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!

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.)

Reaction!

In this example, I used the 300mm lens. At the right distance, it compresses items and makes them appear closer together – in this case, making the lane dividers appear stacked.

Swimmers in lanes 1 and 2 are close enough to touch – or in the case of a longer lens, isolate on the face.

Slightly different distance and viewpoint again with a 300mm lens. This time the swimmers in the background create a repetition of the first swimmer’s arm.

I used a longer exposure time – 1/30 of a second instead of 1/400 second – to allow some of the swimmer’s motion to blur as well as create the flowing water effect. The shot is a low percentage outcome – between the motion of the swimmer, and the risk of the camera shaking in your hands, there is a lot of chance to miss the shot. I’ve used these shutter speeds regularly for motorsports, so it’s a technique I’ve honed over time.

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.

Greater Atlanta Christian School entered Friday’s matchup against Blessed Trinity Catholic High School 0-4 after suffering losses to three out of class teams (two AAA schools and an out-of-state team) and a Regional loss to Westminster in a game that lasted six hours.

Unfortunately Friday wouldn’t be the start of the turnaround – the team suffered their fifth loss although had some close shots at winning their first game.

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.

The sun moves across Greater Atlanta Christian School’s pitch from the spectator side to the bench side and then drops behind the trees.  With the thin foliage of March, this lets the light filter through the trees.  Take the right angle, and your subject is fully lit, and the background in the shadows.

The full sun also creates hard shadows of the players.  It’s tough at this level to find something to cast shadows onto (except for the ground).  The wall on the spectator side is the best opportunity I’ve seen.

Even in the shadows you can find some patches of light.  The goalkeeper on stopping the ball finds a patch of light.

Finding the interesting light is what helps create a unique look.