My Big Break in Photojournalism
Originally uploaded by John Setzler.
I was scheduled to go to the county courthouse this afternoon to photograph the sheriff giving a tour of the new jail facilities. Just as I was packing up my gear getting ready to go, the big call came...
"There's a pig that is going to be in a movie... we need you to go make some picutres."
Ok... A pig is good. I can do this. I knew my trip was going to be into the boondocks. The directions I was given told me to take the first paved road to the left. I took the first paved road, but it didn't stay paved long. I ended up on a dirt road before I got to my destination.
When I arrived on site at McCall Livestock, I was greeted by Sean Caplette. Sean is the booking agent for Sally, and Sally is a 400+ pound hog. She was friendly too. She was sharing a dressing room with about four other hogs close to her same size. I shot some photos, cleaned the 'stuff' out of the treads of my shoes, and then went over to Maiden High School to photograph a soccer game...
My 15 minutes of fame is over :(
Two to go…
Originally uploaded by John Setzler.
The Hickory Lady Tornadoes advanced past Eastern Randolph in tonight's game at the Joel Coliseum annex at Wake Forest University by a score of 94-77. After reading today's story by Chris Hobbs in the Hickory Daily Record, I started to worry. I knew that Kelley Harrow had missed the last three games with health problems. When I read that Karsyn Jarrett had suffered a sprained ankle, I felt sure the Tornadoes were going to have their hands full tonight. I couldn't attend tonight's game, but I listened on the WHKY radio broadcast. I was pleased to hear that Harrow and Jarrett were both warming up. As I listened, I heard that Karsyn was wearing some sort of air cast on her foot. After I heard WHKY's David Elder use words like "trooper" and "she's here to play," I felt confident that Karsyn would be on the court at least part of the time tonight. I just hope that she didn't over-do it and make it impossible for her to play on Saturday.
Kelley Harrow's recovery time on the bench must have been fruitful. She stepped up for a 29-point onslaught. I hope the team maintains good health and attitude for Saturday's match against Carver. I'll be there for that one at 1:00pm.
If any of you Tornado fans that might read this could hook me up with a 2X Tornadoes tshirt, I would love to wear it to the game on Saturday :) I would go buy one if I just knew were to find some :)
They’re Baaaaaack!
Originally uploaded by John Setzler.
Yes... The boys of summer :) Baseball is my favorite sport to photograph. I got my first taste of it for the season this afternoon at Fred T. Foard High School as the Tigers hosted the Lake Norman Wildcats. Aaron King opened the game on the mound for the Tigers. Foard defeated Lake Norman by a score of 4-3.
The weather this afternoon was not bad, considering it's late February. The temperatures were just above 60 degrees with partly cloudy skies and a very mild breeze. I like baseball even better when it's above 90 degrees. I'm definitely in for some cold weather baseball games before the real summer gets here :)
Break Time…
I think I'm due for a break. I just finished up two solid weeks of basketball for the newspaper. I traveled to Mars Hill College in Weaverville, NC last night to cover two of our local teams who were competing in the 3A Western Sectional Finals. The game times were slated for 6:30pm and 8:00pm. Hickory High's girls defeated North Bumcombe by a score of 65-45 to advance to the next round. St. Stephens' boys lost a triple-overtime heartbreaker to Olympic by a score of 76-78.
Hickory's Girls will be traveling to Winston-Salem this week for two games that will determine who goes to Raleigh for the Finals. The other teams joining Hickory in this race are TC Roberson, Eastern Randolph, and Carver. The dates, times, and pairings for these games will be announced later today by the NCHSAA. I'm not sure if I will be covering any of the play during the coming week, but if Hickory advances to the final in this segment, I'll be there to cover it next Saturday. I'm expeciting Hickory's girls to be in the state finals.
The bad thing about basketball season being close to finished is that I'll be tossed back outside VERY soon. Baseball and girls soccer is starting up as we speak. I may get a little downtime though.
I have been so busy with sports lately that my SIGNS OF THE TIMES project has been suffering. It's Sunday and I haven't done a photo for that this week yet. I'm going to have to scramble to find a candidate for that before the end of the day. I'm working all day at the newspaper today, so that may prove to be a challenge.
I have a couple interesting photo assignments today. At 2:30, I'm going to photograph a guy who makes gospel music CDs and sends them the troops in Iraq. At 3:30, I am going to a Dr. Seuss birthday celebration at the local library. At 5:30, I'm going to a Black Arts Festival in Newton.
