crushing other teams left and right. (I certainly wouldn’t feel so great if I was a UVA fan.) MVP was in my book and the voting media’s book CJ Costabile who as a defenseman scored a hat trick. I love seeing a defenseman score and seeing one score 3 is rare. Defenseman Milton Lyles from UNC also put one through the pipes. Lyles, who can sprint like a cheetah, beat Costabile to score his goal.
Anyways, I took both some action photos and some behind-the-scenes stuff. I put a post on Inside Lacrosse on my behind-the-scenes work. My goal was to create mirror images from both teams locker rooms. To show that while rivals, their preparation is the same. I didn’t do well as I hoped, but didn’t completely bomb it either.
Last Saturday I had a full day of lacrosse and headed out for two games. The first was a high school game featuring the Chapel Hill High School Tigers vs. Apex. I could only stay the first half of the game as I also had to cover Duke Lacrosse vs. Army (those photos coming later).
Just two photos in this post. These are from last night at Chapel Hill High School (CHHS) when they played East Chapel Hill High School. When life gives you lemons (bad contrasty light and rain), make lemonade (cool B+W photos). The worst of lighting can make some of the best B+W photos. Both photos are of CHHS boy’s varsity lacrosse during a rainy halftime.
Duke upset then-undefeated and #1 UVA Saturday in Durham. Upsets are always fun to photograph because of the emotion that comes out of the games. I went in with the Duke team postgame into the locker room and I could almost get a high out of their energy. It’s a rush that is unmatched.
If you are looking for a photo of a particular athlete, this is the place to search. This will search my photographic archive, but it does NOT search my blog.
