Blog Archives

BYU vs. UNLV College Basketball – First Half

Posted on January 22, 2009 — No Comments ↓

Covered last night’s BYU vs. UNLV game and I’ll make a couple posts out of it. First, the good news… BYU had a great first half, going into the locker room with a double-digit lead.

Lee Cummard looks down at UNLV guard Tre’Von Willis.

After this dunk by Lee Cummard, the lead was 19-11.

UNLV head coach Lon Kruger argues with an official.

Brigham Young’s Chris Miles pulls the ball from UNLV’s Darris Santee. Traveling was called on the play. In background, Brigham Young guard Jimmer Fredette.

Next post, when I get a minute, the mirror-image second half…

Tagged with: basketball, byu, Chris Miles, Darris Santee, Jimmer Fredette, lee cummard, Lon Kruger, marriott center, Tre'Von Willis, UNLV
Posted in Photojournalism

BYU vs. New Mexico – Too Tight

Posted on November 1, 2008 — 1 Comment ↓

Two awesome plays that didn’t pan out from last week’s BYU vs. UNLV game. I was way too tight on these, shooting with a 400 and 1.4x teleconverter for a grand total of 560mm (or 728mm if you count the 1.3 sensor crop). Don’t worry if none of that makes sense. It’s all physics and math so you can just tune it out.

First was this really nice touchdown leap by UNLV quarterback Mike Clausen:

Ouch. That would have been a nice loose horizontal. Next up was this:

BYU wide receiver O’Neill Chambers was running the ball upfield and did this wild running leap over a UNLV defender. To see what could have been, check out Mike Terry’s blog. He nailed it.

Tagged with: brigham young university, byu, football, lavell edwards stadium, Mike Clausen, O'Neill Chambers, provo, UNLV, utah
Posted in Photojournalism

BYU Special Teams

Posted on October 30, 2008 — 3 Comments ↓

I’ve been working this scene all season long. I know there’s an even better photo, but here’s the closest I’ve got.

Provo – BYU’s Michael Alisa (48), Bryan Kariya (28) and Jordan Pendleton (27) attempting to block a punt by New Mexico’s Adam Miller.

Tagged with: brigham young university, bryan kariya, byu, football, Jordan Pendleton, Michael Alisa, new mexico, provo, utah
Posted in Photojournalism

Which Fan (Or) Are You?

Posted on October 14, 2008 — 1 Comment ↓

BYU fans in LaVell Edwards Stadium, BYU vs. New Mexico, Saturday October 11, 2008.

I look through the fans in the photo above and instantly know which one would be me. It’s the guy in the tan jacket with his back to the game, staring at the snow falling in the mountains. I just can’t imagine sitting and watching sports. Without a camera my mind would be elsewhere. I’ll get to that at the bottom of the post.

If you came looking for photos of the BYU game, I apologize. I’m trapped inside this frame, looking for characters I can blow up into pixelized goodness. Like these:

So do you have to be a sports fan to be a great sports photographer? The answer to me is clearly, “No.”

When I’m photographing a game, I don’t care whether the blue team or the red team wins. This is to my advantage because when the game gets close and tight I’m not worried about my team scoring the winning touchdown, I’m focusing on my photography.

After the Jazz lost their second shot at the NBA Championship in 1998, Sports Illustrated ran a double-truck photograph of Michael Jordan’s championship-winning shot. It was a brilliant photo, full of detail. You could see every face in the crowd and along the baseline. We immediately scanned the photo for the photographers we knew and noticed that every newspaper photographer but one were watching, not shooting. Only one had his camera to his eye, shutting out the emotion of the game, to capture the shot. The others were all staring in awe at the play like sports fans, missing the shot.

For the record, it was the Tribune photographer code-named “Cobra” who was shooting.

Okay, one more fan photo. I just noticed that this fan needs to get his zipper fixed:

Tagged with: brigham young university, byu, fans, lavell edwards stadium, mountains, new mexico, provo, sports fans, utah
Posted in Photojournalism

BYU vs. Utah State Football – Sack

Posted on October 10, 2008 — 2 Comments ↓

Logan – BYU defensive lineman Brett Denney (92) sits on USU QB Diondre Borel after sacking him. BYU vs. Utah State University (USU) college football Friday, October 3, 2008.

I’m getting way behind in posting, so here’s a quick one until I put up something else.