I don't have but one day of class this comign week. Thursday and Friday are holidays of some sort at school, and since I'm only in class on Tuesday and Thursday, I get a week out. I think it's going to give me some time to work on some of my own photography this week.
Anyway... have a nice day :)
On the Road
Originally uploaded by John Setzler.
Hickory High's Lady Tornadoes advanced to the next level of the state playoffs by defeating Asheville tonight by a score of 76-52. The Lady Tornadoes will travel to Mars Hill College on Saturday to face North Buncombe in the next round.
I volunteered my services to go cover the North Buncombe game on Saturday (along with a few other games where we have local teams playing.) My offer hasn't been approved yet, but I believe it will be. I'm looking forward to going :)
20D Repair Update:
Canon Repair contacted me today with an estimate of $196.01 to repair the 20D. I gave them my debit card number and should have the camera back one day next week. I miss it :)
A New Gun on the Street…
DPReview posted an article on the new Canon EOS 1D Mark III today. The entire article is HERE.
10 megapixels... 10 frames per second... I wish I could afford one :) My sports photography would move to an entirely new level :)
I hope Santa sees this or I win the lottery soon :)
Going in Reverse
Marcus Shuford - Newton-Conover
Originally uploaded by John Setzler.
I packaged up my 20D today and sent it to Canon for repair. The camera died on me Friday night while I was shooting a basketball game. Tonight was my first basketball assignment that I had to shoot with my older 10D, and I miss the 20D already. Of course, I was in the darkest gym in the conference once again, which makes things even more difficult. I have gotten myself in a rut shooting these low light situations with my 50mm f/1.4 lens. The autofocus on this lens is too slow and the depth of field is too shallow at f/2.0 to get consistently good photos. I need to try to break myself from shooting with this lens and go back to my 24-70 f/2.8 and the 70-200 f/2.8 and let my flash provide more light in the scene. I just think it looks odd when the players are surrounded by darkness... Maybe it's time to experiment some more :)
The Polar Plunge
Originally uploaded by John Setzler.
The Polar Plunge is the first event of its kind in my area that I'm aware of. I have seen things like this on TV before, but never locally. This event was organized as a fund-raiser for the Special Olympics. People gathered on the shore of Lake Hickory around lunch time today to participate in the event. In this photo, members of Lenoir-Rhyne College's Pi Kappa Phi fraternity take the plunge along with their $2000 contribution to the Special Olympics. The temperature at the time of the plunge was about 35 degrees with 5-15 mph winds to accompany the cold.
The Camera is Broken :(
Originally uploaded by John Setzler.
I went out to Maiden High School tonight to photograph the men's and women's conference tournament championship games. I got off to a good start. I got lots of great photos during the first half of the women's game. I took a break at half time to get a drink and stretch my legs. I came back after the half, took up my position on the baseline, fired up my camera, and..........
Dammit!
When I turned it on the shutter started firing randomly and the big ERROR 99 popped up on the LCD. Luckily I had enough photos to cover me for that game, but I was supposed to shoot the men's game as well. I didn't have my backup camera with me either. Luckily enough, I had a backup photographer with me :) We have a new photographer on staff, and I had taken him with me to get him acquainted with the procedures of shooting high school basketball. I asked him to handle the second game. I headed back to the newspaper, processed my photos, and came back home to investigate my camera problems. I tried everything to no avail.
I called Canon. Unfortunately, I have to send it off for repair on Monday. Luckily, I have a backup camera.
What's on tap for the weekend?
I'm photographing a wrestling tournament tomorrow afternoon at St. Stephens. I think that's the only assignment I have, but I plan to go photograph a "Polar Plunge" on Lake Hickory around noon tomorrow just for fun. I'm not working on Sunday, so I think some sort of road trip is in order. I'm not sure where I'll go yet, but it will probably be into the mountains somewhere...
1000 Points
Braelinn Connor - Fred T. Foard
Originally uploaded by John Setzler.
Tonight's CVAC Conference Tournament Semi-Final game was between the Lady Tigers of Fred T. Foard and the Lady Indians of St. Stephens. 3:08 into the second period of play, Foard's Braelinn Connor makes a free throw that takes her to a career total of 1000 points for the Lady Tigers.