Exhausted

Aside from class today at noon, I shot three different sports back to back. Not only am I fatigued from basically having a twelve hour day, but outright exhausted from watching numerous athletes sweat and workout in the heat. Granted I still play soccer every week, I guess I was worn down as if I had be exercising with all three teams.

Rugby practice started at 3p.m. and made for some great photos, whether they were working out or hitting each other on the pitch. I only wish I could have stayed a little longer. From there I trekked over to Burdick field to shoot frisbee at 4p.m. Pretty distracting backgrounds and not much action per say, so I ended up shooting a lot of images from the parking garage to clean things up.

Hot and sweaty much like the athletes, I went back to the office to grab a bite to eat and edit some of these images before the first football game of the year.

Towson won, but I was a bit rusty with my shooting. The second half went a lot smoother than the first half. Local Baltimore shooter and Baltimore Sun staffer Chris Assaf was also there. Not sure if he will post anything on his blog from the game, bit his blog is worth a read.

Well, off to bed. I am extremely tired and have a lot to do tomorrow...and Saturday, and Sunday. Thankfully, I have Monday off.

I'll try and get some more images up from rugby, frisbee, and the football game possibly tomorrow afternoon.

Patient parking

"A Volvo piloted by Eric Trester, a second year grad student, pulls into one of the last remaining spots in Lot 14 at the Towson Center, Tuesday morning. At 9:35a.m. Lots 13 and 14 were completely full. "It took me two minutes today [to find a parking spot], I guess I got lucky," Trester said."

One reoccurring problem that has dated back before I was an official student at Towson is parking. Which means, the first couple issues of The Towerlight usually headlines with a parking image on the cover at some point. I don't remember covering it my first semester, but last spring I shot something along the lines of a parking meter and people fighting for parking in the background. Not literally.

Now I should have preconceived an idea for parking for semester, knowing that it would probably get a story, but I didn't. With two ideas in my head, one being a remote on a car another to find the last possible open spot, I went with the latter. So what I did was throw my 12-24mm on top of my monopod equipped with pocket wizards for remote firing capability. This gave me a nice high angle that I wouldn’t normally be able to achieve and a view of the entire lot (which normally isn’t filled). Then I forced myself to get out of bed on a day I didn’t have class to patiently stake out that last open spot. After waiting for a girl to leave, I had my shot. As the (above) car made its way into the spot, I fired away. I like the shot; it’s not the most interesting or portfolio worthy, but something different.

I’ll agree that parking is insane here on campus. Normally the garages fill up around 9:30a.m. At which point, if you are a commuter you have two options. Search for that one open space for 45 minutes in the garages or park at the Towson Center, which is the stadium on campus. In the past, if you couldn’t find a spot, it was guaranteed you would have a spot in the Towson Center lot. The down side, you had to make a 15 minute pilgrimage to the closest building. Not the best thing to do when it’s raining, snowing, or if you're late for class. But finding a spot in the Towson Center has become unachievable.

I could continue to rant about parking much like every student on campus has been doing, but I think Alex Plimack, a Towerlight colleague, summed it up pretty well in his opinion piece in today’s issue. Click here for the column.

Silence will not protect you

"Eight-time British National Champion and Olympian, Steven Cousins performs during Kimmie's Angels on Ice, a skating show benefiting The Cool Kids Campaign for pediatric oncology at 1st Mariner Arena on Saturday, Aug. 25."

I didn't want to post another image from figure skating, but I know what I said before. I would have posted a new image, but I left my lap top in the office.

The title of this post refers to Kanji's, now my sensei, reoccurring phrase from Japanese 101 class tonight. Using it in a different form than probably intended, I am using it in the way that being silent or in this case, not posting in a few days, will not protect me from e-mails saying, "Why haven't you updated in a few days?" I never thought I would have daily readers of my blog, but apparently I do. So thank you for keeping me up to speed.

Moving on, two words sum up my first two days of classes at Towson: overwhelmed and excited. I have a full load as always on top of The Towerlight and freelancing. My life consists of shooting, editing, studying, and sleeping. I really have little to zero free time. What little I do have, I am writing here.

