2009 Foxfield Spring Races
The weather treated the thousands of party-goers in the infield pretty well — it was 90+ degrees and sunny. The racing was fun and also sad when a horse had to be put down for breaking his leg. Toughkenamon jockeyed by Carl Rafter, pictured above on the second of three laps of his race, had his trail leg hit the timbers on the final jump of the race. It was a hard thing to watch and photograph. Needless to say, the rest of the day was a lot of fun — people in crazy outfits, watching students get drunk at 10AM in the morning and lots of beautiful horses (including the very successful Good Night Shirt).
Estimates were that 23,500 fans attended the races. There were new alcohol rules in place designed to limit the amount of consumption — namely the size of coolers were restricted, glass bottles prohibited, and random ID checks throughout the day replaced over 21 bracelets. From what I observed, that didn’t really have much of an effect on the party — people got drunk, some people got way too drunk, some people did stupid things and got arrested. Seems to happen every year.
2009 Foxfield Spring Races – Images by Jason O. Watson
A great night in Charlottesville – Dave Matthews Band
Tonight was a night that I was looking forward to for a long time. Putting objective photojournalism aside, I have always wanted to photograph Dave Matthews and his band. I’ve been a fan since the early 1990′s, following DMB all over Virginia, DC, NC, NY, and points in between. I’ve missed that last few opportunities to shoot Dave and the guys in Charlottesville and tonight was special (at least for me).
I’ve watched Dave and Co. at least a dozen times — but none since 2003 (front row seats at Madison Square Garden). Tonight was the first time the band has performed in Charlottesville since LeRoi Moore’s tragic passing in August 2008… and from what I was able to photograph (the first 3 songs of the set), the band still continues to entertain. LeRoi’s presence is certainly missed (I can’t imagine anyone replacing him, especially on songs like “Don’t Drink the Water”). Much to my delight, instead of starting with a fresh batch of new songs from the latest album, the band opened the show with old-time favorites “Rapunzel”, “Satellite”, and “When the World Ends”. Here are a few of my shots from the show… I’m going to buy a ticket and sit in the stands for tomorrow’s show – it was that good. 
Dave Matthews Band, Charlottesville 2009
20090417 – Dave Matthews Band (Music) – Images by Jason O. Watson
A Not-so Friendly Spring NCAA Soccer Game
This past weekend, NC State scrimmaged Virginia in a spring “friendly”. In the first half, there was a scuffle where Chrystel Bakong (8) from NCSU got into a mix up with UVA’s Jonathan Villaneuva (10). Here Bakong can be seen putting the choak on Johnny V… amazingly the official only showed Bakong a yellow. NC State went on to win the match on a second free kick just outside the 18 yard box that went over UVA’s wall and pretty much the keeper didn’t see it until too late…
More images from the UVA / NC State spring soccer game
20090404 – NC State at Virginia (NCAA Soccer) – Images by Jason O. Watson
Tony Bennett introduced as UVA’s new basketball coach
Today was UVA’s unveiling of it’s new men’s basketball coach, Tony Bennett. The whole festivities included a packed dining room at JPJ full of reporters, tv news folks, and a handful of photogs and lasted a little over an hour. I was really impressed with Mr. Bennett and liked that he actually answered the reporters questions with a degree of thoughtfulness and sincerity. It was cool that his family was there too — they seemed pretty happy with the whole thing, although I’m sure his kids were getting a little bored as the questions wore on.
2009 Jefferson Cup – Charlottesville’s Premier Cycling Road Race
This past Sunday, was the annual Jeff Cup bike races run on the rural roads of Albemarle County south of Charlottesville, VA. This road race has been going on forever and is hosted by the Monticello Velo Club and run by a bunch of cycling friends of mine. I raced in this a few years ago and had a wonderful time – I’ve also photographed the last four editions. This year’s weather looked iffy for the morning races (wet pavement, etc) but it cleared out and the day ended up being glorious.
