Women's Basketball at MSG

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to shoot the Maggie Dixon Classic at Madison Square Garden in NYC. I had the assignment of covering a local girl who is playing at UCONN.What a great experience to be at the garden, sitting on the floor shooting a sporting event.

Had I known, I could have hung one of my cameras on the backboard stanchion and fired it from my spot on the floor.

UCONN won, it was their 88th win in a row. It tied Coach John Wooden's UCLA record from the 70's.

The player I was following, UCONN Freshman Center, Stephanie Dolson, went to Minisink Valley HS in Slate Hill, NY. She had 15 rebounds, 4 points and a few steals on top of all that.

Tuesday, December 21st they play Florida State at home... SOLD OUT!

Emma's Beam Routine, Syracuse December 2010

Injured player series... 16 Oct 2010

Growing up I played my share of sports. Never once thinking about getting hurt. The bruises, the bumps and the occasional 'twisted ankle' or jammed finger and of course the very often broken nose.

I played Hockey, Football and Lacrosse in my youth and into High School. In my twenties, I played Lacrosse and Hockey. I witnessed my share of injuries on the field and ice.

As a parent of three daughters who are very athletic, I pray that they never sustain an injury that will change their life. One of my daughters, tore her ACL in a basketball game and thankfully she is going very well and will be back on the court this winter.

As a photographer, I watch the action from the sidelines, capturing the plays and emotions of the contest with my cameras. On Saturday, while photographing a HS football game and watch as a young man went down during a play. First the official came to him, then the coach. The coach called for the trainer. Within 2 minutes, the ambulance was being driven on the field. I reviewed my images and thought I saw what looked like his teammate landing on the back of his leg.

When I got home and was reviewing the images on my computer, I saw something much worse... This young man has a lot of work and rehabilitation ahead of him. This injury will probably end his sports aspirations for the near future. I wish him well.

Access and Opportunity

It all boils down to this, Access and Opportunity. With out that, you can forget about getting 'the shot.' You can study, you can shoot hundreds of thousands of images, know your camera inside and out. But if your not in the spot, you have no opportunity to put all that work to use. If you do get the access and opportunity... Be ready and don't mess it up, or you'll never be invited back.

If you are reading this, than you know how passionate I am about this craft. I have been working at it for most of my life. I have been fortunate in that I get to shoot assignments for a local daily newspaper. As weird as that sounds, I love the work. I only wish It were a full-time thing.

This weekend, I had an assignment to shoot an equestrian event in Saugerties, NY. Very upscale and prestigious.

Not only did I get to photograph some amazing riders and horses, my image made the front page of the paper for the third time. The lead image was a shot of Jessica Springsteen, yes, that's right, Bruce's daughter, jumping her horse.

I worked the event, from beginning to end. Took shots of the guests, local performers during a pre-show, the skilled riders jumping. I even got to photograph the concert after words... John Fogerty. I had the chance to meet and photograph Bruce and his wife Patti while they were getting ready to leave. Even though I was standing right next to them during the event, I held off until the end. It was a great experience, and looking at the images, I'd say... I can do this job... Just need the access and opportunity to show people that I can do it.

Access and Opportunity... Don't take them lightly. Use them to your advantage, but never abuse the trust someone has put in you and your skills.

Suffern beat the Vikings 2 - 1 in extra innings...

Today was a good Rockland County HS baseball match up. The Vikings of Clarkstown South traveled to Suffern to take on the Mounties.

The Mounties came in to today's game 8 - 1 having lost over the weekend to Ketcham.

Robbie Aviles, their star pitcher, coming off 2 no-hitters in a row was on the mound, but the Vikings were able to break his streak in the first inning with a blooper to short right.

South tied the game in the 7th, but could not hold off Suffern in extra innings.