Although my three classes all hold a higher level of interest than previous semesters, I still feel a bit overwhelmed. I don't know if it is because I've been shooting 98.9% of all The Towerlight assignments, or that I am just not into my normal flow of school, but I feel like I already have way too many things to do.

I am confident I'll do very well in all my classes; not only because of my higher than normal interest, but all of my professors are all great people who take pride in what they are teaching. I can't say the same for some past professors I've had in my collegiate career.

I'll wrap this post up with this, a quote from an e-mail from a friend and local shooter Dave Hoffmann:

"I know the start of a new semester sucks, but then it turns to the good old routine -- until it gets close to the end of the semester when you can't wait for it to end. That cycle continues until graduation – then all you have to look forward to for the next 40+ years is a couple weeks of vacation a year."

Yet, another reason I want to stay in college forever. I’ll never have this sort of freedom ever again. Sigh.

Oyasuminasai.

Harford County on ice

"Canadian Nation Champion and Olympian Joannie Rochette performs her first routine during Kimmie's Angels on Ice, a skating show benefiting The Cool Kids Campaign for pediatric oncology at 1st Mariner Arena on Saturday, Aug. 25."

OK, I lied. I wasn't shooting an event called Harford County on ice, although I thought it should have been called that.

I really was shooting Kimmie's Angels on Ice, a skating show benefiting The Cool Kids Campaign for pediatric oncology at 1st Mariner Arena Saturday night. It was the perfect assignment to end my day with. Why? Because previously in the day I had been shooting in the disgustingly humid, hot weather. Shooting rink side was exactly what I needed. Matt Button (Matt, this is where I insert a link to your web page, ha) was contemplating laying on the ice to cool off.

Moving on, having never shot anything on ice before, including ice hockey, I was presently surprised how many nice images I produced during this event. I thought the mixed lighting would be a major factor, but simple spot metering helped cure my initial problems.

As I continued to make images from the top section of the arena, it struck me that a lot of Harford county residents were below me.

In attendance was:
- Of course, myself.
- Kimmie Meissner, World and US National Champion, Olympian and local figure skater.
- Photo Editor and staffer, Matt Button of The Aegis.
- Baltimore Examiner writer, Sean Welsh.
- Past teammate and peer, Daniel Petty; who was interning for the organization running the event.
- Petty's parents.
- Mitch Stringer. Wait, I don't think he is from Harford county, but he was there anyways.
- Also, three other peers and high school classmates who were volunteering.

I am sure there were a couple others in the stands, but it was funny we were all there for different reasons.

I desperately need sleep. These past couples days have been hectic. Five and six assignments a day - 12 or more hour days.

I'll try and get some more figure skating images up after the article runs on Monday.

Carbon copy

"Towson University President Robert L. Carett addresses freshmen and families during the new student convocation held at the Towson Center Friday, Aug. 24."

Down time. That's what I have right now. I've been extremely busy the past few days and things aren't beginning to slow down. I have about an hour to edit and relax before two more assignments tonight. Then I'll be finally heading home, catching some sleep, only to be back in Towson around 11a.m. After that, I'll have a nice buffer period from noon until 6p.m. or so where I'll end my night shooting Olympic figure skater Kimmie Meissner.

For now, I just got back from shooting the new student convocation at the Towson Center. A boring event which reminds me a lot of graduation here at Towson University. At times I could have closed my eyes and reopened the and thought I was actually at graduation.

Everything is a carbon copy of graduation. Substitute seniors with freshmen and street clothes with graduation gowns and you can probably picture the event in your own head.

The thing with this event looking the same and having basically the same speakers is that I've shot this same sort of event close to six times, if not more. Each and every time I have to dig deep and search for something completely different. And I should remind you, not only different from what I've shot, but different from what was shot ten years ago, too.

So today, I think I did well. I found a lot of angles and views that I never saw before and that are clean. Hopefully they won't get buried in the next issue.

