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.
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.
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 »
First, could anyone have written a better story for the night that the Reynolds Coliseum court would be dedicated to Coach Yow? If you missed it, NC State beat the North Carolina Tar Heels, then ranked #2, on the newly christened “Kay Yow Court”.
In N.C. Coach a Shining Light, the Charlotte Observer has a wonderful story that is a must read.
Kay Yow has cancer.
The worst kind. Stage 4. Metastasized. The kind that doesn’t go away.
But Wednesday when Yow — in her 32nd season as N.C. State’s women’s basketball coach — walked into her office, she made it seem like any other day.
She admired the three vases of fresh flowers decorating the reception area, chit-chatted with members of her staff, then went back to her office, the swishing of her nylon warm-up pants rubbing, escorting her down the hall.
Yow, 64, hadn’t come from home but from another round of chemotherapy, a weekly ritual that can’t cure the cancer but can, perhaps, prolong her life.
An afternoon practice session approached as Yow sat in a black leather chair in her office, holding a tissue to wipe her runny nose.
“I want to live,” Yow said, pausing. “There are things I want to do.”
The Gardner-Webb game was suppose to be a three-game series but Friday’s game was cancelled due to cold weather. I wasn’t complaining as it gave me a free Friday for the first time in a long time. So instead of Friday, Andrew Brackman pitched on Saturday. This worked out well as I wanted to spend some time with him on a game day. So I met him at his apartment at 9:45am and had every intention of getting photos of him in his “crib” (as the cool people on would MTV say). But I was we were so sleepy that I didn’t even want to pick up the camera so I never did. I’ll have to put that on my to do list I guess.
Afterwards we headed to the North Carolina Farmer’s Market for breakfast where I had the opportunity to meet his family. That was a lot of fun and they were nice folks (even though they don’t like grits). I brought with me some 11×16 B+W prints I had made from the project so far; photos that are embargoed until the final project is released to the public. So they got a sneak peek before anyone else did of how the project is coming along. I did break into a little bit of a sweat when Brack’s mom asked where I went to school and I said (very softly) “UNC”. But they didn’t throw me out so its all good. haha
The weather today was again cold and cloud cover became thicker as the game progressed. I had to keep adjusting my camera’s setting to adjust to the darkening conditions. This heavy cloud cover and windy weather made the game a chilly one. I had to go to the dugouts heater to warm my hands up so I could operate the camera. The Wolfpack also chilled (nice segue huh?) the batters of Gardner-Webb easily winning 8-0. By the top of the 9th they looked spent.
Looking at the schedule, I’m not sure when I’ll get more photos of Brack done. The team is in Myrtle Beach next weekend and are only playing single games in mid-week stands until the ACC opener vs. Maryland on March 9th. Hopefully I will get some time in though even if its only going to the weight room.
Breakfast with the Bracks…
Red waits for Brack to finish putting down comp ticket names…
Wheeling and dealing pregame…
Teammate Drew Martin tries on one of Drew’s jersey. This gives you sense of how long Drew’s jersey’s are. They are made a even longer than someone his height needs, but a longer one was ordered because his shirt tail kept coming untucked when he pitched. I tried the jersey out too and it comes down below my knees!
Pregame…
Scouts check out Brack while he warms up. Looks like a warm-fuzzy bunch doesn’t it?
Shutter Actuations
Hours spent on project:
The university announced that the floor at storied Reynolds Coliseum would be named the “Kay Yow Court”, in honor or their women’s basketball coach. The formal ceremony will be tonight as the Pack take on the number 2 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels at 7pm.
[From gopack.com story]
Wanted to link to an blog entry on Andrew Brackman’s home opener.
The two dozen or so scouts on hand Friday saw plenty–a fastball that Brackman used to pound the strike zone with consistent velocity. Our gun had him consistently at 89-92 mph, touching 93, but when we checked with scouts, we learned our gun was off (at least we caught it early), and Brackman sat in the 92-95 range, touching 97 and a reported 98, according to a local media member.
If you missed it, here is a link to photos of Andrew Brackman that I took from that day.
With college football signing day in the rear view mirror, fans have had a chance to see how they did compared to other school. “Hey, I got three 5-star recruits and you only got one 4-star!” Such exchanges are fine as I’m all for school sprit and competition.
But there has been a more insidious side to this competition. I don’t know why I do it but I do it; I confess that I read fan blogs and message boards. In these blogs and boards has been a festering ill-will to those recruits who choose another school over their’s. It has become down right personal at times. I’m not going to name blogs, but one was particularly troubling. While high on one recruit before signing day, a blog trashed the recruit the next when it became apparent he had chosen another school. Crazy; one day a kid is the second coming of Christ and the next day he’s a box of rocks QB who couldn’t pass seeds to starving birds as Coach Steve Logan would say. What gives?
Didn’t do much today with Andrew. He didn’t pitch today and I spent most of my time getting photos of players in the field. With him pitching Friday, Brack had today and Saturday off. But below are couple pictures. I won’t be getting to Doak again until Friday. I mean, I do have a life outside Brack which seems unthinkable right now.
Oh man, you know the day is getting slow when you’re taking a photo of a shadow…
Andrew and catcher Caleb Mangum…
High Dynamic Range Imaging, or HDR, is an interesting concept that has come with the advent of Photoshop and digital imaging, specifically when Adobe released it’s built in “merge to HDR” function in 2005 with Photoshop CS2. Explaining what Dynamic Range is would take a long time. But basically, it is a scene’s range in brightness from completely black to the completely bright. For Ansel Adams fans, it’s Zone 0 to Zone 9. HDR imagine could roughly be translated to the traditional B+W photography and printing techniques of dodging and burning although there are some differences. Read the rest of this entry »