The Lenoir-Rhyne University Bears opened their 2010 season with a 59-10 win over the Chowan Hawks on Saturday night.  You can read the full story about this game HERE if you like... 

I enjoy shooting at Moretz Stadium, and the first game of the Bears' season is always a fun event.  I get to see lots of people that I only seem to see at LR football games.  I'm also impressed that the Bears have quite a few 'local' faces on their team who have been recruited from local high schools. 

I'll be back at Moretz Stadium next Saturday night when the Bears host Concord for another 7pm game...

Some pictures don't require words...

Friday was the opening day of the 2010 high school football season in our area. It's always a big day in local sports. Everyone seems to be craving the pigskin after several months of no prep sports and nothing but baseball to watch in the local area.  I'm one of the folks who looks forward to the opening day.  By this time of the year, I have covered baseball for almost six straight months.  The local high school baseball season starts around the first of March.  It ends up around the time school is out, but American Legion and Hickory Crawdads baseball are in full swing by then as well.  The Crawdads end their season around Labor Day, concluding the six-month saga of baseball.  Don't get me wrong by any means... I love baseball. 

As I prepared for the start of Friday night's game between the Fred T. Foard Tigers and the Bandys Trojans, I looked around for a photo opportunity that might summarize the essence of this day, and the above photo seems to have captured that feeling for me.  The Foard Tigers line up before each game in the tunnel underneath the grandstand before they charge the field just before kickoff.  The looks on the faces of these guys seem to capture that anticipation of opening day.

This being said, Friday was the first day of a long football season.  I'll be covering high school football every Friday night between now and Thanksgiving with the exception of two that I'll miss when I take my vacation in late October.  By that time, I'll be ready to get the hoops action rolling again...

I photographed a set of scrimmage games at Draughn High School today for some pre-season football activities that the newspaper is conducting in the week leading up to opening day next Friday.  I'm actually looking forward to starting this new football season, especially with the new camera.  It performed very well today, but I was also shooting with good daylight availability.  The real test of the new rig will be shooting under nothing but stadium light after we go off DST. 

I have never shot football scrimmages before.  This was some sort of Jamboree where each pair of teams got to play for an hour.  They each got 10 plays and then turned the ball over to the other team for 10 plays.  They played on half of the field while another two teams played the other half.  It must have also been a referee training camp as well because there were TONS of stripes on the field... too many in fact.  Photography without a ref in the way was nearly impossible.  I did get a nice set of really good photos though, so I'm hoping the camera is going to remedy some of my past issues...

The Hickory Crawdads defeated the Charleston RiverDogs tonight by a score of 8-7. Tonight's win by the Crawdads coupled with losses by Greensboro and Lakewood places Hickory just 1/2 game out of the lead in the Northern Division behind Lakewood and five games ahead of Greensboro. Since Lakewood won the division in the first half, the Crawdads don't actually have to win in the second half to make the playoffs. All they have to do is finish second or better. Hopefully they will win outright, but playoff hopes are definitely high in Hickory right now!

I went down to Glenn Hilton Park for a couple hours this afternoon with the camera. The scenery there hasn't changed much lately, but I have noticed quite a few young wood ducks along the banks. I haven't seen any mature males, but I hope I will one day soon. They are quite photogenic. The park is also overrun with people during the summer months when the weather is nice. I felt lucky to even get in the park this afternoon. Usually a police officer is parked at the entrance turning people away because the parking lot is full.

As I was coming out of the boardwalk area, I noticed these two ducks sitting on a log, so I found a good spot and photographed them for a while. I didn't really get anything I was very happy with from the shoot, but I definitely enjoyed the time I spent doing it...

I have some time to evaluate the performance of my new camera, and I'm quite pleased with the results so far. The Canon EOS 7D is a perfect upgrade for someone like me who shoots sports along with other types of photography.  My ability to shoot decent looking sports photos after dark has been somewhat sketchy in the past, but I have managed to get by.  With my Canon 20D and 30D, I have been limited to ISO 1600, and that comes with quite a bit of noise, especially when I had to underexpose shots to get my shutter speed fast enough to handle the action.  With the new 7D, I can shoot at ISO 3200 and 6400 and get usable results.  I'm looking forward to trying the high school football circuit again this season where the light is pathetic. 

Jon Reep made an appearance at tonight's Hickory Crawdads baseball game at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory, North Carolina. Jon is a Hickory native and the winner of "The Last Comic Standing." Before the game, a group of fans who had purchased tickets for a special event with Jon gathered on the lower deck at the ball park for a meet and greet session. Everyone got a meal and the opportunity to meet and talk with Mr. Reep and get an autographed copy of a DVD as well...

Going out to the Hickory Crawdads baseball game often opens up more photo opportunities than the normal sports targets.  I was in the dugout this evening and noticed a rather large group of kids sitting directly behind me.  Every one of them was eating, so I took aim and fired a few frames in their general direction.  This little girl was really going to work on this ball park hot dog.  The cute factor was off the scale. 

I haven't blogged here much lately.  I am going to fix that because I miss doing it! 

Today was media day at L.P. Frans Stadium, which marks the first day that the media and public are given access to the 2010 Hickory Crawdads Baseball Team.  This is my absolute favorite time of year as a photographer because I love photographing baseball, the people, and events associated with it.   It also hammers home the idea that spring is actually here.  Today, with the mercury topping out at nearly 90°, we had a great afternoon in the park. 

I got my photo assignments finished up with the players and field staff today, so I just walked around at field level for a while with my camera in hand looking around to see what sorts of visitors had found their way into the park.  The two young men in the photo above were camped out at the third base dugout field gate to watch from the closest possible vantage point as the 'Dads went through some on-field drills.  These two also managed to collect a few autographs as the players came to the field. 

I plan to focus my spring and summer this year primarily on Hickory Crawdads baseball.  I'm looking forward to it and my personal objective is to be at a minimum of 60 out of the 70 home games this season.  We'll see what happens... Come on out to the park and enjoy some professional baseball with me this summer!