Today was less about the “Brackman project” and more about the “baseball project”. That is, I focused most of my energies on the entire team. I probably took only about 12 pictures of Andrew. Although it is never possible to have “enough pictures”, I have enough of Brack now that I feel comfortable branching out.

It was a rainy day for most of the afternoon, but cleared out before the 7pm start time, delaying the game for only 10 minutes. While players waited under the dug out for the rain to clear, I roamed around taking interesting pictures as they presented themselves. For example, Drew Martin told me I should have my camera ready: He and Marcus Jones were going to have a bubble blowing contest. After plopping 4 to 5 pieces of gum in their mouths, it took a good 5 or 10 minutes before they were able to get the gum and the correct consistency. While they competed with each other, it was a late-entry, Kenny Ford, who won hands down.

Typically I will hang out on the right side of the dugout; either at the ramp or the break in the fence between the ramp and the remainder of the dugout. Today I decided to station myself at the left-most side where the batters go out. After shooting there for the game, I had to ask “Why haven’t I been here more?” The location provided some new angles that I did not have before. With the late game time and consequently low light, I had a to use a special lens that allows me to shoot in low light, the Canon 50mm 1.2L. The 50mm focal length works well for subjects up close, but does not allow me to take photos of subjects more than 8 yards away. So instead of action at the mound, I used the opportunity at left dugout to take photos of batters getting ready: putting on gloves, getting their helmet, etc.

On Friday, I sent Andrew Brackman an instant message; he was pitching the next day on Saturday against UNC-Chapel Hill and I wanted to see if it was okay for me to get with him beforehand at his place and take some photos of him preparing for the game. We talked more later Friday before the game while Eric Surkamp and the other players warmed-up. He said it would be no problem for me to come over. I then asked if I would be a distraction and if so tell me and I would not come. I’d rather not get photos than to distract him before a game. As usual he said it was fine. I am continuously amazed at how he does not get distracted by me or anything in general. I think he could go through a simultaneous FBI interrogation and IRS audit at 6pm and still be ready and focused to pitch by 7pm. Some other pitchers can become mental cases if the dome light in their car burns out the day before they pitch. But not Drew.

I arrived at his apartment around 4:30. By that time, the other players would have been at the stadium for the 7pm start but the starting pitcher always comes later. While in his room I took note of a few items in there. Under the glass on the top of his desk was a photo of Gregory Parrish, a young NC State fan who at that age of 2, was diagnosed with brain cancer. Gregory had been virtually adopted by head basketball head coach Herb Sendek and the basketball team. Andrew talked about his experiences visiting Gregory at his house, lifting his spirits when he fought cancer. When Gregory died in September 2006 at the age of 12, Andrew was a pallbearer at his funeral. Stories like that tell you what kind of a person Andrew is.

Also in his room were trading cards of former basketball coach Jim Valvano and posters of Bo Jackson who like Andrew, was a successful dual sport athlete. I joked with Drew because behind his desk on a corkboard affixed to the wall, my business card with only two others was pinned up. I told him I must have made it to the “big time” to have my card up on his wall.

I took a few pictures of him around his room. I think he spent most of the time going through his closet trying to figure out what pair of shoes to wear. Taking pictures of someone in the privacy of their space is always uncomfortable for me; I jokingly told him I feel like a paparazzi at times.

We left his apartment around 5:15pm and hopped into his truck. I pulled a CD by the band 30 Seconds to Mars out to listen to. A few months ago Drew turned me on to the band when playing their album debut song “From Yesterday” in the locker room (Andrew is a music encyclopedia by the way). I loved the song and bought the whole CD. He had not heard the other songs on the CD and there were some killer one that I wanted him to hear on our way to the stadium. Around 5:30 we arrived at Doak. As he walked through the parking lot to the clubhouse fans stared wide-eyed at him.

For night games, Doak Field has the most beautiful lighting you can find, at least for two innings. As the sun goes down, for the first inning, there is a beautiful golden cast that illuminates the pitcher on the mound from head to foot. By the 2nd inning, the light illuminates about half the pitcher as the light falls behind the clubhouse. By the 3rd inning, the light is gone and you are at the mercy of the remaining light. But 5th inning the fun is over as only the stadium lights provide illumination. I discovered this golden light yesterday when Eric Surkamp pitched. Just as I took hundreds of photos of Eric in this fantastic light, I took hundreds of Drew the first two innings as well.

