This past Saturday was portrait day for the Warwick Youth Lacrosse league. Early weather reports were calling for rain in the morning, but quickly shifted overnight to afternoon showers – showing up just about the time we would be cleaning up from the event. Thankfully, the weather held out a little bit longer and allowed me enough time to shoot some images of the Warwick boys and girls teams as they went head-to-head against Monroe-Woodbury.

With the 300mm lens and 1.4x extender attached, I grabbed a seat in the middle of the two fields and took shots of the players as they warmed up and played against each other. The shot above was taken just as I was ready to head off the field. As the Warwick player carried the ball within shooting distance, two Monroe-Woodbury players quickly chased him behind the net. To help keep the ball in their court, the Warwick player jumped up, passed the ball and was knocked to the ground. The officials called a penalty and I walked away with a shot worthy of a blog post!

Yesterday was the second week in a row that we’ve been at the Minisink Valley High School for an event. I was up just a little before 5AM to get ready for the 2011 Minisink Valley Warriors Extreme Cheer Competition in Slate Hill, NY. Having setup most of our area the night before, my main focus was to finish setting up our servers, printers and viewing stations for the parents and participants.

Unlike last year, the roster for this year’s event was much larger and now required two action photographers for complete coverage since there were two different judge’s tables – each facing a different way. Needless to say, we made sure that there were plenty of strobes throughout the entire gym! As the day got underway, the size of the crowds was just amazing. At times, we couldn’t even see the exhibition floor from our portrait area!

Overall, the day ran very smooth and everyone loved our cheer posters, team panoramic images and custom prints. In the end, we captured a little over 2,500 action images from all of the teams and now have the job of sorting through and posting all of them in an online gallery!

Always known as the Minisink Valley Wrestling Invitational, this year’s event had a slight change. Named in memory of Arthur “Gene” Brigham, the event hosted teams from nearby towns including Middletown, Rondout Valley, Honesdale, Onteora, Wallkill, White Plains, New Rochelle and some not-so-nearby ones like Longwood, Long Island and Bristol, CT.

Since it was our first major event of the year, our entire staff was onsite with a full blue-screen setup and action photographers at the ready for any special requests. We also introduced some brand new products and designs.

If you would like to be notified when images from the event are posted online – including team photos, wrestler portraits and trophy images – be sure to provide us with your email address below and we’ll send you a message with the access code once they become available.

This year, we’ve been working closely with our leagues to ensure that we provide them with as many opportunities to fund-raise as possible. At the beginning of the season, the High Point Hawks Youth Football league asked us if we would be interested in working with them on their second annual cheerleading competition. We accepted the invite and looked forward to the big event.

Having been to a lot of competitions, we know what to expect as they all pretty much run the same. However, the High Point Hawks Cheer Competition was different. Being only their second year, we were prepared for a few hiccups along the way – which is to be expected with organizations who are fresh into the competition scene. As the day went on, not a single problem occurred and when the event ended early, we were completely blown away! Almost every event we cover always goes a bit later than scheduled because of delays with the judges or participants. Not this one!

The morning started with an on-site arrival around 6AM to begin setting up for the first routine at 9AM – which was plenty of time for us to setup our viewing stations, posed action green screen, team portrait area and all of our sample products. For this competition, we debuted a new line of custom graphics designed specifically for this cheer competition. To call them a hit was an understatement as our tables were consistently flooded with parents and players wanting to check out all that we had to offer!

For each of the routines, we also provided an action photographer who could capture shots of the cheerleaders doing what they do best. The shot of the Hillsborough Junior Raiders was one of our favorites because of all of the different expressions captured in one image. From winks and smiles to yells and goofy laughs, this image is what a cheerleading competition is all about – having a good time while getting the crowd pumped!

As football winds down and we enter our winter season, we look forward to covering more event like this! Our next major competition is in January for Minisink Valley! See you there!

When Football season comes around, we know that we’ll start covering it in shorts and t-shirts and we’ll finish the season bundled in layer after layer of clothing – and this was certainly the case for the High Point Hawk Versus Lenape Valley playoff game. I think I had almost 7 different layers on, including gloves and a hat, yet my fingers still felt like they were going to fall off!

Even though no frostbite set in, we had a blast watching the players execute a great game. As we started covering their warm-ups, we noticed that most of the kids on the team looked like they could play for the high school and yet, they were actually part of the New Jersey Youth Football League (NJYFL). The shot above was of Francisco Rios as he flanked a group of Lenape Valley defenders. Making his way down the field, Lenape kept pace and was able to get him to run out of bounds – though High Point was finally able to complete the drive and score a touchdown. In the end, Lenape Valley squeaked out a win in the final few moments making it another great playoff game that we were able to capture!

