Dexter Strickland vs. Georgia Tech

I’ve been cover the UNC men’s basketball team this year. I have to admit that my photo game was pretty rusty to start, but thankfully I’ve been able to improve. Here are some recent games:

UNC Men’s Basketball vs. Presbyterian photo galler

UNC Men’s Basketball vs. Marshall photo gallery

UNC Men’s Basketball vs. Rutgers photo galler

UNC Men’s Basketball vs. Virginia Tech photo gallery

UNC Men’s Basketball vs. Georgia Tech photo gallery

I am really excited about a new photo project that I have been working on in collaboration with Cherry Crayton and Molly Renda of the NC State Alumni Association. They approached me before the season to see if I was interested in being the photographer on a story that would cover new head coach Kellie Harper, who was named to succeed coach Kay Yow, former head women’s basketball coach at NC State. The opportunity was irresistible of course. I had done previous projects with former NC State pitcher Andrew Brackman in 2007, and the UNC Men’s lacrosse team in 2007-2008. These projects followed the moments off the field to document the lives of the athletes and coaches.

This new project will have Coach Harper as its focus. Indeed, we have already spent a fair amount of time with Coach Harper, both at her house and at Reynolds Coliseum. She has been so far, well, awesome. Very friendly and humble; she has been a dream to work with. In the short time I’ve worked with her, it is clear her players adore her.

Most of the photos are embargoed right now; more will be released after it runs in print in the Alumni magazine this summer. But I will share one with you. In black and white, of course.

Coach Kellie Harper, before playing (and beating) the university of Maryland

Tyler Zeller photo that was ref assed.

Here is another in our series on ref ass, and their ability to block great photos. If you have a fetish for ref ass, basketball is where you will find bliss. 3 refs contained on a small court is just a recipe for blocked photos. Usually I delete them, but every now and then sharing my pain is therapeutic. Indeed, many ungentlemanly words have left my lips from my spot on court side when a good photo is ref assed. (I think I just created a new term).

I realize I’ve been off my blogging game, at least here. But I have been writing up some stuff on Inside Lacrosse’s blog. Here are two recent ones to check out:

Fallball Update: UNC Lacrosse preps for San Francisco

By any measure, SF Lacrosse Classic a huge success

Basketball never has to worry about getting national exposure, but in lacrosse we do. While gaining every year in popularity, we still can’t hold a light to the NBA or NFL. Ask people what the MLL is, and they would give you a blank stare.

So I was happy to see that Nicky Polanco, of the Long Island Lizards, was on the Today Show this morning giving our sport some great national exposure. I think I saw former Duke standout Zach Greer on the side.

[From Inside Lacrosse]

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.

Here is a link to the article.  Below is an accompanying video.

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.

Here are some of my favorite photos in B+W and behind the scenes that came out of Memorial Day weekend.

Zach Howell and a ref's ass

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.

Chris and Ben Hunt

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.