Boise State at Fresno State – NCAA Football
The #10 ranked Boise State Broncos came to Fresno State for a Friday night NCAA football game under the lights. This was my first game since moving west, and I drove the three hours from the Bay Area for this game. Really glad I wore shorts because it was over 100 degrees at kick off (6pm). Fresno State really loves their Bulldogs and it was a lot of fun to shoot this one as there was absolutely no defense on either side of the ball (Boise St. won 51-34). There were multiple 60+ yard touchdown runs on both sides and lots of pyrotechnics whenever Fresno St. scored. Cool stuff.
Gallery of images from this game
20090918 – Boise State at Fresno State (NCAA Football) – 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
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….
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.