Last week, Burke-Catholic squared off against Tri-Valley and won the first round of state championship playoffs. This week, they were pitted against Millbrook, a team they played earlier in the season and lost to. Knowing what they were up against, Burke practiced hard before the game and were ready to take on Millbrook in the fight for the state title.

After doing an early morning shoot in NJ, I made my way up to Middletown NY to get ready for the game. Making some time up on the highway, I was able to get onto the field nearly an hour and a half before the game started – which allowed me enough time to get everything setup and capture their warm-up routine. While along the sidelines, I ran into one of the local paper photographers and a good friend of ours, Chet Gordon. After catching up, we focused on the game and the stiff competition between both Burke-Catholic and Millbrook.

As the fourth quarter started into its final moments, Burke was at the far end of the field trying to make a drive towards the end zone. As I sat next to Chet, we chatted about the next few shots we “thought” we had coming. Just then, the quarterback for Burke stepped back for a deep pass and sent the ball hurling towards #28, Dan Boylan. As the shutter snapped away, I knew that I had gotten a shot – but not the one above. Actually, it wasn’t until I got back to the office that I realized I had captured the image with ball just outside of his hands as well as the reaction from one of the Millbrook coaches. This catch put Burke within striking distance with nearly a minute left to play.

The crowd was on their feet as Burke setup for what would be their final play. The ball was snapped and at that moment, fumbled by the quarterback. As the Burke players scrambled to recover the ball, Millbrook found an opening and scooped it up. In the end, Burke-Catholic left Faller Field with a loss of only one point. Overall, I do have to admit that it was difficult to watch Burke’s season end the way it did after following them through all of their games this year. With this being the final high school game of the year for us, we were a bit sad to see the season come to an end – though we’re already looking forward to the next!

This year has been a great for us and Burke-Catholic. After receiving our first Action Photography Request for them, they kept coming in for more and more players on the team until we were practically covering everyone. In doing so, we attended the majority of their home games as well as some away games and also had the opportunity to follow them into their playoff run.

The first game of their playoff run was against the Tri-Valley Bears at Faller Field in Middletown NY. The game started off a little slow, but Burke quickly put an end to that when they scored the first touchdown. The shot above of #25, Steve Tomaszewski, was captured as he may his way around a bunch of Tri-Valley defenders. His run was stopped just short of the goal line but Burke was able to hold on and take the win and advance to the next round of playoffs. Next week we’ll be covering them as they play Millbrook once again at Faller Field.

One of our youth football clients is the Marlboro Youth Football League and every year we do a Fusion DVD Slideshow for their end of season dinner. Each slideshow features a combination of video and still images mixed with a great selection of music.

This year, we covered one of their home stands – where all of their teams played at home on one night. Though it was a long night, we were able to get some great shots and some amazing footage of the players as they played Goshen, Minisink Valley and Cornwall. With 2000+ images taken throughout the entire evening, it was very hard for us to pick a favorite. After selecting a bunch and narrowing it down a few times, we finally settled on this image of the Marlboro Mighty Mites #2, James Warren, making his way through a bunch of Goshen Defenders.

The Warriors home game against Kingston was the final one of the season. Unfortunately, I was a little late getting to the game as I had to take care of a small tire issue with our car. Until I returned, Loretta was on the sidelines capturing the action as it unfolded for the Warriors. As I returned to the field and made my way to where Loretta was camping, Minisink Valley was setting up their next play. As I was handed my camera and lens, I quickly checked the settings, turned towards the field and starting snapping shots of Louie Walther as he used one of the Tiger’s as a hurdle on his drive down the field. The shot above was one of two frames as he made his way right towards my camera. In the end, Kingston held the lead and left the Warriors with another loss.

It seems like we can’t get away from the Warwick Wildcats! Last week it was a game against Minisink Valley and this week it was against the Goshen Gladiators!

Like last year, we were asked to do a Year Book for the Gladiators which included portraits and action shots from the season. Since this was the last game of the season, we figured it would be a good one to cover as it would be a great addition to the book. Though we got some great shots of the Gladiators during the game, the Wildcats were stronger than ever as they scored their first touchdown in the first 30 seconds of the game. By the time we left at halftime, Warwick was up nearly three touchdowns and finished the game 59-27.

The shot above was of #10, Chris Ferrelli, just missing a long pass to him as Goshen tried to score against Warwick in the second half.

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