Wanamaker Sports Photography

Last night we headed up to Kingston, New York for the Section 9 Class D semi-final basketball game between John A Coleman Catholic and Eldred High School. Loretta’s little brother, Robert, was one of the players for the Eldred team.

We arrived a little early so we had time to setup our strobes at the end of the gym. Thankfully, there was a small stage at one end of the court where we could setup everything as there was barely any room behind the hoops. Using some tips given to us by a friend, we set our strobes and cameras to the proper settings and took a couple of test shots of the girls basketball game, which was in the third period when we arrived.

As the game got underway, the points lead bounced back and forth between the two teams until John A Coleman had a series of dead on shots and fouls in their favor. From this moment forward, the points between the teams would be close, but the players for Eldred weren’t able to regain the lead.

Here are a couple shots of both teams in action …

Excited to see some of the shots we got, I immediately downloaded the cards at 11:30PM last night and began browsing through a bunch of the shots. As I viewed the thumbnails, I saw this great shot of a John A Coleman player “attacking” the ball as it bounced off the back board …

 … And this image of a couple players during a foul shot …

I guess thats what “extreme concentration” looks like!

Two weeks ago, at the Minisink Valley Cheerleading Competition, we were asked to attend the Pine Bush Cheerleading Competition, which took place this past Saturday. It was like Deja Vu! A lot of the same teams that were at the Minisink Competition were also at this one … with the same routines and the same music. However, there were some new teams that attended and we were able to get some great shots of the girls (and guys) during their performances.

There was one group during the morning session that was comprised of absolutely adorable kids. Known as Take One, this group had one little male cheerleader who looked more nervous to be out on the mat than anything. Over all, they put on a great performance!

As the day progressed, we snapped some great shots of the older performers as well …

Including some of those funny “frozen face” shots …

One of the other photos I captured was inspired by a local press photographer (Chet Gordon) who we occassionally run into at some of the events we attend. A recent blog post he had showed two shots of competitors hanging together during two different events that he attended. Each shot was composed of just their legs and feet as they huddled together.

The shot I captured was in similar fashion except it was the patterns that caught my eye …

Overall, it was a great day and we had a lot of fun capturing the images!

This past Saturday, we attended our first Cheerleading Competition hosted by Minisink Valley. While we’ve photographed cheerleaders at football games before, this competition turned out to be a completely different animal for us!

We setup in the morning for portraits in the far corner of the gym and found a nice spot behind the judges to video record all of the performances. We had a slightly smaller crew this time with Sean working the video camera, Loretta and Jenny at the table and myself shooting action shots during the event.

As things got underway, I quickly found that I was trying to anticipate the next flip, kick or jump. Needless to say, I did so with very little luck! Everything was extremely fast paced and moved over every inch of the mat. As the day went on, Jenny would join me in front of the judges and would shoot group shots to get the action as it happened while I would shoot closeups on a few of the competitors. Some of the shots we captured were interesting!

In our new Photo Of The Week section, we also posted a great shot of one of the cheerleaders with a memorable face that became an instant classic!

In between the competitions, we would watch the crowd and sidelines for things that might catch our attention. The little boy pictured below was hanging out with us at the edge of the mats and decided to pick up one of the megaphones that was being used as a barrier. I think he might have a future in this

During the morning set, I hopped up during one of the breaks to make sure everything was alright at the table with Loretta and Jenny and to check out the video Sean captured so far. As I came around the judges table, I found this couple who seemed to support their little cheerleader 150%!

Overall, it was a great day for everyone and we were even invited to do the same for the Cheer For All Winter Fest at Pine Bush High School on February 16th! Let’s see what kind of shots come out of that one!

During wrestling season, no matter where you turn, tournaments are always going on somewhere. This past weekend was no different. With the half day Minisink Valley JV Tournament on Saturday and the full day Vernon Team Wrestling Classic on Sunday, it felt like we were completely enveloped in it!

The Minisink Valley Tournament on Saturday saw wrestlers in attendance from a bunch of the local area schools including Warwick, Port Jervis, Washingtonville and Goshen. Loretta provided full coverage of that tournament, getting a bunch of great action shots of the wrestlers doing what they do best!

The Vernon Team Wrestling Classic on Sunday saw even more teams, some local like the Sussex Wantage Wrestling Team and others from much farther away (Philly & South Jersey). I spent the majority of the day shooting the tournament myself and then Loretta joined up just prior to finals to provide some better coverage. I have to say that we saw some unbelievably good matches between the wrestlers! Most of the kids ranged in age between 7yrs and 13yrs and wrestled ten times better than most of the High School guys that we follow! Here are a couple shots from Sunday as well!

Now its time to get ready for the Minisink Valley Invitational next Saturday where we’ll debut our On-Site Printing and Custom Sports Posters! I can see it now … Its going to be a busy week!

It only feels like yesterday was the end of our football season … and now starts wrestling. As fast as the holidays approach, so do all of the matches and tournaments we have booked for this season.

This year, the Minisink Valley Wrestling Teams have us attending some of their best matches against Delaware Valley, Port Jervis and Valley Central as well as their Invitational Tournament in January and their most recent tournament, the Jim Wilson Duels, this past Saturday.

Loretta and I were onsite early Saturday morning to begin capturing everything that went on throughout the day. The time flew by as we captured over 1,500 images of the competitors before we had to leave ahead of the impeading snow storm. Unfortunately, this did not let us capture the finals!

However, it looks to be a good year for the Warriors as there are alot of fresh face and strong talent!

Here are a couple shots from the Jim Wilson Duels: