A-A Girl's Trip up Haverling

Under the Friday night lights, soccer style, visiting Alfred-Almond handed Haverling a 3-0 loss. With rainy conditions Haverling couldn't get anything going as they were outshot 15-2. A-A's Kalee Mulheissen first half goal at the 11:19 mark would prove to be enough as the A-A defense refused to give Haverling any good looks at the goal. A-A would tack on two more second half goals with Mary Hendee scoring twice. In the picture above, A-A's Hannah Holmok jogs out during pre-game introductions. You can view the full gallery of pics from the game by clicking on the picture above. You'll several pictures that I converted to black and white. The black and white picture when placed in a black bordered glass frame look great hung on the wall. Any pictures in any of the galleries can be converted to black and white. Just send me an email with the filename (found under the larger version of the picture) and I'll convert it for you.

Bath upends St. Mary's

Under the Friday night lights on Bath's home field, the Rams played host to Section VI's St. Mary's. After the long trip to Bath from Buffalo, St. Mary's showed from the first series that they were going to be a team that was there to compete as they drove the length of the field to take a quick 7-0 lead. That would be the only score though as the Rams defense would stiffen en route to a 17-7 victory and a 1-0 start on the season. The Rams will have little time to celebrate as they next will travel to LeRoy to who had their 43 game home winning streak broken by Livonia and will be hungry to get a new streak started. In the picture above, Bath's Nick Carroll makes a diving tackle. By clicking on the picture above you can view the full gallery of pics.

Corning East and Bath Square off in Volleyball

On Tuesday Corning East made the I-86 trip up to Bath to kick start the local volleyball season. East (1-0) came away with the victory with games of 25-19, 25-12 and 25-16. East's Danielle Lazore (pictured above) finished the night with 3 aces, 4 kills and 2 blocks. Bath's Brittany Havens led her teams with 11 service points to go with 3 kills and 3 blocks. You can see the full gallery of pictures by clicking on the one above. Good luck to both teams this season

Youth Football Action

With the fall season come youth football time! On Sunday I I covered Avon at Bath youth flag, junior and senior football games. What a great atmosphere. Kids and parents all over the place, chicken BBQ going on and of course some football! I heard one parent say as they came into the complex "I thought it was the super bowl with the amount of cars parked". The picture above is what I like to see at the flag level. This young man was just smiling the whole time. He was having fun. Of course the action gets a little tougher with some hard hits once you get into the junior and senior games. Congrats to both Avon and Bath teams on games well played. You can view a full set of images from the different games by clicking on the picture above.

Scrimmage Time

While the fall sport teams are preparing for their regular seasons so am I. I took the opportunity to get a little pre-season shooting practice in by catching the Corning District at Bath boy's varsity soccer scrimmage on Thursday. The action was typical of the preseason, but I will say that both teams played hard and certainly both wanted to win. The final score was 1-0 with Bath getting the lone goal. There was actually two other scores for Bath that didn't count: Jon Smith, who does an awesome flip-throw actually sent one directly into the goal which doesn't count as no one could get a touch on the ball first. Bath actually had another score, but were called for being off sides. In the picture above, Bath's Justin Sherwood get his shirt pulled by a Corning player. You can see the full set of pictures by clicking on the pic above. Good luck to both teams this fall.

Buffalo Bills Training Camp

I had a chance last week (thanks to Chris and Michael at the LCN) to attend one of the Buffalo Bills training camp sessions at St. John Fisher College. This was my first time shooting a professional level sport. It was a great time, but gave me a feel for what it is like battling with several other photographers all at the same time. By the time you factor in the photographers, television cameras and reporters in addition to being limited in the space where we could shoot from, there was a lot of jockeying around to get shooting angles. Regardless of that, it was a great time and something that I'd like to try again. The picture above is starting QB, Trent Edwards. I've got to tell you this guy has a great touch on the ball! Unfortunately for me, Terrell Owens was out with a toe injury and wasn't at practice so I missed him. You can take a lot at the entire gallery of pictures by clicking on the picture above.