Tagged with: brett denney, brigham young university, byu, diondre borel, football, logan, sports, utah, utah state university
Posted in Photojournalism

BYU vs. Utah State Football – Unga

Posted on October 4, 2008 — 2 Comments ↓

Just a quick post from BYU vs. Utah State football before I sleep. The first quarter was great for pictures, then the final three quarters not so much. Here’s one of Harvey Unga stretching his way into the end zone for a touchdown.

Tagged with: byu, football, harvey unga, logan, sports photography, utah, utah state university
Posted in Photojournalism

BYU vs. Wyoming Football- Action!

Posted on September 29, 2008 — 2 Comments ↓

Over a week later, my edit…

Brandon Bradley brings down Devin Moore

David Nixon, Shawn Doman, Russell Tialavea bring down Devin Moore

Fans watching Max Hall in action

Andrew Rich and Shiloah Te’o lift Josh Biezuns and slam him to the turf

Brandon Howard watches Greg Bolling pull down a reception

Wyoming players shove BYU’s Fui Vakupuna

Neill Chambers leaps over Tashaun Gipson

After a hard hit, a Wyoming player vomits

Tagged with: Andrew Rich, barf, Brandon Bradley, Brandon Howard, brigham young university, byu, david nixon, Devin Moore, football, Fui Vakupuna, Greg Bolling, Josh Biezuns, O'Neill Chambers, rick egan, Russell Tialavea, salad, Shawn Doman, Shiloah Te'o, sports, Tashaun Gipson, vomit
Posted in Photojournalism

BYU – Startled Salad Man

Posted on September 29, 2008 — 1 Comment ↓

Sorting through 1300+ photos from the BYU vs. Wyoming football game last weekend, I noticed a few things. Like when David Nixon returned an interception for a touchdown. It was a tough shot from where I was, but Trib photographer Rick Egan had the good angle so all was good. The sequence is filled with colorful characters standing on the sideline in the background.

My favorite is obviously Startled Salad Man. Let’s enjoy the closeup:

I’ll do something serious (or not) about the game shortly. Right now I’m going to get a slice of pizza.

Tagged with: brigham young university, byu, david nixon, football, rick egan, salad, sports
Posted in Photojournalism

BYU vs. Northern Iowa College Football – 16-35mm

Posted on September 3, 2008 — 3 Comments ↓

Since so few football photographs are made with wide angle lenses, they really stand out. You never know when the action is going to come too close for any other lens to work. And since it doesn’t happen often, most photographers keep their wide angle in the bag until the game ends.

These shots were all made in RAW mode, which takes up more card space, but allows for higher quality in the post-processing phase. Since I use the wide angle sparingly, I’m able to shoot that camera in RAW. For the telephotos I’m stuck with JPEG just to keep things deadline-manageable.

Vic So’oto leads the pre-game Haka. Look at cameraman Pete wade in there, fearless.

There’s a clue to how I got the camera up so high elsewhere in this post. For those of you who can’t figure it out, I was able to talk one of the men on the cheer squad to let me stand on his shoulders. Luckily I have the balance of a dancer.

All words in italics are lies.

BYU quarterback Max Hall gets a hand from fans as he heads to the locker room. I’m on the cheerleader’s shoulders for this shot, too. We were running all over the field, chasing down Max Hall.

Tagged with: brigham young university, byu, cheerleading, football, max hall, university of northern iowa, Vic So'oto
Posted in Photojournalism

BYU vs. Northern Iowa College Football – 70-200mm

Posted on September 2, 2008 — No Comments ↓

BYU quarterback Max Hall lines up behind center in the red zone.

Again, my goal for football this year is to have good photos from each of three lenses (super telephoto, telephoto, and wide). These three were taken with a 70-200mm lens (and probably a 1.4x teleconverter)

The 70-200 is a go-to lens when the Cougars are within the twenty yard line and I can line up with the ball. For these three photographs I’m prone on the grass as low as I can get for a dramatic, right-on-the-field look.

BYU’s Bryan Kariya runs into the endzone for a score.

You’ll notice that in contrast to the tight shots taken with the 400 in the previous post, the 70-200mm lens includes a little more background information. In the photo below, the fans bring some emotion to the scene.

BYU’s Harvey Unga scores one of his three touchdowns.

As for the sharpness and clarity, I know something’s off. These aren’t as crisp and vibrant as you’re used to seeing here. I’m in the midst of re-calibrating everything so hang tight.

Tagged with: brigham young university, bryan kariya, byu, football, harvey unga, max hall, university of northern iowa
Posted in Photojournalism