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.

Colin Sherwood

I put up some photos from UNC’s 20-7 win over Denver. Fairly good game, although my photos aren’t as good as the game was. I guess photographers are entitled to bad games too? 

Eventually I will get the Navy and Colgate photos up.  As well as the Duke vs. Colgate photos up. 

Until then, here are the Denver vs. North Carolina lacrosse photos.

Freshmen LSM Mark Staines

For the Inside Lacrosse article, I did some portraits of the players. I was experimenting with some new ground here but was really happy with how they came out. Here’s a link to some portraits of the North Carolina lacrosse team.

(btw, the photo on the left was taken outside in full daylight.  The effect was achived by overpowering ambient light with flash.)

Ben Hunt on the March 2009 cover of Inside Lacrosse

Inside Lacrosse commissioned me to do the photography for their cover article on Coach Joe Breschi and the revamped North Carolina Tar Heels. The shoot was a ton of fun. I would recount for you what the shoot was like, but rather than reinventing the wheel, I’m just going to link to an article I wrote on Inside Lacrosse.

This is actually my first cover for Inside Lacrosse.  Pretty sad that it took this long.

Tyler Hansbrough

So the above picture took me by surprise last night.  Normally I would have deleted it because while it’s a nice slam dunk, I can’t see Tyler’s eyes. My mentor always told me that in every photo I should be able to see “the white’s of their eyes”.  Otherwise, its a deleter.

But before I hit the delete button I did a double-take on this picture. A split second before the photo was taken, the player on the left had a hold of the waistband of Hansbrough’s shorts. He released them but no doubt I took the photo right between the time when he let go and before the shorts had time to snap back. The odds are 1 in a million.

And no, it is NOT Photoshopped.

 

 

Timer

I thought I would do an experiment today and photograph an athletic event, but not actually photograph any of the action. Instead, focusing on the athletes and coaches in those moments between the action. I did it as a challenge to myself to see how I could. Results weren’t bad, but I’m not expecting a Pulitzer either. Still I had had fun; it was a great way to see swimming in a new light. I have to admit, getting up close to swimmers with a camera, while they are wearing a Speedo, is a little nerve racking! Takes a while to get comfortable photographing someone when they aren’t fully clothed. But I guess swimmers are used to it and don’t mind. 

Enjoy some photos below of UNC’s 169-123 thrashing of Duke. 

We knew she was sick, but it is still hard to believe.  She was strong. Whenever the cancer struck her, she struck back harder. Always a survivor. When it tried to break her spirt, she came out stronger. The photo below I took in March 2007 when NCSU lost in the NCAA tournament. We all thought it would be her last game as a coach. A year later, she proved us and the cancer who was in charge as she was still out on the court directing her team to victories even a year later. But in the end, NC State head basketball coach Kay Yow lost her battle to breast cancer. It took decades to finally take the strong-willed woman home; but last night it finally won. 

As a team photographer, I have photographed many coaches, in many sports and at many schools.  Coach Yow I always liked. While doing a photo shoot for NCSU’s athletic department for the W BBall media guide, I had the opportunity to work with her. She was a delight. Patient, friendly and kind spirited. I left that photo shoot thinking what a wonderful person she was. I have not always left with that feeling with other coaches.

Coach, we will miss you. But no one is going to ever forget you. Say hello to Coach V for us. 

NCSU head coach Kay Yow in March 2007. (Photo: Peyton Williams/NCSU Athletics)

Just wanted to share this old photo that I took of former UNC head basketball coach Dean Smith. I took it back in August 2004 during the Carolina Basketball Alumni Event. Jerry Stackhouse introduced coach to the crown and I snapped this pic while he waved to his adoring fans.  I only had a 300 2.8 with me, but I like how the shot came out.

Former UNC head coach Dean Smith

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.