I put up a quick post about my trip last weekend to cover the SF Lacrosse Classic at Kezar Stadium.  Here’s a link:

http://insidelacrosse.com/blog/2010/10/21/san-francisco-lacrosse-classic-photos-0

Yesterday I went out to UNC where the Chapel Hill High School Tigers lacrosse team played Providence Day. The above photo fairly well sums out the game: CHHS dominated with a final score of 14-7. Below is a link to some photos from the game.

Chapel Hill High School vs Providence Day Lacrosse photos

Freshmen midfielder Jake Tripucka #27 and senior GK Devon Sherwood #1

So this is an outdated posted obviously. Originally, it was to be posted on Inside Lacrosse’s website. However, about six weeks ago Inside Lacrosse launched their new website. The website includes not only a new front end that is visible to viewers, but also a new backend that powers the site.

#13 Brandon Allen practices face-off

The backend had some issues, in particular to me, the photo server was very flakey. I spent about 2 hours trying to post an article to no avail. By the time the issues were resolved, the post would have been a week late so I gave up.

In the process, the article I wrote was eaten by the server, so rather than write a new article from scratch, I’m going to just link to the photos that are on my site.  Duke Lacrosse vs. Penn

Also, here are some photos from a practice that Inside Lacrosse hired me to go to. Some of the photos were used in their cover article of Duke that featured Ned Crotty. Duke Lacrosse practice 1/22/2010

I was really excited to see Ned to make the cover of the March issue. He’s a great player but even better person. He deserved the cover.

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]

UNC freshmen Charlie McComas is overcome with emotion after defeating Johns Hopkins lacrosse in an overtime win.

Better late than never I guess. While cleaning out my hard drive, I realized that I neglected to post photos from North Carolina lacrosse during their overtime win against Johns Hopkins, and their NCAA First Round win over UMBC. Here are the links:

UNC Lacrosse vs. Johns Hopkins (3/28/2009)

UNC Lacrosse vs UMBC (5/9/2009)

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