Moving day

Alex Berry, above, was my main subject today. Berry, an incoming Towson freshman, was moving out of his parent’s home in Glen Burnie, Md. to his new dorm at Towson University today. Instead of generalizing a story on move-in day at TU, I pitched an idea to run a feature and a photo story on a select random freshman.

After missing the announcement and dreaming of the new Nikon D3X and D300, I woke up this morning at 6a.m. so that I could be at Berry's parents home by 8a.m. I was hoping I could beat the horrific daily traffic on I-95 in White Marsh. It didn't pan out that way.

With an prearranged arriving time around 8a.m. I arrived late; a quarter after eight late. Rushing out of my car to knock on the door (I saw no packing activity) I expected to get no images or maybe five minutes worth of shooting at the first location.

To my surprise, and Berry's, they weren't even up yet. Thankfully I knocked, then called, and woke them. They were semi-glad I woke them...or so I hope.

Once awake and alert, I began documenting Berry's packing and moving out. Pretty cut and dry stuff.

From Glen Burnie I headed back toward Towson to wait for them to get there. About a half-hour later they arrived. Other than unpacking the vehicles, I basically waited in line with Berry as I tried to make that look somewhat interesting. After listening to Josh, our reporter, interview him in line for what seemed like an hour, Berry finally began carrying his stuff to his new room.... his small room with two other roommates.

I don't think I could have ever done that; maybe with one other roommate in those small dorms, but never three total strangers.

Around 3p.m. Josh and I called it quits; we got way more than we needed. I think the photo story came out pretty good. I'll be excited to see how people react, including Berry, to the story and images.

One down, thirty-four more to go

That's right. One down issue down; approximately thirty-four more Towerlight issues to go before the end of the fall semester.

I normally don't do this, but today I am posting my commentary that is featured in our first issue, which is our Freshmen Survival Guide.

But before that, the above image is of local artist Dorian Dean. I like it because I used natural light mainly to light her and then balanced that with two strobe light sources behind her. I used the strobes to get full range of values (red to white) on the walls. Not my favorite image of the issue, nor most beloved portrait ever, but I like it for one reason or another.

Alas, my commentary. Enjoy.
--
High school - The best years of your life. Yeah, right. I don't know the genius who constructed that statement, but obviously they never attended college.

I first must congratulate every student. Whether you're a freshman roaming campus bewildered for the first time or a super senior cranking out your seventh year at Towson, you did it. Graduating high school is a big, exciting step in life.

But, you're now in college. Welcome to the land of freedom. Teachers and parents no longer dictating your every move. Peers no longer watching your steps; criticizing them along the way.

I don't care if you were the class dork or the most popular kid in high school; life is starting completely over now.

Here in college we have a miniature world at our disposal, but with very few real world restrictions or pressures. In short, we can do what we want.

Don't want to go to class? Don't. Your professor isn't going to call mommy and daddy. Want to get inebriated and pass out by the Glen Towers? Go for it. Want to study 24- hours a day and earn an impeccable GPA? Rock it out.

I think there are only two times in our short lives when we have this sort of freedom. One is at the beginning; our first 21 years or so. Living at home, attending grade school, and college. Our role? Wake up, go to class, come home, and study. Wash, rinse, repeat. Mix in a social life and some extracurricular activities and before we know it, we're out of school forever.

The second is much farther along when we are old and retired. Obviously no more work or obligations. But who wants to fast forward life to that point?

In the years prior to college we always had other people's rules to follow. In a lot of instances you will now make your own rules.

Caveat: before you go crazy with your newborn, independence make sure to remember the follow things:

- Be yourself. At some point you've changed your personality or style of life to imitate someone else. Don't fool yourself. Think back to when you were five years old. We never once worried about being judged by others. I have relearned this concept throughout my life. If you can accept being yourself and not worry about others opinions, life is much easier.

-Pursue your true passions. Follow your dreams no matter what the salary of the career path may be; I am certainly not pursuing photojournalism for the money. If you always dreamed of being a doctor, a movie-star, or a godforsaken Teletubby; do it. This isn't the time to hold back on learning the ropes of your true love and possible future career.