4th of July, 2009

I tried something new for me this past 4th of July--I tried taking pictures of fireworks. After doing a little research on settings and techniques to try, the family and myself heading down to Corning, NY to watch and try to get some pictures of their annual fireworks show. After a little trial and error I came away with a gallery full of pictures with a couple of moon shots thrown in. You can view the gallery by clicking on the picture above. This was fun to do and I look forward to trying it again next year.

Arkport 9U Softball Tournament Champs

Congratulations to the Arkport 9-Under all-star softball team as they swept the competition in their own tournament in route to winning the championship trophies. Despite some spitting rain spread over the last couple of innings, Arkport stayed focused and used some timely hitting to secure a 5-0 shutout over Wayland. Other teams in the tournament included Dansville, Alfred-Almond and Wellsville. You can see pics from several of the tournament games by clicking on the picture above.

Arkport 12U Softball Tournament

After covering the NYSPHSAA Softball Championships on Saturday I came right back the next day and shot a few games at the Arkport, NY 12U softball tournament. The action was definitely a change of pace compared to the "big" girls, but it was refreshing to see the girls having a great time. Congratulations to Dansville for winning the tournament with Wayland-Cohocton coming in second place. Stay tuned for more action as I'll be returning to Arkport for a 9U tournament in another week. In the picture to the left a Way-Co player is wondering if someone checked the opponents birth certificate as there was a large height difference. You can see more pictures by clicking on the picture shown here.

NYSPHSAA Softball Championships

Our Action-Pics staff have the pleasure of covering the New York State softball championships on June 13th. It was a long day starting in nice sunshine, moving through hard rain and finally ending with overcast skies and sprinkles. Despite it all five teams were crowned champions. Congratulations to Brentwood (Class AA), Floral Park (Class A), Mechanicville (Class B), Rhinebeck (Class C) and Afton (Class D). In the picture above an Afton players slides into home vs. S.S. Seward in the Class D semi-finals. Full galleries of pictures can be found by clicking on the picture above.

Champs!

Congratulations to the Haverling baseball team as they captured the 2009 Class BB sectional title with a 12-3 victory over Attica. The Rams used some timely hitting and several Attica errors to repeat as sectional champs. Senior, Montana Yastremski, threw a complete game on the mound and was named the finals MVP. The Rams will move on the play the Class B champion, Holley for the right to advance to the state regional game. A full gallery of the sectional final game can be found by clicking on the picture above.

Moving On....

On Friday night, the Haverling Rams hosted LCAA rival Hornell in a quarter-final sectional game. The two teams had split their games in the regular season so this was a highly anticipated match-up. It was a beautiful night for a game as proven by the large crowd at the Bath VA complex. Haverling took advantage of Hornell fielding errors and walked off the VA field for the last time victorious winning 5-2. Rams Senior, Mike Rossi, pitching in his final home mound appearance, came away with the full game win, striking out 5 and scattering 5 hits. The Rams will next play Penn Yan at Hornell Tuesday night at 7PM.

In the picture above, Rams second baseman, Matt Whedbee, tracks down a long fly ball in the 6th inning. You can see a full gallery of pictures from the game by clicking on the picture.

OUT!

In Class DD Sectional Softball action, number 10 seed Arkport pulled off the upset by defeating number 7 seed Avoca 4-0 on Tuesday. Avoca had defeated Arkport twice during the regular season, but it was Arkport who would have the last laugh. In the photo above, Avoca's Alli Robords get the force out at home. Arkport's Brooke Lovell pitched a complete game shutout to record the win. With the win Arkport will take on the number 2 seeded Keshequa Lady Indians on Friday, May 29.

School Record

I've been busy doing team and individual photography plus a lot of events lately, so I'm a little behind in adding to the blog. Last night, I caught my first track meet of the season and fortunate enough to witness a school record being broken. Eighth grader, Ireland Armstrong broke the girl's pole vault record, previously held by Chelsea Adams, when she cleared 8'9". Another school record went down as sophomore, Megan Russell broke her own record in the 100 meter hurdles crossing the finish line at 16.4. Overall the Haverling girls beat Livonia 94-47 while the boys also were victorious by a final score of 86-54.

Stretch!

