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.

Sunsets as the Duke Lacrosse Team Meets

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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.

I also have some of my action photos at this link: Duke vs. UNC Lacrosse photos (ACC Championship Finals)

Chapel Hill High School Lacrosse

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).  

Here are some Chapel Hill High School Lacrosse vs. Apex photos.

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.

Brad Ross

I am a little behind on this.  But a couple weeks ago, UNC hosted Duke lacrosse at Kenan Stadium. It turned out to be a gully washer with rain that never let up the entire time. My photos honestly didn’t come out much better than the weather. My glasses kept fogging up making it difficult to track the ball. So maybe that is why I wasn’t in a hurry to get them up.

Duke vs. North Carolina Lacrosse Photos

Cover of March 2009 Lacrosse Magazine with Ramses and Blue Devil (photo: Peyton Williams/US Lacrosse)

OK, admittedly I was more lucky than skilled to get this cover. US Lacrosse wanted a picture of two rivals for a photo shoot and lucky me lives right in between UNC and Duke, two of the biggest rivals in America. So getting this cover this month was a product of geography than my skill.  Still, I’ll take a cover when I can get it.  Anyway, here’s the story behind it:

US Lacrosse emailed me and said they wanted a picture “Ramses” and “The Blue Devil” together.  From the moment I heard about it, I knew this would be a fun shoot; something very different than what I normally do. Little did I know that the hilarity would ensue with the initial emails between the mascots. The Blue Devil for example has his own email address and never uses his real name in email. Ramses enjoyed taking some jabsat the Blue Devil when responding to emails.  For example this email came across on Feb 4th:  

“If the current schedule doesn’t work for a Blew Devil in training, then we might still be able to work in a time at Dook on Friday afternoon.  I am currently trying to find transportation to Dook for Friday afternoon…”

Ramses and Blue Devil take jabs at each other (photo: Peyton Williams/US Lacrosse)

The shoot would be held at Duke on Friday, Feb 6th. I was a little worried about Ramses. Dressing up as the UNC mascot on Duke campus (and less than a week before the UNC at Duke men’s basketball game) is what only the suicidal consider doing. Confounding my worries was that we were doing the shoot less than 30 yards from where the Duke men’s lacrosse team was practicing. Amazingly it went better than I thought. The person dressing up as the Blue Devil met with the person dressing up at Ramses. He took him to a place to change and the Blue Devil and Ramses walked with each other to the shoot. I thought that was pretty classy of Blue Devil to have his rival’s back. Proof that while the schools are rivals, there is a lot of respect between the two. The lacrosse players, while certainly doing a double look at the sight of Ramses walking on their field, never gave him any grief. In fact, Duke laxer James Goldberg worked with Ramses and Blue Devil to show them how to line up and hold their hands for a face-off.

Despite the planning that went into the shoot, I was unprepared for one surprise: Once the guys were in character and had their mascot uniform on, they would not be allowed to talk. I had planned on having them suggest ideas to me. That was obviously out of the question. Thankfully I had sketched out ideas the day before so I wasn’t totally unprepared. Still, having a one-way conversation with two models is awkward.  But they were good sports and did a great job doing everything. On the plus side, I didn’t have to worry about them blinking or making awkward faces.

My only regret? I forgot to get a photo of me with the two mascots.

Special thanks to Erin Cobb, Coach John Danowski, James Goldberg, Mike Rock and of course Ramses and Blue Devil.

Tyler Hansbrough waves to the crowd during the final game of his career at the Smith Center

Has it already been four years?  That time flew by.  It seems like only yesterday that this kid Tyler Hansbrough arrived on UNC’s campus. Then on Sunday I saw him give his farewell speech to the Carolina faithful during his final game at the Dean Dome. It finally hit me. Tyler Hansbrough has finished his career at the Dean Dome. Not that we are going to forget him any time soon: His jersey will soon be hung from the rafters to honor his accomplishments.

The game was bitter sweet. It’s always fun to do a Duke vs UNC basketball game, but knowing the regular season was ending was a total buzz kill. A highlight though of the day was getting to see Sports Illustrated photographer Bob Rosato. Had a chance to have dinner with him and a couple other photographers after the game.

Here are some of my favorite photos from UNC vs. Duke Basketball that I took Sunday.