- Don't waste your money. Simple concept, right? Whether it's your own dough or your parents, don't blow it being an idiot. I am confident that a small percentage of you freshmen will not make it back for a second semester. Why? You'll fail out because you took advantage of your newly developed drinking and partying habits. Granted, everyone has fun, as do I, just don't blow your tuition bill on a ludacris number of shots at The Kent every night to the point where you fail to make it to those dreadful 8 a.m. courses. Have fun, but be smart. Which brings me to the next tip.

- Try everything; take risks. In moderation of course. I am not telling you to go out and do drugs, but take advantage of all opportunities thrown your way. Never be afraid to try the unknown. Or as my brother once said, "I don't want to read about it in a book, I want to live it myself."

- Don't be a antisocial. What I mean is, don't hold back from meeting new people or joining a club. Network, network, and network some more. You never know who the weirdo kid you're sitting next to in English 101 will end up being in five years. He could win a million dollars, be a friend for life, or invent the next best thing to the iPhone (man, I want one).

Alas, what I have tried to drill into your brains is to make the best of the freedom you have now because to some extent you will lose it in the professional world after college. Enjoy your time here at Towson. Don't rush through, be yourself, follow your passions, network as much as possible and make these next four (or 10) years the best of your life.

You are only in school once and college is the last chance you'll ever have.

--
I'll be blogging (when I find time) on my first week of shooting back with The Towerlight. Only because I have 15+ assignments to get through on my own Thursday through Sunday with freelancing in-between.

Side note: I am sorry I am no longer coming up as "Patrick Smith Photography" or "Patrick Smith Photo" on search engines. I know this because of my Google Analytics account. Since I changed to my new domain name I'll have to wait a month or longer to start showing up again. Until then, keep plugging my new domain name away and searching for it on Google; it will only help my rankings reach the point they were once at. Thanks!

Beneath the surface

Since buying my domain name I've been working with my buddy Brad Mohr (sorry, he doesn't have a website link) to get the blog looking a little different; not so "blogspotish" one may say.

I must warn you in advance as my blog goes under the knife construction may be ugly at times, so please bear with me. Stay tuned and be prepared for a couple subtle changes for the next week or so until we get things perfect.

Until then, the above image was from today. It reminds me of right now. Things that are on the surface may not always be noticed. Example? The simple way of changing my blog's appearance so easily (compared to HTML) with the new layout feature.

Back to the image. My first order of business was to shoot an image for the first cover: Survival Guide for freshmen. Its been hard to come up with an idea that hasn't been done before, so Matt, Jenn, Sharon, and me we walked around for 45 minutes trying to find something, anything different. Didn't find much. Sigh.

This isn't what we came up with, but I witnessed a bunch of places I never knew existed before on campus. A lot of cool places for portraits if anything.

edit: I am working with Dave Hoffmann to get a couple issues fixed, including the odd two links at the bottom "older posts" and "subscribe..." Also I am not getting any information from Google Analytics.

Inspired by the weather

With this being my last weekend of freedom (football and Towerlight weekends) until probably December, I last night dreamed of sunny skies and below average temperature for today. I awoke to exactly that. Mid 70's and b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l skies. One couldn't really ask for a better day in mid-August.

Inspired by the impeccable weather and a recent video posted by Chase Jarvis and then linked to by David Hobby (aka The Strobist), I grabbed my mountain bike, remote, magic arm, and pocket wizards, and headed out to my local trail to enjoy myself.

While I had set out to basically only shoot during riding, I found myself savoring the trail and riding. Thus meaning, I only spent maybe 15 minutes actually setting up and shooting with the remote. I am going to try this again for sure.

It was pretty bumpy so a lot of images were shot at a higher shutter speeds. As anticipated, there is not much "movement" to the images.

The above image was shot around 1/30 of a shutter to try and correct that. It's a little blurry and out of focus, but I love the feel compared to others I posted on Flickr.

Well, I am getting off here. If you are living in Maryland right now and reading this, GET OUTSIDE!!!

PatrickSmithPhotos.com

Its almost been a year since I started my blog, so I decided to finally buy a domain name courtesy of GoDaddy.com.