On Wednesday, the Livonia Bulldogs traveled to Bath to on the Rams. In the two teams first meeting of the year, the Rams won an offensive battle 16-11. The Rams came out with hot bats again, but this time shut out the Bulldogs as Jr. Drew Seager took the mound and finished the day with a complete game shutout to go with a 5-6 performance at the plate. The final score was 25-0. In the picture above, Livonia's second baseman stretches for the bag trying to get the force out. You see the full game gallery, but clicking on the picture above.

Safe!

In the picture above a unidentified Wayland-Cohocton player slides safely into home as Bath's Billy Crowe trys to get the tag. The game was a back and forth affair with Wayland-Cohocton coming away from the 11-9 road victory. In the game Bath's Montana Yastremski took the loss on the mound (11 strike outs, 7 walks), but led the Rams at the plate with 3 RBIs. The Rams' Billy Crowe and Mike Rossi each added 2 hits. Wayland-Cohocton had Kim Houtz, Brent Gibbs and Ryan Gibbs all record doubles.

Duck!!!

Above, Dansville's Nikki DeBell ducks to get out of the way of a pitch during Monday's LCAA Division I contest between the visiting Lady Mustangs of Dansville and the home standing Bath Lady Rams. Neither team generated much for offense, but Dansville squeaked in one more run than the Lady Rams in coming away with a 2-1 victory. Bath had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh inning as Courtney Coots hit a one out triple to left field. Unfortunately, the home team couldn't bring her in. The game marked the beginning of a six game in a row stretch for the Lady Rams. You can see the full gallery from the game by clicking on the picture above.

Lights, Camera, No Action

All dressed up and no game to play. Due to a scheduling snafu, the Batavia Blue Devils made the long trip to Bath only to find out that no officials were scheduled for the game and thusly had to hop back on the bus to take the 1 hour 45 minute trip back to Batavia. As I normally do, I took several pictures during warm-ups. This is typically a good time to get isolation shots of players. You can see the gallery of pregame pictures by clicking on the picture above. In this pic, Batavia's Brandon Williams gets some pregame shots in.

GRALL Victory

On Tuesday, the Haverling Varsity Lacrosse defeated visiting Livonia for their first GRALL victory in several years. The Rams scored the games first goal and never trailed. The game was played at the regular JV field due to poor conditions at the team's regular varsity field. Couple that with a late start time of 5:30PM and heavy overcast skies and the lighting was pretty poor. I gave the game a shot however and put a gallery of pictures up which you can see by clicking on the picture above. In the picture, Haverling's Zach Reed prepares to fire off a shot in the first half.

Come Back

Since I'm too poor to travel anywhere for Spring Break, I decided to check out an afternoon varsity softball game with Corning East hosting Waverly. It was a great day to watch a game and to take some photos. Waverly held a one run advantage (5-4) going into the last at plate appearance for the Corning. Providing the heroics was East's Stephanie Hatch who drove in the winning run as the lady Trojans completed the come back to win 6-5. In the picture (which was run in the Corning Leader along with another one that I took from the game), East's Stephanie Hatch gets a hug from teammate, Amy Hinman at the end of the game. Congratulations to both teams on providing an exciting game to watch. You can see the full gallery of pictures by clicking on the picture above.

Road Trip

John Jay High School out of Section I made the 4 hour+ trip to Corning to take on the Trojans of Corning East on Saturday, April 11. Corning jumped out scoring quickly, but only saw a 6-4 lead at the half. East turned up the defensive pressure in the second half and shut out John Jay while tacking on another 5 goals to finish out the game with a 11-4 victory. In the picture above, John Jay's Will Stewart trys to shake loose of East's Mike Scouten. You can view the entire gallery of pictures by clicking HERE.

Pitching Dominance

Congratulations to Corning West pitcher, Sydney McGannon, as she pitched a no-hitter verses Ithaca on April 8th. Not only was West high's pitching dominate, but the hitting too as West rolled to 24-0 shutout. There is a complete gallery of pictures from the game which you can view by clicking on the picture to the right.

