During my run as a freelance photographer at the Times Herald Record, I have had opportunities to photograph some really cool events.  This event was especially cool, because I had the opportunity to photograph the legendary High School Coach from St. Anthony's in Jersey City, NJ, Bobby Hurley.  Coach Hurley has been at St. Anthony's for 39 years, sent countless players to colleges and many have made it to the NBA.  Coach Hurley is one of two High School coaches to inducted in to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
I only had a few seconds to introduce myself, I shook his hand, said I was with the local paper, but I could tell he was very easy going.  I could tell, as he worked with the kids from Newburgh, that he felt at home teaching kids.  Showing them the right way and the wrong way to set a pick and a screen.  Being firm but also having fun with the kids.
Coach Hurley worked with the kids for 90 minutes.  He stressed the importance of basic skills, continued improvement and hard work.

The Spring Rains • 11 March 2011

An Orange County Highway Department worker closes the bridge at East Villege Rd which connects the East Village of Tuxedo to Rt. 17 as the Ramapo River starts to rise after the overnight rain in the town of Tuxedo on March 11, 2011.
JOHN MEORE/for the Times Herald-Record

An over head view of the Ramapo River from Arden House Rd. which sits between the New York State Thruway on the left after and the Metro-North railroad tracks on the right, as the overnight rain let up in the Town of Tuxedo on March 11, 2011.
JOHN MEORE/for the Times Herald-Record

A view of the flooded Arden Flats which sits inbetween Rt. 17 and the  Metro-North Train Tracks (background) with the New York State Thruway in the far background, after the overnight rain let up in the Town of Tuxedo on March 11, 2011.  The Ramapo River is on the far side of the railroad tracks.
JOHN MEORE/for the Times Herald-Record

A view of the Ramapo River visitor parking lot just off County Rt. 106 (Lake Kanewauke Rd.) on the northern end of the Town of Tuxedo, after the overnight rain let up in the town of Tuxedo on March 11, 2011.
JOHN MEORE/for the Times Herald-Record

A view of the Ramapo River visitor parking lot just off County Rt. 106 (Lake Kanewauke Rd.) on the northern end of the Town of Tuxedo, after the overnight rain let up in the town of Tuxedo on March 11, 2011.
JOHN MEORE/for the Times Herald-Record

The spring rains fall and the Ramapo river rises.  After a couple days of hard rain, the water travels down from all the mountain creeks, floods the roads and forces the school to close.  With rain in the forecast, I got the call last night to head out in the morning and shoot the flooding in Tuxedo and the possible closing of Rt 17.  It happens so often that it is now news...
The first thing to happen is the closing of the East Village Rd. bridge.  This bridge is the only way to get to the section of Tuxedo, the East Village, that is located on the east side of the NYS Thruway.  This bridge has been washed out many times, once leaving people stranded for 4 days.

Regional Semi-Finals • Burke Catholic v Albertus Magnus • 8 Mar 2011

Regional Semi-Finals • Burke Catholic v Albertus Magnus • 8 Mar 2011 a photo by John Meore on Flickr.

Westchester County Center, White Plains, NY:
Burke Catholic of Section 9 takes on Albertus Magnus of Section 1 in the Regional Semi-finals for Class B division.
Once again I need to thank Chet Gorgon, who shot the first 2 games and left the strobes up for me. This time he set them in the rafters of the County Center. 4 Canon Speedlights, mounted in the catwalk on the railing fired with Pocket Wizards. Although the ambient light was high and the strobes not so powerful, it worked OK.
I was able to pull off some good shots. Not too much motion blur due to shooting at 1/250-1/320th, the strobes were able to freeze most of the action.
Timing and proper lighting make shooting basketball all than much better. You want to shoot images that will make the paper, not necessarily shots that will sell on a website.
For this game, it was an 8:00PM game and the paper's deadline is around 9:45pm... this doesn't leave much time. So, I showed up early, said hello to all the other newspaper guys, talked to the reporters, got a roster of the teams for captioning, set up my laptop, made sure the internet was working. So when game time arrived, I was ready to go. At half time, I loaded the images I had, and was able to select about 8 really good image. Second half, wait for the jubilation or rejection shot, this time the team we were covering won. I was able to grab a shot of two players doing a chest bump. Back to the laptop to up-load, select, edit, caption, transmit by 9:45, pack-up the gear and out the door at 10:15.