For the time being, you will still be directed to the blog until I build the energy and confidence to build my own site. That means you can still access the site VIA the old domain or the new domain.

Thanks for the growing support. I look forward to continuing to build my site. If this is your first time to my blog, welcome. Take time to look through the archives in the right tool bar.

OLD Domain: www.patricksmith04.blogspot.com
NEW Domain: www.patricksmithphotos.com

Patrick Smith Photos

Eliminated

Another day... another day up in Aberdeen for the Ripken Little League World Series. I've been following a team for the past couple days, but yesterday they were eliminated. Although I am not saying the name of the team, I am sure you could figure out who they are.

The reason I don't mention the team is because I would never personally call someone out, that is just not who I am. However, after the episode one of the coaches pulled with me yesterday evening, I feel like I should, but I still won't.

Here is what happened.

The coach of this select little league team saw me shooting their game on Sunday; which they won. I even asked him for a name of a player at the end of the game, since I could not identify him. He was very helpful.

I get a day off from shooting game action to shoot for a publication out West (see my last Ripken post) and I bump into a few parents who saw my images on the front page Monday. They loved the pictures and were hoping their team would make history by advancing to the elimination round after another win. They didn't win Tuesday.

Yesterday my assignment was to cover the deciding match. They win, they move on. They lose, they are eliminated. Again, I bump into parents and grandparents who saw me shooting and my images in the paper; nothing but polite people.

The game goes on and the team is down early which resulted in a 5-0 loss. A couple sad faces, but for the most part every player on the team wasn't too upset that they had just lost the game and eliminated from the series. There is nothing left for the players to do, except leave, but of course after one final speech from their coach in center field.

So, I start walking out with the team. I felt a great photo was to be made to show what a great season these players had, how far they made it, and what a great pride they exhibited.

This is when the coach said something that startled me. In a angry voice he said, "We don't need anymore pictures!" I replied, "Coach, you guys had a great season, it's about the kids." He returned with, "Can we get some private time? Go take a hike!"

At this point, I wasn't sure what to do. Not once had I ever been rejected to shoot a photo. Had it been a college or pro team I would have probably continued to walk out with the team. But, knowing it was a bunch of 10,11, and 12 year olds, I gave them their room.

It is my job to tell the story, in this case this team's story. It's not my choice that they made it this far or that they agreed to be there. They put themselves out there and I am there to document their efforts, actions, and emotions. Unfortunately, many people think it's great when a team wins and get all the attention, but if they lose and don't they become unreasonable.

Moving on, I already had all my images, the last one in the field would have been a perfect final image. I was tempted to go start transmitting, but I waited by the fence with the writer. Parents heard the coach shout and asked why he wouldn't allow me to take pictures. I told them I have no idea, but they found it preposterous that the coach acted like he did and denied me access.

As the coach walked back toward the fence, I waited for the kids to walk away. This is what I said after shaking his hand: "Coach, I am a nice guy. You have to understand I am trying to do my job. Your team had a great season, you made it all this way. But, it's about the kids, and that's all that matters." I was truly upset that I was treated the way I was by a role model figure to these kids without an apology.

I'll close the post with this. I've played sports since the age 5; still actively compete. At the age of these kids in this little league world series, kids should be out having fun with these games. Through my eyes, the way this team reacted after losing showed me that they did. Not one single tear or unsportsmanlike behavior after the loss.

I also understand that sports are competitive and emotions run wildly, but actions of parents, players, or coaches should never be taken out on others; whether they win or lose or if they are purely emotional and unintentional. It's only a game.

Last sportrait of August?

"Towson senior linebacker Brian Bradford is not only the captain, but an All-American candidate for the Towson University football team. Bradford, is the leader of the Tigers' talented linebacker corps, and was second on the team in tackles last season with 74, including nine tackles for a loss and one sack."

I am fooling myself by posting this as my last sportrait (portrait + sports player) of August. I know I'll have many more this year, maybe this week? But I've shot about 35 portraits in the past two weeks; between College Park, Morgan State and Towson University. I am beginning to run out of ideas... not.