Suffern's Robbie Aviles throws his second no-hitter

Suffern's Robbie Aviles
Originally uploaded by John Meore

Last week, I witnessed a rare feat by a pitcher, let alone a HS player. Robbie Aviles, a Suffern HS Senior, threw his second no-hitter in as many starts. I had heard that a HS player threw a no-hitter a week earlier but I had not read up on the Suffern team. In speaking to Assistant Coach, Chris Mitchie, I was filled in on the details and then realized there were 30 pro scouts watching him warm up... They stayed for most of the game; taking notes and using a radar gun to record his pitch speeds.
He is set to take the mound again on Wednesday, June 28, against the Vikings of Clarkstown South.

Down the pipe...

Down the pipe...
Originally uploaded by John Meore

Springtime means baseball... HS Baseball!
Yearbook sports is different than shooting for the newspaper. With yearbook sports photography you want to get images that will fit in a 2 page spread with the team photo, a few action photos and maybe a large double page image as a background.
Wide angle shots of the field, close ups of the players on the fence, Hitting, catching throwing and if all goes well a good shot of the second basemen in the air making a double play throw to first... Hey we can always think big...

Suffern beats Lakeland-Panas 6-1

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Originally uploaded by John Meore

The Suffern steamroller continues...
The Mounties took the Section 1, Division 1 title with relative ease at the Tate Arena at West Point on Sunday evening.
Letting up one goal, the Mounties once again embarrass their opponents by holding the puck in their zone for most of the game. Their shots on goal was 3 times that of their opponent, Lakeland-Panas.
From the news I heard over the past week, it was not quite a fluke, but surprising that Lakeland made it to the finals, but hey, someone has to come in second place. Both teams deserved to be there.
It has been nice to watch the Suffern Mounties these last 6 or 7 games. They are a well coached team with deep talent. I wish them well over the next 2 weeks, and hope they perform as they have up in Utica.

High School Basketball

Just wanted to post a bunch of images I've shot this past basketball season that show some real emotion.

Shooting HS & College basketball can be fun, because you see some real emotion. As a photographer, lighting the gym can be a challenge. To really stop the action you need to be 3 - 4 stops above the ambient light. What does that mean... If you shoot without the strobes, you see almost a black image. If the light meter reads 3200 ISO, 1/500 f/2.8; your reading with the strobes should read f/2.8 - 3.2 at an ISO between 200 and 320. Your strobes should not be used at full power... why, because the flash duration is too long and will cause image drag. If you turn down the power, the flash duration becomes lower. Half power is a good place to start.

Many of the games I shoot, I use studio strobes so I don't have to worry about batteries. I also have 1.5 seconds of recycle as opposed to 3 with the batteries. The biggest problem, finding an outlet on each side of the court and a good place to clamp the strobe heads.

Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture

January 21, 2010: While traveling in the Westchester NY area, Anne asked me to stop by the Stone Barn Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills and check out the site for a possible school trip for her GardenWorks club. It is just out side Tarrytown, so after a visit to the Hatatchi office I took the drive through the lakes and over the hills and found the center.

As you wind your way up route 448 from the center of Tarrytown, the trees get a little larger, the houses get farther apart, then you hit a stretch with open land and what looks like horse farms.

There is a small sign at the gate, you head down a small road through pastures and wind your way through rolling hills and come to this amazing set of buildings surrounded by acres and acres of open farm land.

The land once owned by the Rockefellers is now used as an educational center for sustainable farms. The center houses livestock, Greenhouses of herb gardens, an educational center and a restaurant. The restaurant gets most of its supplies from the grounds, including their meats. They also host a Farmers Market... Year Round.

Covering HS Basketball

January 18, 2010: Today I covered a High School Basketball game in Bardonia, NY. Todays teams were the Falcons of Albertus Magnus and the Kennedy Catholic Gales of Somers, NY. In todays match up the Gale took the Falcons 64 - 39.

