JV Football: River Hill vs. Long Reach

A busy week of football for the River Hill JV team - a rescheduled game on Monday and their regular game on Thursday. Each week, the parents host a pasta dinner for the boys on the day before game day. This week was my turn to help with the dinner - parents rotate. It was fun to watch the boys and coaches eat a meal together and socialize. They're a cohesive unit and this is a great opportunity for them to further bond.

The game against Long Reach was on a beautiful day. I suspect the game days will be getting colder, but the skies were lovely and the temperatures were pleasant. I got three shots (among a LOT) that are my favorites that I'm sharing here. To see the rest of the images, go to www.riverhilljvfootball2.shutterfly.com

Montage of Savannah

I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do with these montages. I might combine them with future images to make a little photo album for her or I might just print them and frame them as they are. It's always fun to create little groupings of images. I like the stories they tell.

More JV football - River Hill vs. Mt. Hebron

After 4 days of rain, the JV football team finally got to play their game against Mt. Hebron. It turned out to be a beautiful day - lovely clouds, blue skies and moderate temperatures. Daylight allows me a little more flexibility in shooting action sports and below are a few shots that captured some of the plays. River Hill did win the game, both Varsity and Junior Varsity.

It is going to be a busy football week - two JV games and a Varsity game on Friday night. Hopefully it won't rain on Friday again. I need to get a big umbrella in team colors if it does!

River Hill Varsity Football

A couple of weeks ago, before my Idaho trip, I went shooting at the Varsity game at River Hill High School, in Clarksville, MD. It was an interesting experience. I didn't do as well as I would have liked. I switched to a different focus button on my camera and didn't have much luck with that. Also, they play at night, which is trickier to shoot than daytime football. Football can be tricky enough as it is - with the fast action and moving subjects - plus you need the long lens to even hope to get close to the action. So, I returned this past Friday for round two. I have two great friends, who are mentoring me - Nancy Hostetler and Lisa Hostetler - they're sister-in-laws and great photographers on their own. You can see their work on the River Hill Unofficial website under sports. They've been very generous with advice and I really appreciate it. I don't know if they want me to keep coming though - every time I go to a Varsity game, it rains. That just adds to the drama.

This second round I was a bit happier with. I got a lot more "keepers" and generally had a much better experience. Of course, as stated, it was raining, so you can see the rain in some the pictures. These are six I wanted to post to kind of give a taste of the game. River Hill played Mt. Hebron. They won 63 - 0. Lot of great action shots of River Hill (in the yellow pants). It was a hard night for Mt. Hebron, but they never gave up and played hard all night, in the rain.





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Savannah

So, I've been away in Boise, ID for the past week enjoying my first grandchild. Seems amazing that I have one of those, but since she's such a cutie, I guess I don't mind too much! Her name is Savannah and she was born on Sept. 12, 2008 at 11:57 PM. I was privileged to spend the first week of her life with her, as well as take a few photographs. In case you didn't know, it's not easy taking images of a newborn. They are not particularly cooperative, nor are they on a schedule that you can plan around. Luckily, since I was staying there, I could just grab my camera when the time presented itself.

This first image is one I love. Actually, I love all of these... Anyway, one of the challenges I found was getting her to look at me when I was trying to capture her image and here she is - staring right at me!



This next one shows the contrast in size of her feet and her daddy's hands. Babies grow so quickly, it's always a little startling to remember how small they start.



This next one was another fortunate piece of timing. When awake, she loves to look around and I was able to catch her looking at me for once!



This last one was a fleeting sleeping smile. Being a newborn, she can't smile at will, but she would a lot in her sleep, especially when she first fell asleep. Again, I was lucky to catch the fleeting grin on her sweet face.



So I don't get to see her again until Thanksgiving - I guess you'll just have to wait for more. I know I am!

September is a Busy Month

So, I didn't take any wedding bookings for the month of September because my daughter, who lives in Idaho, is expecting her first baby and I didn't know when she might deliver and needed to keep my schedule free. She's in labor as I type.

September also marks the beginning of the school year and high school football. My son made the junior varsity team at River Hill High School in Clarksville, MD. So, I've been trying my hand at shooting football, which is a little different, but still fun. These are from their second game of the season, at Oakland Mills High School, in Columbia, MD. I shot some shots tonight at the varsity game, but don't have time to edit and post them right now - I need to pack!

When I return, I'll have baby shots!

Rachel and Mark

At the end of August, I had the privilege of photographing Rachel & Mark's wedding images. They're such a sweet couple and were so delightful to work with. Sometimes, the groom is a bit camera shy and eager to escape. Mark was up for whatever we wanted to capture and just kept the most amazing smile on his face the whole time. Ahhh, new love.

Their wedding took place in the Washington DC Temple and this first image I want to share is in front using my fish-eye lens. I love the fish-eye lens. I can't shoot a ton of images with it, but it does make the few special. I love that I can stand 2 feet in front of my subject and get everything around me. It was a beautiful day.



This next image captures the happiness on Mark's face. As with many reception sites, we had limited areas that were great for photography - here we're standing in a side garden next to the building. You can make pretty much any place work, if you know where and what to look for.



This final image is a detail shot of their rings. Have you noticed that the "hot" choice for men's rings these days is tungsten? I think my last 4 or 5 grooms have all had tungsten rings. Mark and Rachel had this lovely little statue next to their wedding cake, and it was a perfect spot to isolate and highlight their rings.



They had a fabulous honeymoon in Jamaica and are currently finishing their schooling.