I love shooting portraits and I doubt I'll ever repeat a shot. I am glad to have these main ones out of the way for now.

Tuesday's portrait was forThe Towerlight's Fall Sports Preview. If you haven't guessed it, Bradford is the cover boy for the special issue, which will be in our second issue of the semester.

We needed three solid images: One vertical cover, one for a teaser image, and one for the issue before advertising the special section.

The above is my favorite of the lot. Too bad it's not vertical for cover. Although I may be able to crop it and resize it to make it work as a vertical. Not sure.

Back to Ripken tomorrow at 4 p.m. to shoot more of the Ripken Little League World Series and the hometown team, Emmorton, Md.

Although it is not ethically right to cheer as a journalist, deep down inside I am rooting for them to win. I am only human. The only reason I am is because a woman told me today that if they win twice, they will be the only team from Maryland to ever win twice in the Ripken World Series.

Not sure if that is totally legit, but I'll take her word for it.

Ripken World Series

The past two days I've been shooting the Cal Ripken Little League World Series in Aberdeen, Md. I am not much of a baseball fan, but it is fun to shoot, only because kids are funny and serious at the same time. Not to mention, these fields are top notch.

I got to give it up to Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr. for two reasons. First, the Ripken Stadium Complex is amazing. The entire little league setup is just awesome, especially the mini replica of Camden Yards. Every little detail is there, including the warehouse out in right field.

Second, giving back to the community which he grew up in. No one ever pressured him to build this complex in Aberdeen. But he did, and it's anything but sub par. Not to mentioned Cal personally comes out to meet and greet with each team of the series; what a class act.

This is actually what I was shooting this morning as I shot for The Olympian newspaper in Washington state.

Kiel, The Towerlight sports editor is stringing some stories for them, since they have a team in the series, and he got me the assignment for the meet and greet. Thanks, Kiel. I was a bit early, so the above shot is another team just warming up.

The series is in town until Saturday (I think) when the world championship game will be played at 5p.m. All of the games are free, with exception of the championship. At the very least, it's worth the drive up to just check it out the complex.

A pair of media days

Throughout this summer I haven't posted about all my assignments. Either because of timing, images yet to be published, or because they really weren't worth mentioning.

But since I keep thinking about it, I want to share my comparison of two very similar assignments with completely diverse environments.

In the past week I've covered two D-I collegiate football team media days. Without ever caring too much nor looking into it too deeply I've always figured D-I was D-I. Likewise, D-III is D-III. If you don't know what I am talking about, maybe my analogy will help:

Imagine you are a star high school football player trying to choose a college to play sports at. You can either be a big fish in a little pond (D-III) or a small fish in a big pond (D-I). Basically, you can continue to be a star or you will be placed on a team full of stars.

Everyone will have their own opinions, but that's how I always looked at it.

Anyways, what I wanted to compare is that division-I sports can vary big time. As I mentioned, I never looked into it that deeply. Having a brother that played D-I lacrosse, I always believed it was just sports. Sports 24/7.

Why I wouldn't like to compare it this way, University of Maryland: College Park should be considered professional [college] sports in comparison to schools like Morgan State University, which felt like a high school media day (I am not saying Morgan is bad university, I am only using them as a clear comparison).

I say that for the following reasons, which may not be 100-percent true. But I am an outsider looking in making assumptions. So here are some comparisons:

-At Maryland I first noticed all their "pride" in their field house. A list of past players to go pro was astonishing. It appeared that at least two players a year were drafted to the NFL. At Towson (bigger than Morgan, but similar), I think maybe four players ever have been drafted. One this year being Jermon Bushrod.

-There was approximately 30 people and/or SID assistants running around during media day at Maryland. At Morgan, just one.

-There was at least five photographers, six TV stations, and more reporters than I could count on my fingers and toes. At Morgan, there was one photographer (me), one TV videographer, and one reporter.

-At Maryland players had their last names etched on Under Armour jerseys. They were fully dressed in pads for portraits and had a lot of pride and cockiness. (I won't lie. I would be cocky, too). Morgan players showed up right before their team photo wearing just jerseys and shorts.

