George M. Steinbrenner Field, Spring Training site for the New York Yankees in Tampa, Florida, Thursday, March 8, 2012.

I was in Florida all of March, with the intent of shooting Spring Training. Unfortunately, I never got a Spring Training assignment. hurrumph. Maybe next year. But I kinda expected that to happen. That’s not to say I wasn’t busy with work. Don’t worry. I made some money while I was down there. But, rather than twiddle my thumbs waiting for a phone call, I just went to Steinbrenner Field. Nobody was playing, which was fine. I really just wanted to explore the field and see what I could come back with.

Rather than just show what this stadium and its facilities look like, I tried photographing it’s character.

Allen Born and his 10-year-old son Caleb Born, from Sacramento, California,  take pictures of the Yankees Spring Training Stadium in Tampa, Florida Thursday, March 8, 2012 for a school project. Rather than miss school, Caleb is conducting a school-sanctioned independent study. Caleb is a Giants fan saw them during Spring Training last year in the Cactus League in Arizona, but Allen is a “die hard” Detroit Tigers fan. Neither are big Yankees fans, but Caleb’s teacher is.

Baseball Factory Yankee Spring Training Experience Camp at Turley Athletic Complex at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida Saturday, February 11, 2012.

I came down to Florida this year to shoot baseball! …and baseball I’ve shot!

These are some of the marketing photos I made for Baseball Factory’s 11-13 year old camps.

Oh man! This assignment had me swimming in nostalgia! When I was a kid, I used to go to baseball camps whenever my mom could afford them. As some of you know, baseball is my favorite sport. It was all I could do to sheath my cameras and put a glove on. I wanted to play catch the whole time I was there.

This camp was pretty cool. It’s the Yankee Training Experience Camp. The “Experience” is something the Yankees offer, separate from Baseball Factory. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get credentials or a ticket to shoot that. It sounds pretty cool. Breakfast. Autographs. Batting practice Premium seats.

Now, I have to be clear. Some of these photos are obvious marketing caliber photos, but others, I think, exemplify what I remember what it’s like to be a kid on a ball field.

There are way more photos on my Photoshelter gallery, too.

Allison Curry, from Tampa, celebrates during the USF Alumni NCAA Selection Sunday Watch Party at Lee Roy Selmon’s restaurant in Tampa, Florida Sunday, March 11, 2012. Curry, who graduated in 2011, was a USF Athletic Trainer for the school’s basketball team last year. She is flanked by fellow 2011 alumni and former trainer Christina Page, from Tampa, on the left, and Davian Benito, from Tampa, the USF Alumni Association Tampa Chapter Watch Party Chair, on her right. Tony Holbro, class of 1970, both from Tampa, and Andy Morris, the USF Director of Marketing, is on the far right.

Woohoo! My (work) trip to Florida might be turning fruitful after all. I got on the freelance list for the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Pete Times) last week thanks to staffers Kathleen Flynn and Melissa Lyttle. And yesterday (fellow former PPC staffer) Stefanie Boyar called me up for my first assignment, a USF NCAA watch party. It’s one of those Cheers or Tears shoots. After 20 years, the Bulls got in. So it was cheers all the way.

Rocky, the USF mascot tries riling up the crowd attending the University of Southern Florida Alumni NCAA Selection Sunday Watch Party at Lee Roy Selmon's restaurant in Tampa, Florida Sunday, March 11, 2012.

USF fan Adam Brown, from Tampa, hugs Rob Lewis, from Land O' Lakes, USF class of 1986, during The University of Southern Florida Alumni NCAA Selection Sunday Watch Party at Lee Roy Selmon's restuaruant in Tampa, Florida Sunday, March 11, 2012.

Oh! and this happened, too.

Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra walks into Lee Roy Selmon's restaurant in Tampa, Florida Sunday, March 11, 2012. Coincidentally, The University of Southern Florida Alumni NCAA Selection Sunday Watch Party was being held at the same time .

My first Tampa Bay Times clip.

The El Mateo!
Luchador mask courtesy of the limited edition “Weird Sports” book by Sol Neelman.

Check it out: I’m in good company.