The one thing I was really disappointed by this year was the behavior of the locals whose houses line the roads that the 10 mile course loops traverses. Apparently someone, the night before the race, broke glass all over the roads – resulting in numerous flat tires. Not only is this really disappointing but it’s pretty damn dangerous for the riders — there were several that had flatted and were rightfully pissed off. The second issue I had was with the farmer who threatened me with trespass charges for photographing on the side of the road — I had a really nice view set up, with great lines (see below)
Then a guy rolls up directly facing me / blocking the road with his Ford pick up truck and insists that I and the others near me leave. We tried to explain that he doesn’t own the shoulder of the public roads but he was having none of it. It was clear that he was going to do whatever he could to ruin my shots and not wanting a confrontation, I moved to the other side of the course – a nice spot but not as scenic as this — it would’ve been really nice to have the peloton stretched out along that hill. Oh well.
My Cycling Photography page… with photos from races since 2006
The Longest Lacrosse Game Ever – UVa defeats UMD 10-9 in 7OT
Yesterday’s NCAA Men’s Lacrosse game between UVA and Maryland was epic. Not because these two rivals were playing or because UVA is undefeated and ranked number 1 and Maryland is #9… but because the game went on forever. Virginia was down 9-6 with 6 or so minutes left in the game when they went on a three goal rally to tie the game and force sudden death overtime. The game seemed over 9 seconds into the first OT when Maryland quickly won the face off and put the ball in the net. UVA got a gift from one of the officials who blew his whistle (twice) just before Maryland shot the ball. The official thought Maryland wanted a timeout as soon as their player entered the box — apparently they didn’t. That then started a long afternoon – Virginia fought of several man-down penalties, while their GK Adam Ghitelman made tremendous save after tremendous save. Finally, in the 7th overtime, a NCAA Division 1 record, UVA’s Brian Carroll scored and ended the game. There were ~5,000 people in attendance — and it was a nice (long) afternoon of lacrosse.
Cavs crush Big Red… sweet save by Ghitelman
Adam Ghitelman made this ridiculous save in the fourth quarter as the #1 ranked UVA men’s lacrosse team dominated #4 Cornell in the second half to seal up a 14-10 victory. I’m still in awe of how UVA’s goalie was able to pull this off — he made the initial save off a Cornell shot, was on the ground and was able to throw his body/arm up enough to keep the ball from hitting net and/or bouncing back off the cross bar. A pretty sweet athletic move.
This was one of the more enjoyable sporting events I’ve covered in the past month or so — mainly because it was sunny with some clouds, a nice wind, and about 80 degrees. I got my first rays of sun for the year, hung out with just about every sports photog in town, and just enjoyed the afternoon. Spring sports are much more relaxing for me than Fall and Winter versions — in the fall football is very stressful (and fun) and in the winter basketball takes a large portion of my life (7 hours+ per game for set up, shooting, tear down, etc… but is still fun)…
Hopefully the weather will stay like this (my pear tree has started to bloom) and the snow of last week is behind us until next year.
Amazing comeback…
The #2 ranked Virginia women’s lacrosse team was down 11-5 with about 15 minutes remaining in the game… it looked like Penn State was going to walk out of Charlottesville with the upset. The UVA ladies battled back, scoring several goals in the final minutes… it was 11-10 with 15 seconds left when the Hoos scored to tie it up and force overtime. Then first-year Julie Gardner (4) scored the go ahead goal in the second overtime period to wrap up the 12-11 win. The cool thing was that there were already several thousand folks in the stadium because the men’s team was due up next to face Cornell. The above shot was the celebration, taken after the tying goal.
Men’s Basketball… having some fun
Today’s UVA v UMD basketball game was the last of the season for me at the John Paul Jones Arena… there’s still the ACC tournament in Atlanta later this week, but as far as home games in the place where I probably spend as much time between November to March as I do my own home, this was it. Maryland came into the game at 7-8 in the league, very much needing a W to keep their chances of a NCAA tournament bid alive. Virginia’s had a pretty rough year with only 3 conference wins prior to today’s 68-63 victory over the Terps.
This shot is of Calvin Baker, who was pretty happy once UVA took the lead over UMD in the second half. After trailing by 13 in the first half, the Wahoos clawed back within one at halftime and built a sizeable lead in the second half… only to have Maryland tie it at 61. Then, on senior day, Mamadi Diane swished a three pointer to seal the victory. That and he had 23 points — not bad for a guy who spent most of the season on the bench.