-At Maryland I got roughly 20 seconds per portrait. At Morgan, I could have had 30 minutes with each player, but I only took two minutes or less with each.

-Morgan players were all overly nice and kind; shaking my hand after each portrait. Maryland players, although nice, sometimes laughed at me and just walked away after their portrait.

I could continue to list differences, and I probably haven't done a good job with the above, but it is pretty drastic when seen by your own eyes. I kept telling my buddy, "it's an entire different world."

Now it is given that College Park is the largest university in Maryland with a lot of alumni, which means a lot of money for recruiting and a legacy of being the best. But I just find it amazing how different two division-I schools can really be.

Not part of the soultion

I don't rant much, nor do I think this rant will successfully help change the world, but an event I witnessed today upset me.

To set the scene: I've been down down Ocean City, Md. with my parents since Tuesday afternoon; due home early tomorrow. My father who is a fresh post-op needed to get away from home to relax. (The above picture is from us taking his dog to North Side Park to swim earlier today and doesn't relate to the story at all).

So, I am sitting on the beach after lunch around 3p.m. The beach is its normal August crowd; shoulder to shoulder packed. The temperature is hovering around 100-degrees and the ocean is rough; a violent chest to over-head shore break. To anyone with past experience swimming in the ocean, it's not much of a problem to dive effortlessly under the waves and swim around. However, for those new to the environment, it can be pretty dangerous.

Although I normally pay no attention to those on the beach, one man, who I assume never had swam in the ocean before, had my attention at full. I became interested when I saw him standing, bent over with his hands over his head. In this position he would brace himself and let the vicious shore break crash on his upper back and neck. He looked to be having a great time smiling. That changed when he boarded a boogie-board (I call them bodyboards) that, what appeared to be his daughter, had been riding. I knew things would not be good for this man.

A minute passed and a overhead wave sucked him up and sent him flying from the peak of the wave face first into the water and probably to the bottom of the ocean. He rose with a face of pain, and blood rushing for his nose. I stood and signaled the life guard as I made my way to help him out of the water. Before I got to him, his wife, daughter and another lifeguard had moved him to dry sand.

This is where I ask you, what would you have done at this point?

I sat back down on my chair knowing he was in good medical care. After being pulled from the water, he was attended by a total four life guards, two EMTs... and 50+ people. I counted. One lifeguard bellowed twice, "Please get back if you are not with this party!" I guess no one heard him because people continued to come up the "scene" and crowd them. One onlooker even was holding the lifeguards radio.

I felt horrible for the man. I was also disgusted by the reaction and actions of those on the beach. It was if they had never seen anyone injured before. They were obviously not part of the solution. I wish that people would allow professionals to do their jobs.

Put yourself in the shoes on the man injured. If you were hurt, would you want a hundred people staring at you possibly affecting the performance of those trained to help you? I sure wouldn't.

Not so bad

"University of Maryland Terrapins sophomore wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey is interviewed by various reporters during the Terps media day Monday, August 6."

I believe the quote is said, "Expect the best, plan for the worst." That is not what I had in mind as I sat in bed Sunday night worrying about my assignment yesterday. The thought of not being able to complete my assignment as written was a reoccurring notion in my head that would not vanish. The sentence that did replay in my head was, "Expect the worst, prepare for the best."

After talking to two photographers who shot the Terps media day in the past, I only imagined the absolute worst circumstances: Not being able to get portraits of all the players I needed, lots of greedy photographers, and unhelpful sports informations people.

To say the least, I experienced nothing but joy during the steamy, hot assignment. Thankfully, no rain.

I didn't encounter any, not one, unhelpful sports information staffer. Everyone was extremely helpful, from rounding up players to even getting me a football from an afar building. As stated, I didn't have any problems getting individual or group portraits of players that my assignment required. And last, I didn't have to fight mean photographers to get the players I needed either.

(I don't think I've ever met a mean photographers ever. Well, there maybe has been two. Two out of hundreds, not too shabby). I did run into the College Park normals: Al Santos, Yuchen Nie, and Adam Fried. Also met Charlie Shoemaker who decided to get an image of me in action. I laugh every time I look at it. Thanks again, man.

