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.

Atholton graduating senior John Healey was the County champ and placed third in the state. He is photographed at Glenelg High School Sunday, June 13, 2010.

Left-handed lead off hitter for Lansdowne High School Kelli Pease maintained a .500 batting average during the season. The two-sport junior also played volleyball for the Vikings in the winter. She is photographed at her school’s softball field Friday, June 11, 2010.

A little about how this photos was made, for all you nerdy types. All the Howard County Athletes of the Year photos ran together. …well, they ran in two installments. So, they needed to have a consistent look.

Kelli’s photo is for the Arbutus Times. It’s a totally different paper, run by a totally different sports staff, for a totally different community. So, I decided to give my back a break and bust out the small lights. …er, light.

Yup. I made this with one Nikon SB-800, zoomed to 105mm, shot through a white Lastolite TriFlip, and Craig Clary. Craig’s the writer. He held the Lastolite and strobe.

I used the focal plan (FP) high speed sync mode on my D700 and the super inexpensive Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lens — which, by the way, I love. As you can see, it has a really creamy bokeh and, because its made for DX cropped sensors, it has a nice, uh, I guess you could call it “natural” vignetting to it. The FP mode allows me to jack up my shutter speed to 1/8000th, so I can expose for the ambient light while not adhering to the limitations of a traditional sync speed like 1/200th and the subsequent stopped down aperture.

Bryn Mawr graduating senior Paige Hanson played top-level field hockey, ice hockey and lacrosse for her school. She chose lacrosse as her collegiate sport of focus. Next year she will play for the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She is photographed at St. Paul’s School Thursday, June 10, 2010.

St. Paul’s graduating senior Andrew Barton is the boys athlete of the year. He will be playing lacrosse for Providence next year. He is photographed at St. Paul’s School Thursday, June 10, 2010.

McDonogh senior Joe Meurer is the Towson Times boys lacrosse player of the year. He is photographed at Boys’ Latin School Thursday, June 3, 2010.

Glenelg’s Casey Schmidt is one of those powerhouses at the plate and on the pitching rubber. To clench the 2010 county championship she hit her second homerun of the game against Howard in the eighth inning. She plays volleyball with equal veracity. Next year the seventeen-year-old won’t have to decide which one to focus on, she will play both for Grove City (Pa.) College. She is photographed at Glenelg High School Tuesday, June 1, 2010.

Andrew Nuckolls, age 14, from Towson, catches air from a snow ramp on the side of the Greenwood Board of Education hill during and after snowfall Saturday January 22, 2005.

Coming from Georgia, we usually only got icy rain. So, I was super-stoked when the snow was fluffy. The worst part about shooting in the snow is taking notes. It’s hard enough making camera adjustments with numb fingers, but then having to take off your gloves to fish around in your pocket for your pen, only to find out that A.) the ink’s frozen and B.) your note pad is wet.

The 10am Update is a regular blog feature showcasing some of the better work from my archives.

Barely illuminated by the overhead projector, David Donaldson explains the creative writing assignment to his second 9th grade English class of the day. He is in his second year as a 9th and 10th grade teacher at the Maryland Academy of Technology and Health Sciences, a Baltimore City magnet school. He got the job through the Teach For America program.

I shot this for the New York Times before the 2009 Winter Holidays.

David Donaldson sits in his class room a few minutes before the start of his first class.

Donaldson works the Halls, making sure the students don’t congregate. Crowd control takes precedence over making sure the kids get to class.

David Donaldson shushes a freshman who walks into class late during quiet reading time.

At the beginning of every class 9th and 10th grade English teacher David Donaldson implements quiet reading time. Maryland Academy of Technology and Health Sciences a freshman sits under an open window, while reading a book.

A student looks up from his book during quiet reading time in David Donaldson’s 9th grade English class. Donaldson, directly behind the student, talks to two students who are prepping for a skit where they act out one of the week’s vocab words. The skit idea, which helps the kinesthetic learners in the class, was thought up by resource teacher Victoria Burson, upper right.

Students in David Donaldson’s 9th grade English class act out one of the week’s vocab words. “Sometimes this can be the highlight of my day,” says Donaldson.

David Donaldson shushes his 9th grade English class. He regrets that he has to spend so much time on classroom management when he would rather be teaching.

David Donaldson walks to lunch Tuesday, December 15, 2009. “It’s lonely.” Last year he would eat with six other faculty members, all of whom have left the school. He is the only returning English teacher at the Maryland Academy of Technology and Health Sciences.

David Donaldson, middle, a Teach For America teacher, eats his lunch by the students. He makes sure to let them have their space and time during lunch, letting them come to him if they want. Last year he would eat with six other faculty members, all of whom have left the school. “It’s lonely.” Donaldson is the only returning English teacher at the Maryland Academy of Technology and Health Sciences.

David Donaldson gets a head start back to his classroom before the students are done eating lunch.

Athletes at the Maryland Academy of Technology and Health Sciences ditch their school uniforms and dress up before their games. A freshman basketball player asks Mr. Donaldson to help him with his tie.

Mr. Donaldson’s hand is illuminated by the overhead projector.

“Now shake hands.” At the end of class David Donaldson heads off a confrontation between two freshmen.