What to do on a Rainy Day

So, what does a photographer do that concentrates on sports do when the events are canceled due to weather? Well, one option is to put a lens on backwards and do play with some macro shots. Your first thought should be what do you mean by putting the lens on backward? Well, there are a few different ways to accomplish macro (closeup) pictures. One way is to use an actual macro (or Micro if you use Nikon) lens. These lens are designed to be able to focus within a few inches of an object. Another way is to use a long telephoto lens and try to shoot a smaller object from farther away, but being able to make it appear large in the viewfinder. For the two shots that I included here I used the third option which is create a poor man's macro lens. By purchasing a $10 part (called a reversing ring) I was able to screw my 50/1.8 lens onto my camera backwards. I don't know the physics behind why this works, but if you are bored sometime I'm sure a Google search could find that info for ya!

The picture above (you can click on it for a larger version) was taken of an Indiana quarter. The original picture is large enough to print a 12x16" print almost! Very cool.

Welcome!

Thanks for visiting the Action-Pics Photo blog. I'll be trying to put up new posts as often as I can mainly focused on photographry of local sporting events. Once in awhile I may post some pictures taken from just walking or driving around. 

Check back often to see what's new. I'd love to say that I'll update daily, but as I get busy that might not happen. Let me know what you think of the blog. 

Hard Hits

If you've never had the opportunity to watch lacrosse, but you like the fast pace nature and physical contact of hockey, then you owe it to yourself to check out a game. While I still haven't figure out all of the rules of lacrosse yet, I have seem to figure out that it is ok to basically just knock a guy down (like in the picture) and it is legal (most of the time) to take your stick and hit your opponent with it. Pretty cool ah? The other neat thing about lacrosse as a spring sport is they play in any weather. Snow or rain or mud or sun, it doesn't matter. The game will go on!

The picture is from a recent game that pitted Corning West vs. Bath-Haverling in varsity action. Corning came out victorious by a final score of 17-4. More picture from this game can seen by clicking here.

Eye on the Ball

Today was the first home action for the Haverling JV lacrosse team. It was an impressive showing against a fairly new program in Batavia. The Rams jumped out scoring early and often. The sun was very low and with no clouds the shadows created made for some very tricky photography. I won't say every picture is a 'winner', but there is a gallery of the pictures here.

Walking Around Hammondsport

Yesterday in preparation for doing the Hammondsport Little League team and individual pictures coming up in May, I went over to Hammondsport to look over the place where they plan on having them done. It was a beautiful morning so I decided to stay for a bit and take some pictures of whatever I could see that might be interesting.

Doing this type of photographry is not my speciality, but it was fun none the less. The picture to the left is of an empty lifeguard chair that in a few months will be occupied for the summer swim season. You can see the full gallery of pictures from my walk around, which included a quick stop at the Glen Curtis Museum, here: Hammondsport Walk Around. 

Spring is Here!

Finally spring is here! After being stuck inside for 4 months or so over the winter sports season, it was refreshing to finally get outside to watch some spring sports. I took a short drive to Corning today to try and get my touch back in covering softball. The game was actually just a scrimmage between Haverling and Corning West. It was still cool and a little breezy at times, but the fresh air felt good.

I didn't stay for the whole scrimmage, but did shoot a few innings trying out three different lens to see what they could do. The shot above is one that all sports shooters try to achieve each game: ball on bat. Felt good to get one first time out-:). There isn't a ton of pictures from the game, but you can check them out here: Corning West vs. Haverling Varsity Softball Scrimmage.

NYSPHSAA Girl's Basketball Championships

As a girl's basketball varsity coach myself, I've always taken the family to Hudson Valley Community College each March to watch the state championship games. I've watched many great players and teams over the years. This year I decided to take the cameras for the first time and shoot some of the games. It was pretty exciting being right under the basket at the games. Being this close really gives you a feel for how athletic and physical these teams are.

This year Section V had two state champions in Nazareth (Class C) and Newark (Class B). The picture above was from the wanning moments of the Newark championship game. Newark was clinging onto a slim lead and they had a player on the foul line. The players on the bench were pretty intense waiting for the results of a vital foul shot.

You can see more pictures from the games here: NYSPHSAA Girl's Basketball Championships.