To properly cover a High School Basketball game, I like to show up 1 - 1.5 hours before the game to set up my lighting gear. I try and meet with the Coach or Athletic Director and let them know I am there to cover the game. There is usually a JV game is going on so I can shoot test shots of players on the court.

I set up my main lights in the corners of the gym that I will be shooting from. In each corner I put 2 lights, around 10' high, and aim them at the top of the key and under the basket. I like to move from side to side, so this way I get good coverage on each side of the court. Many times I will set up a "Down Court" light high up in the middle of the stands facing the opposite basket. This strobe helps give a little light down court so they don't look like they are playing in a cave. When shooting with strobes, I usually only get about 150 shots. When shooting available light, I turn on the High Speed Drive and shoot long runs of players, however the gym light is what dictates this.

After the game I hit the scorers table and get a shot of the book, just in case I have to caption the images for the media.

I recently started shooting RAW because one of the companies I shoot for is very critical of the background color balance and file size. RAW files can handle color corrections better than jpeg's. HS Gym lights are usually not so great when it comes to photographing under them, and that is why I add high powered studio lights. I like to be at least 4 stops above ambient light.

When I get home, I upload everything to an external hard drive which I have set up a folder system for all my sports work by type of sport. I launch lightroom, import the photos at their current location, add my keywords and start combing through the images picking out the best of the best. I will usually end up with 90 - 120 good images and 10 really good ones. The good images get FTP'd to the appropriate client... Done!

Current Gear:

Canon 1D MK III

Canon 5D

Canon 17 - 40 f/4L

Canon 24 - 105 f/4L

Canon 70 - 200 f/2.8L

Canon 35mm f/2.0

Canon 50mm f/1.2

Canon Tele Converters 1.4X and 2.0X

Canon Speedlights - 580 EX, 580 EXII, 420EX (2)

Pocket Wizards

DynaLite Studio Strobes

Bogen Lighting Stands

North v Suffern Girls Basketball

20100115_Suf_0495
Originally uploaded by John Meore

January 15, 2010, Suffern, NY: The Suffern Mounties welcomed the Rams from Clarkstown (New City) in a great match up. The Mounties were ahead until halfway through the 4th quarter when the Rams took the lead and kept applying pressure.
The Rams took the game in regulation 50 - 40.

January 11, 2010: Clarkstown South played their crosstown rival Clarkstown North. It was a good match up but South pulled off the victory 51 - 38 with a strong push in the 4th.

Being I am an alumni of South, it was nice going back to my old school. The gym looked a lot like I remembered, although it has been 28 years since I stepped foot in that gym. The fans were a little more vocal than I remember and the game is played much faster and more physical.

High School Hockey

I have not seen a High School Hockey game in a long time... I played Hockey for almost 25 years and gave it up when getting up to go to work the next day became difficult.

I had the opportunity to cover a High School game last night. It was my old High School, Clarkstown HS South and our crosstown rival Clarkstown HS North. I felt old seeing the kids in their gear, The Clarkstown North Assistant Coach was the son on my coach when I played varsity hockey for South... But it was good to watch the game from my vantage point, a small hole cut in to the glass right next to the home teams bench. I got to hear the coaches yelling at the players and the players giving encouragement to their teammates.

I showed up early and set up my strobes around the arena, fired off some test shots, and I was ready to go. It was a good game, it went back and forth and they ended regulation tied at 5-5. Halfway through the overtime, Clarkstown South snuck a shot in on the North Goalie, Zack Stockman to take the win. HS Hockey, Fun times...

...I think I still have my HS Jersey in my bag of 30 year old equipment...

Working the Slopes at Tuxedo Ridge

20100101_Tux_Snow_8503
Originally uploaded by John Meore

Winter is here and so is the new year. I started off this year by working the slopes. I will be shooting skiers on the weekends at the local ski area. I just have to not slip, fall and hurt myself or my gear.
I have worked out a deal with the management to sell the images on my website with their logo on the prints/images...
Let's see how it works...