Though the Heels won tonight, Brack pitched a fantastic game. I was standing beside Wolfpack pitcher Kyle Rutter during the game and at one point he said Andrew was clocked three times in the first inning throwing 99 mph balls.

At his apartment…

Beautiful light in the 2nd inning…

Monday, May 1st - UPDATE

I realized I forgot to add statistics. Here they are for those keeping score:

Shutter Actuations

• Pictures taken today: 2,012
• Previous total: 2,152
• Total Pictures taken for project to date: 4,164
  

Hours spent on project:

• Hours this weekend spent shooting: 15 hrs
• This weekend’s Post production: 20 hrs
• Previous Hours: 38.5 hrs
• Total Hours to Date: 73.5 hrs (36.75% of 200 hr estimate)

Game one of NC State baseball vs. VA Tech was rained out. The team will have a double header on Saturday. So Brackman and Surkamp start on Saturday; Stallings on Sunday. I was hoping Sunday would be the double header as I need to get some photos of Surkamp.

The team did some light practice and hanging out today.

Here some random photos from the day.

Watching NCAA Tournament on TV in the Player’s Lounge.

At the batting cages…

In the training room, players discuss trades for their fantasy baseball team…

Update (11:53pm): Here is a gallery with more photos.

When you score so many points in an inning that the scoreboard is unable to display the total number of runs scored, you know a team is getting walloped. In this case, NC State scored 13 points in the fifth inning. The scoreboard, only able to display a single digit for each inning, just alternated flashing “1″ and “3″.

Today I did get a few photos from the Brackman project, but for the most part, I shot the game and afterwards photographed other team members post-game when they went to lift.

Here is a link to my photos of NCSU baseball vs Maryland from Sunday that I took. It has some game photos, random photos of Brack and photos in Weisiger-Brown’s weight room. I also hope to soon be able to make a game that Eric Surkamp is pitching. Every time he starts I have been booked at another location.

Coming soon I hope to get post photos of UNC men’s lacrosse upset win over Notre Dame on Saturday.

Note: This was posted on Monday, March 12th, but refers to the game on Sunday, March 11th.

Updated 3/12 at 11:21pm: Added Jeremy Synan photo

After today’s NCSU game vs. Maryland, while the team met in the locker room, I ventured to the dug out to take some random photos to test out my new 50mm 1.2L lens. I was blown away at the depth-of-field of the lens and how shallow I could make the photos. Here are some photos of NC State Baseball vs Maryland. The last 4 are with the new lens. The photo of the bats really shows off this lens’ incredible ability to blur backgrounds smoothly.

While posted on March 8^th, these photos are actually from March 7^th. Last night I had to play catch-up on editing and sending photos off to clients. So I didn’t get time to write in this journal, blog or whatever it should be called.

After a two-week hiatus on the project, I returned back to Doak Field to get back to work on the project. The Pack was playing North Carolina A&T in a mid-week stand. I didn’t arrive until about the 4^th inning and didn’t even bother bringing my longer focal length lenses (that is, a lens that ‘zooms in far’) to photograph the game; instead opting for wider lenses instead.

I brought with me a brand new lens I bought a week ago – the Canon 50mm 1.2L. I have been eyeing this lens for some time and thought this project would provide an excuse to finally buy it. It was about $1,500 but has proved its worth so far. At f/1.2 it really “opens up” and lets me shoot in darker situations. Plus, it’s sharp and with its circular aperture has excellent background blur. All the pictures taken below were taken with the new lens.

I didn’t take that many photos today and really did not get anything too striking. I was pretty disappointed in the take. Part of that is because I’m starting to run dry on ideas of good photos to take when we are always in the same environment: club house, weight room, etc. I am going to have to figure out some new locations to shoot to mix it up; or rather, go with him to other places which can be tough because I don’t want to get in his way. But, even when shooting in the same environment, sometimes fun things do happen. For example, last pic below has Brack and Andrew Taylor trying to pull in Joey Cutler into the pool at Weisiger-Brown. Unfortunately this happened so fast and the lens I had on the camera at the time was my new 50mm when what I needed was a wider lens. So it’s a little too cropped.

