Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category
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24
Aug
2010
Ace Jumper
During an impromptu trip to Phoenix, AZ (read previous blog posting) Matt and I decided to do a quick photoshoot of an idea I had floating in my brain. In my circle of close friends, Matt is the one we all live vicariously through when it comes to thrill-seeking. When I first met Matt I mainly knew that he liked to drive (very) fast on mountain roads. Then he got a sport bike… then a bigger sport bike… then he started playing with rattlesnakes, then he started sky diving, then he started learning how to fly a helicopter… and now what seems to be the creme of extreme, he started base jumping. I forget the number, but he’s well over 800 base jumps and aiming to clip 1000 by the end of the year. He’s the kid on the playground that would swing as high as he could and then jump out.
Matt steps up to the ledge, checks the wind then…. “3, 2, 1 See ya!”
Now 1,000 feet of air separates him from solid ground.
After a few exhilarating seconds of free fall, the chute comes out and delicately glides to the desert floor… then drive back home to down some breakfast burritos, catch a 2hr power nap, and finally back to the normal boring life of flying helicopters.
15
Jul
2010
52 MPH…
…on 2 wheels, without an engine, and on a flat surface. Unless you consider your legs an engine, then Ashley Knights Jr. is the Pagani Zonda of the bike world. Normally a person would hop in a car to go the National speed limit of 55, Ashley just does it with a 15lb carbon fiber bike and 2 (very) powerful tattoo-clad legs.
Ashley had just reached Cat 1, now aiming to ride internationally in the next year, and what better way to get extra attention than eye-opening pictures? Personally as a road bike enthusiast I was all about the shoot. Cyclists are some of the nicest people I know, and make a very fun and challenging shoot. So, after a meet-up time of 3am in downtown LA, we were off.
After the tunnel, we had a short breakfast to wait for the sun to come up, then headed to the river for some downtown LA backdrop shots:
Fortunately at 4am on a weekday, the tunnel had very little traffic. My beautiful assistant Lauren doing a FINE job of adding sweat to Ashley 
I think Ashley kinda looks like Michael Shumacher… which is pretty fitting. With a call-time of 3am to 7am, I promptly went straight home after this shot and slept till the sun went down. Oh and thank you for the chocolate chip cookies Briana!
29
Mar
2010
TEAM BAHATI PHOTOSHOOT
My alarm goes off at 5:05am in the morning… The streets are clear, the sun is still hours away from peeking through the skyscrapers… “where in the hell am I?” were the first words out of my mouth. Then a few groggy milliseconds later I remembered I had to get up early to do a group shoot for the Bahati Foundation pro cycling team. More specifically the Bahati Foundation is a program that helps inspire youth in inner-city and underserved communities.
With a little help from my friend Joshua Chan, facebook, and luck, I was assigned the team photographer for a team that boasts such names as Rahsaan Bahati, Floyd Landis, Nathan O’Neill, and Hilton Clarke. A list of names any avid cyclist should recognize to say the least.
Close up: Floyd Landis (left) – Rahsaan Bahati (right)
Close up: Nathan O’Neill (left) – Hilton Clarke (right)
Rahsaan is the most accomplished African American cyclist in the world today, from an unlikely upbringing; Compton, CA. Coming from a tough and troubled youth, he stumbled upon the sport of cycling by chance, and is what we call a natural. Now he is giving back to his community through the Bahati Foundation. Watch the very inspiring video below for more on his story:
Joshua (left) and Billy (right) helped GREATLY during the shoot. Not to mention (as usual) my beautiful assistant Lauren. She was a little camera shy this morning.
For the group shots I kept the camera on the tripod so I could easily mask faces in from other pictures if someone from the large group had their eyes closed or made a goofy face… which was quite common 
When the crowd grew thinner, I was able to take the camera off the tripod and find some more dramatic angles. Getting low for huge group shots is near impossible since everyone’s face needs to be visible… Oh ya it was St. Patrick’s Day, hence the screaming green attire
The team was fashionably late, which unfortunately cut the shooting time down to just 1 hour. i was able to snap off 11 different types of group shots (not all shown here). We started at 8am, and my watch showed 9am when the last shot was snapped. The team were already on their way out for an intense training session. Not a bad way to spend the morning.
I’ll end this blog post with some snaps from a team ride I covered. An odd venture for me since it didn’t involve power packs, softboxes, or strobes.
16
Mar
2010
The Top Eagle
When I heard my high school baseball coach was awarded the 2010 National Coach of the Year, I wasn’t shocked. Coach Dean Jones has been a mentor for every player in a Chesnee Eagles uniform for the past 47 years of being head coach. Count that, 47 years. Not only was coaching his job, it was his way of life. With that kind of history, a kid being coached doesn’t even think of questioning his logic. Simply put, Coach Jones could coach a team just by putting his arms on his hips.
I recently visited my home state South Carolina to visit friends and family, and also put a 6:30am photoshoot with Coach Jones on the top of my list. The sun wasn’t out yet, which gave me time to set up. The forecast called for morning showers, but by the time the sun crept through the trees, the clouds and lighting were perfect.
As we were packing up, rain started to drop from the sky. It was almost eerie that the rain held off just in time to finish the shoot. Coach Jones is a legendary coach, but he was also a standout player on the diamond as well. This is the very cap he wore for the San Francisco Giants organization during the 60s’.
Not only is this his awarded season of being the 2010 National Coach of the Year, but it is also his last. There are few things I look back and reminisce about in life, and playing baseball for the Chesnee Eagles is one of them. So when Coach Jones graciously said over and over “Thank you, thank you, thank you” for the photoshoot, I just replied “no, thank you.”
