Multi-sport athletes are the norm at GAC.  She’s also been prominent on the basketball court.

That’s the pitch passing in front of this fielder.

It’s actually more difficult to frame the low delivery of a fast pitch pitcher than a baseball pitcher.

Safe at the plate as the ball bounces free!

I’m also pleased to announce I’ll be working with the Athens United Soccer Association (Athens, Georgia) this fall to photograph games during their three tournaments this fall.  More details to come on this relationship and the events!

Nice cross-diamond directional sunlight on the pitcher:

The game was called after five according to GHSA rules for margin of victory.  Buford prevailed 12-0.

The field changes from being still and waiting to a battle in a matter of moments on a corner kick.  (St. Pius X failed to convert this one for a goal.)

St. Pius X jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, which left GACS in a position of attempting to battle back.  As in previous years, Madeline Barker (now a UGA signee) was heavily involved with leading the attack and contributed a goal.  GACS ultimately brought the match to a 3-3 draw against the AAA St. Pius X.

Reaction!

Backstroke: Waiting for the start

Backstroke actually has an advantage in the pool – the swimmer is face up, with light falling directly on their face and usually swimming at a slower pace. However, a great photograph can be found at the start – with the swimmers anticipating the start. There’s great repetition that helps frame and isolate my subject.

Butterfly: In Full Flight

The strongest swimmers of the butterfly project themselves fully out of the water – and in that moment they pause perfectly. Time your shot well and you get them clear of the water with very little splashing.

Breast Stroke: Pop Up Photo

Like butterfly, the strongest swimmers in the breast stroke pop up well clear of the surface of the water for a big breath. The strength of the swimmers changes a lot between junior high and high school so this image is stronger in high school.

Freestyle and Relays: On the Block

Shorter distance freestyle races (and relays) mean a lot of splashing. Depending on the swimmer, especially at lower levels, they may be biased towards breathing only to one side. This severely limits the ability to get a clean photograph. Waiting on the block is usually the cleanest photograph you can get – and you get a lot of intensity in the eyes and face.

Warm-ups give me an opportunity to get pictures of players who may not see as much playing time, or whose positions are more difficult to get clear shots of in action – like receivers.

As the evening progresses, the team works through a number of drills to stretch and warm up before the game.

The coaches are also available in isolation from the rest of the team. I can also take advantage of viewpoints I wouldn’t dare perform in game – like lying in the grass with the camera flat on the ground!

I get some close up views of hitting drills…

And as the sun lowers, I can get creative with the light and allow to light for a silhouetted shot of an athlete:

This year Greater Atlanta Christian School is only fielding a 9th Grade team, and no Junior Varsity team so my Thursday football opportunities have been reduced.

Working with a longer focal length allows the luxury of staying further downfield, which gives more head-on photographs coupled with more clear shots.

While the skill players are easier to catch, I also get more opportunity to focus on the interior lineman.  From the sidelines, the interior linemen are usually totally screened.

The 70-200 f2.8 remains the lens of choice when working with closer action or needing a broader view.

Or when the action comes to you!

Greater Atlanta Christian School’s Long Forum is now playing host to their Volleyball squad as well.  The Lady Spartans faced off against Wesleyan last week in what has traditionally been a great match up of two very good volleyball squads.  It’s a superb facility for a number of reasons – but for purposes of keeping clean backgrounds, the black seating (when empty) does a great job of helping to isolate the athletes jersey colors from the background (black uniforms not withstanding as you will see.)

Using the focal length (in this case, 300mm, which is a fairly large telephoto focal length) and a wide open aperture (f2.8, the largest aperture available at the 300mm focal length), the spectators in the background are reduced to spots of color.    And although our athlete is wearing a black jersey, she still stands out from the seating area.

Volleyball is one sport that I usually will photograph some of the match from an elevated position to catch the players coming to the net.  This also helps with limiting the backgrounds – I may be shooting down on the players slightly.  

All of the photographs in this post were shot with the Canon 300mm f2.8 IS telephoto lens.  While 300mm is a fairly long focal length for indoor sports, in the case of the Long Forum it allowed me to back up from the action some yet still maintain a tight frame, and allow myself to find the action more easily than shorter focal lengths and moving closer to the action.

As the season gets started, I try during warm-ups to get some great isolation shots of players that can be hard to catch during the game.  Senior Julian Horton (WR/DB) will be a major contributor for GAC again this season (even taking some direct snaps).

For the first time since I’ve photographed Football at Greater Atlanta Christian, the quarterback is not a member of the Chapple family.  With Colton Chapple graduating last spring and moving onto the Ivy League, duties under center have moved to Beaux Hebert (brother to former Spartan and current LSU center T-Bob Hebert, and son to former NFL Quarterback Bobby Hebert).

Another Senior, Taylor Bruner, will also be lining up at WR.

Both of the Wide receivers saw action late in the game with GAC trailing.

GAC suffered a 55-21 loss to open the 2009 season.