Pair of Portraits

Today was pretty uneventful and only had one assignment. It seemed to go by pretty fast, too. My only shoot was of the above, Dana Kollmann. She was crime scene investigator for the Baltimore County Police, and tells all about it in her new book "Never Suck a Dead Man's Hand: Curious Adventures of a CSI."

Other than that around noon, I just finished up editing everything for tomorrows paper. I did also manage to shoot another photo of Brian for Emmy Magazine in front of his "wall of fame."

You can see that shot [CLICK HERE]. If you really want to know more about Brian, just look at my Flickr page. I was also asked earlier this week what my flickr page is for. It an editorial page where I get feedback on my lit work. I throw some other stuff up there every once in a while, but most of it is for [The STROBIST] group.

Emotion and Mistakes

[SHOT TWO] [SHOT THREE]

Ever had a bad shooting day? Today was my day. I haven't been this disappointed with my overall shooting (in a one day period) for a very long time.

This shoot ended the day my long day. Not only was I frustrated with my classes, but my shooting (as mentioned). My mind was blank on a shoot idea, too. Normally I know exactly what I am looking for before even getting to a shoot.

I hope to make up for my bad day of shooting tomorrow with a woman who works for CSI. Got a 12:30 in a "you'll love it" forensics lab.

I forgot to change my sharpening from +1 to normal, and I forgot to change from 800 ISO to 400. Ugh. Petty mistakes I shouldn't be making. Thank god they are getting printed on newspaper.

I must say, I wasn't happy with this shot when shooting. But I am glad I got a bit of emotion out of him.

Tiger Lax Starts on Top.

"Towson junior midfielder Brian Vetter celebrates after defeating Loyola in their season opener. Vetter contributed a career high four goals, including the game winner, to lead the Tigers to a 9-8 victory over the Greyhounds."

Aside from Kiel getting his car towed at Loyola during the game (Thanks, [JOHN S.] for taking us to the impound lot) the men's lacrosse team defeated Loyola, 9-8.

I must say, I miss playing, but I still love shooting the game. It reminded me how much I actually shoot during one game because it's so fast, action packed.

Back to the towing. Loyola is one of the worst places to find parking. We ended up parking on Cold Spring along with just about everyone else.

However, Kiel still got towed and had to cough up $245. You would think that Loyola athletics would have an announcement around 4p.m. saying "anyone parked along Coldspring Lane should move their vehicles before 4p.m ... cars will be towed."

Last, too bad I am not a Canon shooter. The Mark III is pretty crazy. Listen to the shutter about halfway through in this [video]

Winter Sports: Done

Ahh. Finally.

Nothing against winter sports, but I will no longer have to sit for two hours on a hard floor. I can finally get outside and get some fresh air and shoot in the cold and/or the rain (or in tomorrows case, rain, sleet, ice, and snow), but I am looking forward mostly to the nice Saturday's that are filled with sunny, warm lacrosse games.

What a game to end the season with today, too. I had not seen the Towson Center as packed as it was as it was today. Good game, but we ended up losing. What is new.

Anyways, not much to talk about today, other than bumping into [David Hobby] at the game. Obviously he isn't a fan of screaming sorority girls. haha.

Where is Spring?

As I sat on the hard-court covering the women's basketball team (hopefully for the last time this season), I thought to myself, when do spring sports start?

My back, my legs, and my mind is tired of covering basketball, indoor sports, and indoor events. Color me ungrateful, but I cannot wait to start shooting some warm weather sports, events. Thankfully the lacrosse season kicks off in about a week and there is only about two basketball games left.

I need some fresh air, less snow, 70 degree air, and some shorts.

Gymnastics: 1st Time.

Today I shot my first gymnastics event, as Towson hosted the Shelli Calloway Invitational. I always hear that volleyball is the toughest sport to shoot, but I thought gymnastics has been the hardest yet. Not to mention the Towson Center seemed a lot darker than the typical basketball games. I guess that's because the lights aren't reflecting off the polished wood court.

I have to give these girls credit, gymnastics is legit. Although everything looked impeccable to me, I know there had to be some mistakes in there. Every event involves 80% upside down, flipping, and spinning maneuvers I know I couldn't do. I might have to shoot another one just for fun soon.

Anyways, I'll try and post up some more shots in a little while. I am exhausted.

Winter Mix Freezes Campus Activities, Classes.

"Piloting a deflated raft and a garbage bag, Towson junior Zandy Tepe (right) and Chris Smith coast down the snowy, icy embankment Tuesday afternoon after classes were cancelled."

I woke up this morning; early and disappointed. There was only a mere amount of the white stuff dusting my lawn. I was to wake up and head to campus to follow maintenance all day to compile a photo story about cancelling the first day of school. The only problem was [Towson] didn’t cancel.

I went through my daily morning routine and went to class. By 9a.m. the property was icy and slick. At noon I headed back to the office excited to shoot some [snow] stuff.

I did a couple rounds with the facilities maintenance crews and shot for about two hours and ended up compiling a cool, short 20 frame slide show (which is uploading as we speak) on [The Towerlight] site.

For having "no assignments" today, I shot an awful lot.

[FIRST SNOW DAY OF THE SEMESTER PHOTO ESSAY]