Last weekend Weird Sports Photographer Sol Neelman & I shot the Run For Your Lives zombie 5k in Darlington, MD at Rablewood Saturday, October 22, 2011. The event is a zombie infested 5k obstacle course. I heard anywhere from 10,000 – 13,000 participants and spectators showed up for the sold out event which raises money for the American Red Cross.

I got a call back in June from Red Bull Photofiles to photograph this promo stunt for Fowler’s U.S. Open stint. …and the photo above also ran in Red Bull’s new magazine The Red Bulletin.

In addition to a video crew, I was one of two assigned photographers. The other being Steve Boyle. He was down on the ground level and I was stationed up top. My options were somewhat limited, but I was guaranteed a pretty cool perspective.

The light was absolutely gorgeous!

…right up until Rickie Fowler got out of his SUV. And it stayed grey and drizzly until he got back in his SUV. If we have to search for silver linings, the light was ultra diffused. So… No Rickie Fowler raccoon eyes.

If you guys haven’t seen the Red Bulletin, it’s a pretty friggin’ cool magazine. Super-visual. I’m not just saying that because they’ve paid me once, either. It’s pretty legit.

Marriotts Ridge center midfielder Alex Price led the Mustangs to a 13-3-3 record and the girls soccer team’s first county championship.

Here’s the corresponding Howard County Time Article.

I couldn’t have asked for a better sky that day. …the temperature could’ve been better, though. If I remember correctly, it was hovering around 20-ish degrees, plus wind.

The Marriotts Ridge baseball field was going under some renovation, so rather than take Alex to the stadium (where all those gross white banners live in the background) I put her on top of the mound closest to the backstop.

…that way when she kicked the ball it didn’t go too far.

For all you gear heads out there, I used two Alien Bee 1600′s, both unmodified, at max power, powered by the vagabond II (love that thing) flanking her at the 9 o’clock and 4 o’clock position. I also used an sb-800, on the right, to light the ball.

Same Set up, sans the sb-800.

Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin is photographed in the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia, Monday, March 28, 2011.

NOTE: This is a well needed revision of my original post. A few key issues were brought to my attention that I need to set straight.

…and I need to fix some grammar, too.

First off, I should apologize to the Capitals’ front office. After rereading my hasty post I realize I made the Capitals management sound less professional than they actually were with me.

Truth be told, they were very accommodating and so so nice. The PR guy spent a good 20-30 minutes with me before hand, location scouting. And lets not forget he also made sure Alex got to me.

And he made himself available to me whenever I needed him.

So, from the bottom of my heart… I’m sorry . This was a good blog-writing lesson for me to learn.

So, when I wrote “I had literally five minutes to shoot Alex Ovechkin. Seriously…I checked my metadata.” – I should have gone on to explain is that this is normal — especially for high profile athletes.

What made this worth talking about on my blog was that this was the first time I’ve ever only had five minutes with an athlete.

This was his first day back off the disabled list, too, so, the fact that he practiced was kinda a big deal. Although, if he was still resting, I’d have a lot more time with him for the shoot. oh well.

But I did get to shoot him immediately after practice — so he’d have that bad-ass ,worn down, sweaty look. All the game jerseys are kept at the Verizon Center, so I got him in his pads — which one blog reader emailed to me saying she thought it was cool seeing him in his pads. He’s always photographed in the game jersey. Personally, I think the pads are pretty rad, too. I did worry that the good people at the Sporting News might want him in something that said CAPITALS… but, of course, if your read the article, I think you’ll figure out which team he plays for pretty quickly.

Back to the story:

So, Ovechkin barrels into this tiny auxiliary locker room (my make-shift studio), huffing and puffing, skates & all, and as he crashes onto the bench and catches his breath, I put the finishing touches on my set up.

I bang out a few close ups, a few medium shots, move the lights, sit him on the bench, and then make a few funky verticals.

And that’s it. He was gone. — off to a meeting.

All in all, I was pretty pleased with myself. I made a nice variety of photos in very little time.

The one thing I did miss was not getting to really connect with him.

After about the first frantic minute of shooting, I realized I hadn’t properly introduced myself.

So, I pull the camera down, extend my hand, and say with a smile,”Oh, by the way, My name’s Matt.”

He chuckles, smiles back and says “ha. I’m Alexander.”

And we get back to business.

I think that little gesture made a world of difference. Beforehand I was just some camera jockey, but after that little gesture I was some camera jockey named “Matt.”