I did however encounter only getting a minute, tops, for each player or group of players, which wasn't bad. Simple balancing of one Nikon SB with the sun and minor adjustments with each player, and my portraits were done in about 40 minutes.

I then proceeded inside to shoot some interviews of the players. I was glad the A/C was blasting in there, but Jordan Steffy was sweating since he was getting a lot of attention for us media.

Alas, I guess what I am getting at is don't judge an assignment or anything for a matter of fact until you experience yourself. Advice and opinions on past events will always be helpful and desired, but approaching assignments with a positive, open mind will always be beneficial.

I'll try and get some more Terps photos up after they get published.

Summer's last dive

It dwelled on me today that, as previously mentioned, summer has come to a screeching halt. Tomorrow I'll be down in College Park trying to get some portraits of football players during the Terps media day. Key word: trying. As fellow Maryland college shooter recent graduate of College Park, Pouya Dianat said, "Media day itself is a cluster f***."

Then if nothing pops up, I'll probably try and get to the beach for three days this week before beginning to shoot a laundry list of photo assignments and two cover images for The Towerlight's first two issues.

Our first production meeting is Monday, August 20 while our first production day is set for the following Wednesday. Thus meaning our first issue is due out August 23. Once that first issue hits the racks all over campus and in Towson, I'll officially be back to the daily grind of shooting continually (Yesss. I can't wait. No more waiting for calls/e-mails) and class (doh!). Hopefully, I'll still be waiting for calls and e-mails though. And, I am actually kind of excited for my classes:

- Mass Communication - 381 Broadcast Journalism
- Mass Communication - 496 Independent Study
- Mass Communication - 358 News Editing
- Mass Communication - 391 Photo Journalism (independent?)
- Japanese - 101 Japanese Elements

After this semester, I'll only need six mandatory credits before graduating.

But, back with summer. It's crazy to look at a calendar and know exactly what you will be doing each day for the next three weeks. I am not much of a planner, except when it comes to work.

I hope for all the students reading, you thoroughly enjoy your last two/three weeks of summer vacation. I know for me, this will most likely be my last three weeks of "summer vacation" ever.

Communicating an image

Two portraits down, one to go. As I mentioned earlier this week, I have begun to shoot portraits on three players. These features will be apart of The Towerlight's Fall Sports Preview.

I will also have dig up some file photos of all the sports for the special edition. If it was up to me, I'd go nuts and do a feature of one player of each team, but that is only because I like shooting portraits.

I should note that this image isn't the main cover for the FSP. I was originally suppose to shoot that image today, but got pushed back due to not being able to get access to the new football jerseys. I doubt I'll be using the jersey in the image, but figure I should wait anyways.

On with a little information on the above: Towson senior linebacker John Webb is not only the best open-field tackler on the team but he is also an outstanding student who will be a candidate for CoSIDA Academic All-America honors this season. The Biology major is also a two-time member of Atlantic 10 Football Academic All-Conference team. He will be profiled for of course he strong academics and his role on the field.

While I like this image better (I noticed the lights when waiting for him, and decided to end the shoot using them. I'll probably use them again sometime this fall), the above image communicates to the reader. They should know exactly what is going on without having to read the cutline.

Speaking of cutlines, I judged the Towson University High School journalism day photo entries today. Nine out of ten photos did not have cutlines. I had no idea what was going on in most of the images. Ha.There was one very nice portrait, but the rest were sub par, which should probably be expected for high school journalist.

Well, I think I am off until Monday unless something pops up.

Friend hits Jackpot

I debated posting this, but it is on Maryland Lottery website. (Louis if you want it down, let me know).

My friend Louis won a little bit of change yesteday. He just turned 19-years-old yesterday and won the Mega Bucks Jackpot: $1 Million. He won it on his way to work on a scratch-off. He said he is going to give some to his parents and brother and sister. He is a staff photographer and was my Assistant Photo Editor at The Towerlight before deciding to do more stuff on the web side of the paper.

Congrats again, Louis.

(image Courtesy of MDlottery.com)