 

 

 

Shutter Actuations

• Pictures taken today: 133
• Previous total: 2,019
• Total Pictures taken for project to date: 2,152
  

Hours spent on project:

• Hours today spent shooting: 3.25 hrs
• Today’s Post production: 1.5 hrs
• Previous Hours: 33.75 hrs
• Total Hours to Date: 38.5 hrs (19.25% of 200 hr estimate)

 

 

CBS Sportsline listed Jimmy V’s celebration after winning the NCAA Tournament, now 24 years ago, as the number 2 most memorable moment in college basketball.

… [O]ne day you look up, see the date and realize Jim Valvano hasn’t coached in 17 years, hasn’t been alive in nearly 14.

Maybe it seems strange because we still see him on TV every once in a while telling us not to give up, not to ever give up, a visibly sick man who would succumb to cancer less than two months after delivering his legendary speech. Either way, 14 years feels like a long time, particularly because it means it has been 24 years since Valvano made the most famous jog by a coach ever.

If that was #2, I can’t wait to see what #1 will be.

You can read more here.

Between the team traveling and my schedule being tight, I haven’t had a chance to get out to Doak since they played Gardner Webb on Feb 17th. Hopefully the photo project will get back into gear again as they have a home stance against Maryland this weekend. If I have time, I might also get out today for some of the game they are playing against NC A&T.

Forget the score. That wasn’t the most interesting part of North Carolina’s win over North Carolina State basketball in the Dean Dome Wednesday night.

Because of the ACC Men’s Swimming tournament going on in Koury Natatorium (which is adjacent and connected by an underground tunnel to the Dean Dome) the photographers were unable to use our normal workroom. Instead, we had to work in the hallway outside the vistor’s locker room. At halftime, we could tell something strange was happening as security guards and finally an EMS crew began to converge on the vistor’s locker room. Initially we did not think too much about it; we thought a player was just a little dehydrated. An easy fix for a 19 year old.

Once halftime was over and I was sitting on the court watching UNC head coach Roy Williams and NCSU assistant coach Monty Towe conversing with officials near the scorers’ table. All the photographers thought this was strange as we expected it would be Coach Sidney Lowe having this meeting. But we looked over to the vistor’s bench, and, well, no coach!. It then became apparent to us all that it was not a player but Coach Lowe who the EMS came for. As we came to the realization, photographers from the Raleigh News and Observer and the Associated Press hit the phones immediately to call in what was happening and await further orders. Some had to go back and cover anything that was worth covering. Fortunately I did not have to as I’m shooting mainly stock imagery and don’t have to photograph events like these.

In the end Coach Lowe was okay. He was taken to the hospital but that was only about 1 mile away. He probably didn’t expect to be at UNC Hospital that night.

One of my PocketWizards however didn’t fare as well that night though. Once of the NCSU student managers was kind enough to knock over $7,000 in camera gear and break the foot off my PocketWizard MultiMax. Even better, they looked at my camera they knocked over and kept walking without giving an apology. Sheessh. The repair is going to be about $40 so it could have been much worse.

Here are pictures of UNC Basketball v. NC State from Wednesday night that I took.

I’m a sucker for good sports photography books. This includes both action and non-action work. Three or four years ago I was in Powell’s Bookstore in beautiful Portland, Oregon where I found shelves full of excellent sports photography books. One that caught my eye was “Prospects: A Portrait of Minor League Baseball” by David Deal. I bought the book and looked at the it years ago but forgot I had it. Little did I know I was imbued by Deal when I came up with the Andrew Brackman photo project. When I looked at his work I loved what he did and made a mental note that I would want to do something like this in the future. When I first saw this book I lived in Washington, DC long before I joined NC State and long before I knew who Andrew Brackman was.

About a week ago I was about to fall asleep when I jumped out of bed remembering that Deal’s book was on my bookshelf. I ran downstairs to check out the book again to see what kind of photos he had and measure them against my work so far on the Brackman project. Read the rest of this entry »