Sad Day in Charlottesville
Today’s news from Charlottesville is very sad indeed. Yeardley Love, a fourth-year on the #4 ranked UVA women’s lacrosse team was apparently murdered overnight. She is pictured above from a game March 2009. What makes this story even more shocking is that fellow Wahoo George Huguley has been arrested and charged with her murder. Hard to believe this happened at UVA.
George Huguely – Images by Jason O. Watson
Against the wall – Baltimore Orioles at Oakland A’s
The struggling Baltimore Orioles defeated the Oakland A’s 8-3 on a nice sunny Sunday afternoon. The shot above is of Rajai Davis seriously leaping up the left-center field wall for a fly ball. While he didn’t make the catch, I was really pleased with the image. It’s somewhat rare to get an outfield play with such a clean background and I’m happy this turned out the way it did.
View entire gallery of photos from this game
20100418 – Baltimore Orioles at Oakland Athletics (Major League Baseball) – Images by Jason O. Watson
NFL: Washington Redskins at Oakland Raiders
December 13, 2009; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders running back Justin Fargas (25) leaps over Washington Redskins defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin (96) for a touchdown during the second quarter at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Washington defeated Oakland 34-13.
The first half of the Redskins/Raiders game was pretty enjoyable — the teams were evenly matched and the score was close. Then Oakland’s quarterback Bruce Gradkowski was knocked out the game for the entire second half with injuries to both knees. The Raiders brought in JaMarcus Russell who, despite throwing 10 for 16 for 80 some yards, was intercepted once, fumbled, and was sacked SIX TIMES in the second half. As such, the Redskins rolled.
This game was particularly fun because of the on and off rain showers that kept falling before and during the game. It would rain, and then the sun would come out (and I’d take some of the rain gear off) and then it would rain again, put the rain gear back on. So far, rain out here, compared to back in Virginia, is light and misty, which makes shooting tolerable. Regardless, the weather was MUCH BETTER than the 20 degrees and negative wind chill the last time I shot the Redskins last December at FedEx field.
20091213 – Washington Redskins at Oakland Raiders (NFL Football) – Images by Jason O. Watson
Coach Al Groh
Today, my alma mater, the University of Virginia, dismissed Al Groh as the football coach after a 3-9 season. As a sports photographer, I’ve covered Coach Groh over the last five years — compiling a wide range of images. There are many who have been calling for this change, particularly after loses to Duke, William and Mary, and Southern Mississippi. It seems, for me, that for all the bad losses, there was an equal number of great games — the Thursday night victory over then #3 Florida State in 2005, the 2007 season where the Cavaliers won 5 games by 2 points or less, and victories over PItt and West Virginia in the Tire Bowl and Minnesota in the Music City Bowl. I was particularly impressed with how Coach Groh handled his final postgame press conference — an appropriately reflective tribute for how the Cavaliers were coached over the last nine years.
Al Groh – Images by Jason O. Watson>Photographs of Al Groh
A good football game in the WAC
I was assigned to shoot the Idaho Vandals at the San Jose State Spartans on October 10th. US Presswire wanted me to shoot Nathan Enderle, Idaho’s quarterback (pictured above). This turned out to be a great game with several lead changes and the it wasn’t decided until late in the fourth quarter. It was also a good opportunity to shoot some stock of players that don’t usually get as much exposure as other BCS conference teams. One of the things I recall was the the light really died off quickly from late afternoon to night and Spartan Stadium is a pretty dark place to shoot at night. The sidelines were pretty tight space-wise behind the benches and I was prevented from moving behind SJSU’s bench by the security guards. I had to walk all the way around, behind the much friendlier Idaho bench to get from one end zone to the other. I was also asked four different times for my credentials while on the field, despite that it was hanging around my neck for the world to see. The field security was pretty odd, but everyone was super nice including the SID staff up in the press box. Idaho won the game 29-25.
More photos from Idaho at San Jose State
20091010 – Idaho at San Jose State (NCAA Football) – Images by Jason O. Watson
San Jose Sharks NHL Home Opener vs the Columbus Blue Jackets
The San Jose Sharks hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets at HP Pavilion in San Jose, California on October 8th. This was my first NHL game shooting, and the first since I watched the NY Islanders play the Pittsburgh Penguins at Nassau Coliseum over a decade ago. I was impressed with the crowd – it was the home opener for the Sharks and the 17,000+ fans were certainly very much into the game. This game pretty much had a little bit of everything – lots of goals (the Sharks won 6-3), a hat trick by Dany Heatly, a couple of good fights in the second period, and a penalty shot (where Heatley netted his third).
I shot the entire game from above in one of the video booths, almost entirely with my 400mm f/2.8L. The Sharks are reconfiguring their ice level photo sports, and There were only three holes to shoot from and they were quickly taken by other shooters. All in all, very fast paced and a lot of fun to shoot.
More images from the Blue Jackets at Sharks game
20091008 – Columbus Blue Jackets at San Jose Sharks (NHL Hockey) – Images by Jason O. Watson
Washington at Stanford – NCAA Football
In my short time shooting PAC10 and WAC football, I’ve noticed a couple of key differences from the ACC, Big East, etc. The first, the weather — it’s almost always 70 degrees and awesome outside in Palo Alto. Second, there’s a ton of offense — or put another way, there often is lot less defense (i.e. no 7-5 UVa v UNC games). This second observation roughly held true as Stanford upset the Huskies 34-14 in front of the home crowd. Washington entered the game ranked nationally in the polls after defeating then #3 USC the week prior. Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck (pictured above scoring a touchdown on a boot leg) and running back Toby Gerhart (below) dominated the game for the Cardinal. The recently renovated Stanford Stadium is a great place to shoot — especially with the stadium only a mile from my apartment 
More images from Washington at Stanford
20090926 – Washington at Stanford (NCAA Football) – Images by Jason O. Watson
Texas Rangers at Oakland Athletics – Major League Baseball
The above image is of Oakland Athletics infielder Daric Barton (10) sliding into home plate during the second inning against against the Texas Rangers at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on September 22, 2009. This was my first major league game — after shooting several years of NCAA baseball, it was nice to cover a late season MLB game. The A’s dominated this one, and won 9-1 — pretty much eliminating the Ranger’s hopes of a wild card playoff birth.
20090922 – Texas Rangers at Oakland Athletics (Major League Baseball) – Images by Jason O. Watson
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 day at the races – Infineon Raceway – Sonoma, CA
A co-worker of mine generously gave me her ticket to today’s Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma at Infineon Raceway. This was my first Indy Car race and I had an absolute blast! This unique 12 turn track is a photographer’s paradise… all of my images were taken from general access areas and I did not have credentials (which would’ve gotten me further down along the wall and a few other places around the complex). Got to the track early enough to watch the various pre-race races. In the development race before the Grand Prix, there was a massive crash in turn 2 (7 cars, 4 of which had to be towed). There was a radio broadcast deck over looking the uphill part of the turn and I parked it here for the beginning of the race. Lucky enough, there was a crash in the first lap. This actually helped pole sitter and eventual race winner Dario Franchitti hold the lead for the entire race.
The races and great weather (clear skies with upper 70s) combined to make an excellent day. Definitely need to head back to Sonoma next time NASCAR and IRL come to town.
Gallery of Photos from Indy Grand Prix at Sonoma
20090823 – Indy Grand Prix at Infineon Raceway Sonoma California – Images by Jason O. Watson
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
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.
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.
