
I would have nailed this in the manual focus days, right?

I would have nailed this in the manual focus days, right?

Four from Friday night’s big rivalry game, where Alta took down Bingham 27-19.

Bingham’s Nate Girsberger runs back an interception. His touchdown was called back on a penalty, but led to a Bingham field goal and a first quarter 17-3 lead. Shot with the 400 and teleconverter (560mm).
Equipment-wise I’m using three cameras. One with a 16-35mm wide angle, one with a 70-200mm medium telephoto, and one with a 400 or 600mm super telephoto lens. Also in the mix is a 1.4 teleconverter, which is on one of the telephotos or in my pocket.

Alta quarterback Ammon Olsen stretches for the end zone, but comes up just short. At left is Bingham’s Keith Sasine. Shot with the 70-200 (at 145mm).
Carrying all that gear for a full game gets a little tiring, but if I get a great photograph with each lens it’s worth it.

Alta QB Ammon Olsen celebrates the win as time expires. Shot with the 16-35 (at 27mm).

I can’t blame missing this split-second helmet knockoff on the camera’s autofocus like I usually do. My framing was off by just a bit. Screwy photographs like this are especially common from the first game of the season. After that, the rust clears away and we start to roll.
Sandy – Northridge’s Chris Washington knocks the helmet off Jordan’s Cory Hunt. Jordan’s Bill Vavau (50) looks on. Jordan vs. Northridge high school football, Friday, August 22, 2008, at Jordan.

It’s an annual event. Football season starts and rescues newspaper photographers from summer. Football for me is a sign that the weather will soon cool down, and that’s good enough.
Sandy – Northridge’s Jesse Stauffer (9) leaps over Jordan’s Braden Hammond (2), who just scored a touchdown. At left is Jordan’s Cory Hunt (15) and at right, picking up the ball is Northridge’s Blake Smithing. Jordan vs. Northridge high school football, Friday, August 22, 2008, at Jordan.
I always start out a little unsure of myself when shooting golf. Maybe it stems from early in my career when I didn’t know what I was doing and constantly found myself getting in the way of the game. I may never get over the trauma of a bunch of people waving at me to move out of the way just before a ball slammed into my golf cart, or the time Utah Jazz “center” Greg Ostertag tried to nail me with a ball. But those events were years ago. Now that I know what’s going on, and Ostertag is retired, I can find the storytelling photos.
Devin Daniels faced Darrin Overson in match play. That made things easy. My notes from the day:
Devin Daniels – white cap, white shirt
Darrin Overson – blue shirt
The play was slow. It seemed like every time a golfer lined up a shot a car would go by, a motorcycle would appear, a train would blow its whistle, a cel phone would ring, or a camera shutter would fire, causing yet another delay.
Daniels won, and faces Dan Horner today for the championship.
Krystal Brown racing to the finish, above, while competing in barrel racing at the Utah High School Rodeo State Championships, Heber City.
Rodeo fans are the most patriotic. It’s only before a rodeo that you hear John Wayne recite a poem on how great America is. The shot at left is a detail of the crowd during the national anthem. I worked this scene for a while and never really got what I wanted out of it. The way that little boy was sucking down the drink, I’m hoping it was water.

Wasatch High School’s Forrest Hill just keeps on running for me. One of my favorite photos from last year just took First Place, Sports Feature Photo, in the Utah-Idaho-Spokane Associated Press Association’s annual news contest.
The complete list of winners is here.