I was surprised at the number of Maryland fans that invaded the UVA-spring-break-absent-student-section… they were loud and impressive for a road crew. Lots of red clashing with orange in some parts of the stands.
Lots of fun all around….
Women’s Lacrosse… 66 degrees = spring time
This is a shot of Virginia first-year Julie Gardner scoring a goal against Maryland last night. UVA fell 17-11 to the Terps, but it didn’t matter because for me it was the first warm night of the spring sports season — a most excellent occasion that I look forward to each year. In fact, this entire weekend is going to be in the mid 70s including tomorrow’s women’s and men’s lacrosse doubleheaders. It will be nice to get some sun and enjoy an early spring, especially considering that there were several inches of snow on the ground just a few days ago.
Snow Day… photos from around Charlottesville
It took until March, but we finally got a significant snow here in Virginia. I spent my morning and parts of my afternoon driving around Charlottesville and surrounding Albemarle County taking photos. It’s pretty rare that we get a good snow around here (maybe a couple times year) so there were a bunch of places that I had on my list to cover. First I headed on Grounds to UVA where I did a quick shoot of the Lawn/Rotunda areas. The clouds had cleared and left nothing but sunlight and blue skies — pretty cool.
I then headed towards Monticello and stopped at the mill next to Michie Tavern — not much there as everything was closed off. I then went up to Ashlawn-Highland, home of President Monroe, where I took the photo above at the entrance. Took a quick trip up to Afton to see if Skyline and/or Blue Ridge Parkway were open… nope.
Most of the major roads were cleared by this morning, but secondary and some spots of the big roads were covered in snow/ice. Glad I had my Jeep Grand Cherokee instead of a two wheel drive rental car this time.
Shenandoah NP: White Oak Canyon
Today I decided to get a jump on the approaching winter storm and go for a hike with Sherlock, my Irish Setter, to Shenandoah NP. Problem is that because of snow/ice last night Skyline Drive was closed. This left a few choices — the best of which was White Oak Canyon, just south of Old Rag Mountain (my favorite hike). I was hoping that the moderate dusting of snow that I had in my front yard was an indicator that there would be a little bit more up in the park… not so much – only traces here and there.
Unlike the last “hike” I took, I decided to bring plenty of food and water, and was quite warm with appropriate gear. Sherlock wore his backpack and carried his own water. I just brought my 1Ds w/ 24-70mm lens and took mostly shots of Sherlock. The weather was less than ideal for getting any spectacular shots, so I considered this as mainly a scouting hike to wear the puppy out and determine whether or not it is worth a return trip later in the spring/summer/fall. It absolutely is.
About a mile and a half from the trailhead are the lower White Oak Falls — pretty neat. I was surprised at how tall they were and how much water was flowing. A truly beautiful place. The hike is pretty much an out and back — up hill the entire way and down hill back… there are several amazing falls on the way up each providing really sweet views. Near the top of the falls it started getting colder and the sky got a couple of stops darker, so I figured the snow storm was getting close and turned it around. 15 minutes later it started snowing — my dog enjoyed it and the downhill hike made for a speedy return to the parking lot. I look forward to heading back soon!
Jeff Teague gets the job done for Wake Forest
#13 ranked Wake Forest came to town yesterday — Virginia, who had knocked off previously ranked #12 Clemson a few weeks earlier, hung around for most of the game, but Wake pulled away in the final minutes to seal the ACC road win. This shot was my best remote shot from the game… I’m pretty happy with it — I had the same frame from all my remotes, but this was by far the best angle. Only one more home game this season…
Rejected
Last night Miami came to Charlottesville for a late season ACC game. This shot is of Tunji Soroye blocking Miami’s James Dews as he was headed towards the hoop – Dews literally didn’t see what was coming and this was a pretty monster block. Tunji followed it minutes later with yet another block — this time the head on version, blocking Jimmy Graham (see below):
Pretty standard game for me — one backboard remote, one remote on the padding, floor remote, crowd remote, and one catwalk remote. All worked pretty well, and I got some okay stuff. Miami went on a late 7-0 run to close out the game and win 62-55 — UVA seemed pretty dejected by the loss, especially Jeff Jones who had a stellar game with 16 points. 2 more home games for the season, and then it’s down to Atlanta in March for the ACC Tournament — as long as Virginia keeps winning, I get to keep shooting — the last two years have been of the one and done variety… hoping that isn’t the case this year.