Well I made the jump and bought a Canon 5D Mark II. For those who don’t know (and if you don’t know, I can’t imagine you’ll be interested enough to read this post) the 5D is Canon’s first digital SLR camera that is a hybrid, capable of shooting both a 20MP still photo and HD video. It is also a full frame digital SLR. Given that I have only used the pro line of 1D cameras which usually have a 1.3x crop, I am finally back to seeing lenses as their native focal length.  

I put a 24-105 4.0 L lens on the camera and was stunned to see how wide 24mm actually was. Using a 1.3x crop factor camera for so long has warped my perception of focal length. I haven’t had the nerve yet to stick my 14mm 2.8 L on the 5D yet. I can only imagine how wide it will look. So I am very excited to finally be shooting full frame again. Having a beautiful 20MP photo is also great plus. 

But obviously, the pioneering aspect of this camera is its video capability. I have now taken a sudden interest into watching movies, specifically how cameramen handle angles and execute the art of motion video. While being comfortable in the art of still photography, motion videos are a different dimension. I don’t think a still or video photographer could move into the other medium immediatly without a little bit of learn curve. But, I do think the transition in either direction is easier after having mastered one art form.  

I found that some habits from still photography have bled over in a not so good way into how I shoot videos. While at a UNC basketball game, I was there early enough to get early bird shooter JB Tanner (who is always the first one out to do practice shots) doing his warm-up.  Not thinking, I turned the camera vertical to shoot the video.  Perfectly natural in still photography, but who has ever heard of a vertical video!?  So I have lots to learn, but honestly, that is the best part.  Like every other photographer I know, I enjoy a challenge of learning something new.

There have been some disappointments. I also own a Canon 1D Mark II and Mark III. Each of those has a different battery type, and the 5D Mark II has yet another entirely different battery. That means I now have to support three different battery types and keep three different chargers around. That is annoying, but not a deal breaker. Coming from the pro-line of 1D cameras, I can’t help but to make the comparisons between the pro-level 1D line and the “prosumer” 5D. First, I really miss the integrated vertical grip. It just doesn’t feel natural without the grip and I ordered the separate vertical grip within 3 days. At times, I felt like I could easily drop the camera because there was nothing to hold onto.

The build quality also no where near the quality of the 1D. The CF door feels flimsy in comparison for example. Also notably missing from the box was an AC adapter that allows me to power the camera via AC power instead of a battery. For me that is important because I will often use a camera as a remotely triggered camera and use the AC to power it while keeping the camera in “pre release” mode (thus in a mode that can drain a battery). Also, when I do head shot at NC State for the athletic dept for all the athletes which lasts about 6 hours, I have always plugged in the camera so it runs all day. 

But overall I am delighted in what little experience I have  had with the camera. Next week or so I have an assignment with Inside Lacrosse to do a photo shoot with some members of the UNC men’s lacrosse team.  This will provide a great opportunity to really try out the camera.

Russell Wilson with "Trust" written on his wrist bandage

Oh, I wish every game at NC State was like this for me.  To be sure, working at NC State covering football has had it’s ups and downs.  When Daniel Evans threw the “hail mary” 2 years ago to beat Boston College:  That was euphoric.  But for every good moment, there seems to be even more bad ones.  Traveling to USC with the team was an exercise in masochism.  Insult to injury was Russell Wilson’s concussion that put him in the hospital overnight.  But back to the point:  It is a lot more fun to work for and photograph a team that wins than one that doesn’t.

Today was one of those good days.  In what turned out to be an exciting game, North Carolina State upset East Carolina (ECU).  Some fans may dispute the use of “upset”, saying that ECU was not as good as they were thought.  But, in the end, NC State did beat a ranked team.  Here are some of my photos from the game.

You know how I like random photos, and the photo in this posting is both random, and one of my favorite photos from the day.  It is of NC State QB Russell Wilson.  Actually, it is a close up of his hands during the press conference.  I noticed his wrist taped with the word “Trust” written on it.  After taking a few photos of it, a reporter asked what the message meant.  Russell said it means “Trust in God first. Then trust in your teammates.”  Anyways, I hope Russell wasn’t wondering why I was zooming in on his pelvic section.