One of the things I love about shooting portraits, in general, is the back and forth I get with my subjects. I didn’t get all I knew I could’ve gotten from Ovechkin. I hear he’s a pretty fun guy.

Maybe next time…?

To see more photos visit here.

As subtle as this image is, it speaks volumes…

Cyrus Kouandjio puts down his signing pen, no ink dispelled, while the rest of his DeMatha teammates sign their college commitment papers. ESPN ranks him as the third best high school player in the nation, and there’s been a buzz about who he’s committing to. He’s kept four schools on the list, but the main contenders are Auburn and Alabama. …the later is where his older brother plays. Family (sibling rivalry?) clearly plays a role in Cyrus’s decision.

Moments before putting his unused pen down, Kouandjio, one of the nation’s top high school football players announced in front of rolling news cameras he was choosing to play for Auburn. But because he decided not to “sign his life away,” as head coach and the school’s athletic director Bill McGregor joked moments before, internet speculation remains weather he will stay true to his word or possibly commit to Alabama and play along side (replace? be replaced by?) his older brother, Arie. But then again, he’s been talking up New Mexico, too.

UPDATE: Cyrus, as of February 6th, the Holiest of football days, committed to Alabama. Read about it here. I wrote most of this the day of the shoot. So, it might come off a little retrospective.

Y’know? Sometimes the drama doesn’t belong to us photojournalists. And sometimes the real story is hiding in plain sight.

This is my first assignment with USA Today, and I really wanted to blow them away. I hate to sound like a defeatist, but most news conferences are let downs for us visual types. — especially if there’s a bevy of video shooters barricading the middle. Don’t get me wrong, I respect most of them and usually really like the ones I meet. …but truth is, they get in us still photogs’ way as much as we get in theirs.

In the past, I’ve had some pretty good luck making something outta nothing at news conferences. I’ve learned to shoot the emotion. But this kid wasn’t really showing any. Everytime it made sense for Cyrus to smile…

“I’m choosing Auburn!”

…he remained stoic.

At the time I thought I understood why: y’know? He’s a football player. A lot of them don’t smile when the spot light’s on them, right?

***Keep in mind, at this point I didn’t know he was waffling on his decision***

So, what was I going to shoot?

…any semblance of emotion!

After Cyrus made his live announcement the football players exited stage left, to let the soccer players have their time in the spotlight. He got hugs from his parents. Friends and classmates high-fived him, but the smile he cracked were quickly eaten.

Proud Mom (above). Proud Dad (Below).

He was all nerves. And that’s what  I kept making pictures of. — all the while I’m thinking: USA Today is NOT going to be impressed by these mediocre, uncelebratory  images. Cyrus wasn’t the only guy using up all his deodorant.

So, I walked away from the press conference, a little bummed my CF Cards’ guts weren’t sparkling with gold! (I’m not really sure what that means… just go with it).

Then when I went online to do a little caption research, AND I found out he never signed his commitment letter!

So, I went back through my take and found the first image in this post.

It’s not an amazing image, by any means, but with the right word treatment (headline, caption info) I think his body language speaks volumes about what he’s feeling at that moment.

This one looks like he’s about to sign, but at the request of the video guys, all the players were asked to hold their pens as if they’re signing, but to look up. The above photo was made moments before the video folks requested some staged fakery. Who knows? Maybe all that time not dedicated to signing might’ve been the the tipping point for Cyrus… I wonder what was going on in Cyrus’s head during that moment of TV magic?

I shouldn’t be too cynical towards the video peeps. I totally used that pregnant pause to see if any more emotions were gonna well up in him. …and I really like stealing the light used by video guys and gals.

There was very little celebrating for Cyrus. He didn’t pull out an Auburn hat and raise his finger in the air (NUMBER 1!!!). Look. He’s the only one of his teammates not brandishing some kind of college paraphernalia. I bet there was a battle going on in his head:

Auburn?Alabama?Auburn?Alabama?Auburn?Alabama?Auburn?Alabama?NewMexico?

NOTE: Unfortunately, the photos have not/yet to run. I guess that makes sense. The AP has a pretty good lit portrait of him floating around. The signing day drama’s over. Cyrus has made his decision …and now his parents only have to drive to one campus.