Night Lacrosse in February… brrrr
I usually avoid wearing my winter coat to any sporting event — mainly because it makes switching between camera bodies cumbersome if not down right impossible. This is particularly true for lacrosse which is extremely fast paced. By the end of tonight’s NCAA Lacrosse game between #2 Virginia and Mount Saint Mary’s, the temperature dropped to a balmy 26 degrees — and dudes on both teams were running around in shorts. Even though UVA is ranked #2 in the nation, I quickly began to realize why I was the only (still) photographer there — it was a night game in middle of the week and it was downright cold. Virginia seems to always play Mt. St. Mary’s this time of year… in 2007, there was a night game against MSM and it was actually quite nice — “71 degrees, somewhat overcast, and breezy“… heck, 10 days earlier the official weather for the game was listed as “50 degrees, Sunny, Glorious“… yeah, umm, not tonight.
I actually had a great time covering this game — Virginia dominated with 60+ shots and won the game 10-2. Mt. Saint Mary’s goalie deserves a lot a praise — even though he let in 10 goals, he stopped a bunch of others and was under constant pressure. Virginia dominated the entire game and it looked as if they were headed towards a shutout, but in the 4th quarter MSM scored on a 2-man advantage… they then scored again at even strength a few minutes later.
This shot (above) is of Danny Glading (9) running past Ryan Shewell (14)… I’m particularly pleased with how my post-production is ending up — thanks to fellow photog Andrew Shurtleff and a lot of tweaking, the color is getting very close (I was having a bunch of issues with colors fading — particularly oranges and reds — in the conversion from CR2/RAW to JPEG) and with the help of a few tricks (aka Noise Ninja and a 1DM3) I’m able to shoot at much higher ISOs that I would have been able to in the past. Below is an example from the March 13, 2007 UVA/MSM game:
Hopefully, I’ve improved in the last two years 
UVA WBB Senior Day vs Boston College
This shot is of Carolyn Swords from Boston College — she dominated the interior with a game-high 31 points, but that wasn’t enough for BC as they fell 90-70 to Virginia on senior day. This was taken with a remote on the backboard — I usually shoot these remotes in a horizontal position and crop vertically, but this particular remote was vertical and then cropped horizontally… just mixing things up. This was pretty much one of two usable images from my 4 remotes that I placed for this game. Kind of a bummer, but that’s the way it goes — either there’s a ton of stuff or there isn’t. Also have noticed much more consistent firing of the strobes now that the flash tubes have been replaced – fewer misfires and it seems the remotes are synced much better and are hitting the light when they’re supposed to.
The past couple of games I’ve been using the 15mm fisheye on a 20D as a floor remote (the cropping of the 1.6x sensor takes out a lot of the distortion) and when working produces some sweet images. This frees up my Mark IIN to use either with the 70-200mm in the stands or with the 24-70mm on the back of the goal padding (I’d just really rather put a 20D on the court than a IIN, plus the 15mm fisheye is much more distorted at 1.3x vs 1.6x). Only problem is that the 20D only sometimes works with lagging with the fisheye — sometimes it’s either half on half off, or all the way off, or like 2 games ago, always working. Strange things possess these cameras sometimes.
It was senior day for the women’s team at JPJ, and it looks like there won’t be home post season action (a la NIT) for the ladies as the #21 ranked team is headed to the NCAA tournament after the ACC tournament. That leaves three regular season ACC games for the men’s team before wrapping up the 08-09 hoops season at the arena.
Pink Unis – for a good cause
The UVA women’s basketball team came out on the court against Miami on Thursday wearing all pink uniforms… everything, including their shoes was pink. This was all part of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Pink Zone campaign for breast cancer awareness. Last year they just wore the shoes and shoelaces, but this year was pretty cool with the entire pink unis.
