Flipping out to start the season

Shot of the night in the Fresno State women’s exhibition game against Fresno Pacific at the Save Mart Center. I hope the rest of the season goes this well for me.

For you gear heads, I actually shot this with my Canon 5D and a 300mm lens. I only have one “fast” camera – a 1D Mark III which has a 70-200mm on it for the near side of the court. I use the 5D for “just in case” shots, which worked out pretty well here.

Field of pride

Click the “i” above the images to see the photo captions.

I spent the day in the tiny west side farm town of Mendota on Friday covering the undefeated high school varsity football team and first year coach Beto Mejia for a feature that ran in The Bee today. It was a nice change to spend some time on a project like this to really capture the flavor of what was happening in that little community that has for so long been suffering through high unemployment and a poor economy. The story that went along with the photos was written by Andy Boogaard and I think it does a great job of bringing that tale to life. The community really came together for this team which really hasn’t gotten a lot of press over the last few years. I can’t remember the last time I covered a game there.

I got to the school at about 3pm when school was getting out. The players were all wearing their dress shirts and ties, something new this year. They came together with the JV team for a team meeting and meal together. During that time I met with the school principal Gloria Bolin who went on and on about how special the team was. She was even quoting player stats. She was excited that they were able to beat Dos Palos, a power that regularly beat Mendota in the past. This week they were to take on Orange Cove, who knocked the Aztecs out of the playoffs last year.

I watched the team warm up in the dark and only a faint light coming from the stadium. Then it was to the weight room where they gathered for a final meeting and Coach Beto Mejia’s inspiring message. He fired those players up in every way but I could still see that they were a little nervous.

Once the game got started those nerves started to show with a dropped ball or two and less than stellar play. It didn’t take long though and the team put those nerves aside and started to play well. The Aztecs made the first score and Orange Cove was able to tie it up at 7 but that was where it ended. It was all Aztecs the rest of the way.

There was one play where the Aztecs had the ball on 4th down and about 25 or 30 to go on about the Orange Cove 35. I was thinking why don’t they just punt it and pin Orange Cove deep on their end of the field. But it was clear they were going to go for it. They threw the ball deep and it was a beautiful touchdown catch in the end zone. That sure paid off.

In the end it was 43-7 but I watched as Coach Mejia wouldn’t let it get to the players’ heads. He forbid them from rubbing it in on their Facebook pages or anywhere else. He also reminded them firmly that it was far from a perfect game for them and they had a lot to work on. They guy has a great work ethic and his drive for success is motivating. I congratulate the Aztecs and principal Bolin for their move to hire Mejia and I look forward to covering their playoff games in a few weeks.

Water battle

Shot a water polo showdown of top contenders in the Central Section at Buchanan High School tonight. It featured the top-ranked Buchanan boys team taking on last year’s champs, Clovis West. Buchanan took a quick 6-0 lead but Clovis West battled back before narrowly losing in the end.

Water polo is another one of those really tough sports to shoot. You need a long lens to get tight in on the action but the game is played with such speed it’s really hard to follow. I usually end up standing way behind one of the nets and try to catch the action as it comes toward me. The light is another issue. Late in the season the games are played under the lights – well, light is a loosely defined word here. My Canon 1D Mark II pushed to 32,000 iso barely gets the job done.

Red and White Hoops Night at Fresno State

Shot the Fresno State Red and White Hoops Night tonight. This is actually a free night to watch basketball at the Save Mart Center and a nice chance to get a preview of the Bulldog men’s and women’s basketball teams before they start their seasons. For the price of nothing you could watch both teams scrimmage for 10 minutes each and then compete in a 3-pointer contest and, even better, a dunk contest. That was cool to watch and even better to photograph. Not bad for free. I just hope new coach Rodney Terry and the men’s team have a little more worth watching during the season than they’ve had in the past. I also have a gallery up on the Bee photography site.

Central Section girls team golf championships

Laura Scrivner of Clovis West hits out of the bunker on the 18th hole during the Central Section girls team golf championship at Sunnyside Country Club in Fresno on Monday.

I love getting these sand shots because so much of golf is not all that visually interesting. Getting a good bunker shot takes a lot of patience and anticipation.