The game was pretty awesome as well — first half was really ugly with UVA at point hitting only 2 of 22 from the field (9%). Fouls by Miami kept the ‘Hoos in it and they made a nice run down the stretch — Lyndra Littles hit a circus shot in the final seconds of the game to force overtime. Then, UVA dominated the OT session to pull out the home win.
All is well in Hooville…
…at least for right now. It’s been a long season for the Wahoo faithful with respect to men’s basketball. The last two games, however, have erased some of the bitter feelings with fans, first with a win over #12 Clemson then defeating in-state rival Virginia Tech 75-61.
Photographically, there was nothing special about this game compared to others other than it was a packed baseline and I had some issues with a couple remotes. Apparently, a fellow photog thought it was a good idea to move my floor remote out of position and turn it off for me, without saying anything. Not cool. I still managed to get a nice couple of frames from that remote, once I discovered it was out of place and reoriented it during a timeout.
The shot above is of the student section at the end of the game — they’re singing the Good Ol’ Song. Nothing special, other than having to lean over two rows of floor seats to get the shot… I like the score/graphics in the back drop.
Some new changes for the blog today as well — I’ve integrated my website look/feel and have abandoned the previous photoblog/monotone theme… it was too restrictive and would only allow one image per post and wouldn’t allow cool things like the embedded PhotoShelter slideshow like I’m including below. PhotoShelter has also added some sweet new upgrades to their Personal Archive product (which is the back end that powers my entire website archive of 31,000+ images). Favorites include 100 thumbnails per page (instead of the previous 25), user customizable displays (if you really liked 25 thumbs instead of 100, you can set your own personal preferences via the Display Options link), and mouseover previews of all thumbnail images. Rock on!
Watching the party from above… #12 Clemson at Virginia
UVA’s men’s basketball team had a pretty rough stretch before the #12 ranked Clemson Tigers came to town — losing eight games in a row. Clemson entered the game as heavy favorites over the Wahoos — I remember last year’s 82-51 blowout and was hoping that the game would at least be close. Much to my surprise Virginia took a solid first half lead into the locker room. In the second half, Clemson went on a 14-0 run to retake the lead and it looked like the game was over. UVA didn’t give up, and pulled back and the last 10 minutes of the game was about as exciting as it gets with back and forth lead changes all the way to the wire. UVA freshman Sylven Landesberg hit this floater in the lane with 13.4 seconds to go to even the score at 74-74… overtime.
Since Clemson was a highly ranked opponent, there was a chance, if UVA won that the students would rush the court. I was hoping that they would, as this usually makes for pretty sweet photos, so I headed up to the catwalk in hopes of a repeat from the 2007 Duke at UVA game where an amazing Sean Singletary one-handed fade away won the game for Virginia. The appropriate magic was in place, as Sean Singletary, now with the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats, was on hand as he became only the 7th player in UVA men’s basketball history to have his number (44) retired. While the celebration was somewhat muted by security folks and ushers doing their job, a few students did manage to make in the court after Virginia finished off the Tigers 85-81 in OT. This image worked for me because it had the scoreboard, the stats of the game, center court, the UVA V-sabres flag, happy players/students, and Cav Man… lots of elements that just came together at once.
On the advice from fellow photog Andrew Shurtleff I swapped out the bulbs in my strobes as they were becoming extremely dull. What a difference this made — 2 stops improvement and *all* of my remotes, etc worked flawlessly. It was a good game to shoot… finally.
O! Say can you see?
Here’s another remote shot taken from the United States v. Mexico Men’s Soccer game in Columbus, OH on February 11, 2009. This image was taken with a Canon 40D and a 15mm fisheye at f/2.8. Like my shot of a similar image from a different camera/angle this remote was set to go off every 30 seconds through the entire game — the result was several crowd shots that could be combined to form a time-lapse video… it also made a couple of nice single stills, especially when Sam’s Army and the American Outlaws fan groups pulled out their very large American Flags (usually in celebration of a goal, or a Mexican red card).
