2008-2009 Palm Beach Community College men's and women's basketball

Initially this photo shoot of the 2008-2009 Palm Beach Community College men's and women's basketball teams was supposed to be in their Gymnasium but because of the Barack Obama's “Growing American Jobs” summit event they decided not to cancel but to do it outside on the schools campus.

This caused for some unique challenges, one having a large number of people out in the heat. I was hired to do team photos as well as individual shots for their web site and program. The first challenge was trying to find a location where I would have some type of elevations and then try to work with the direction of the light. This was accomplished with a circular fountain that I could have one row sitting and another standing but the lighting was all wrong. The lighting was more side lighting than I would have liked but it did give me some separation from the background and I used a medium soft box as a fill light.

I attempted to work as quickly as possible because of the heat but also tried to give more than one look. I shot a lot tighter for the girl’s team because they didn't want me to show their shoes. After, getting the standard shots where you can see faces and numbers when you try to go after some fun shots.

Barack Obama “Growing American Jobs” summit Palm Beach Community College Lake Worth Campus

Today made for an interesting day. I was contracted a couple weeks ago to photograph the Palm Beach Community College men's and women's basketball teams at the schools Elizabeth W. Erling Gymnasium at the Lake Worth campus. I found out the day before that Barack Obama was hosting an event that morning in the same gymnasium. I have covered these types of events before so I thought that the school would cancel the photo shoot but they decided not to do the shoot in the gym but to do it on campus.

Scents I was going to be on campus anyway I decided to apply for press credential for the Barack Obama event. I had gotten an email from the Obama campaign that’s how I knew about the event to begin with. So after I knew that I had a credential I decided to go early and hang around the school until my photo shoot with the basketball teams. After arriving almost three hours early there was still nowhere to park and the school was like a zoo as I expect.

Once I actually got on campus security got people through pretty quickly. It was actually kind of funny because my contact person with the schools marketing department for the afternoon basketball shoot that I had not met but only talked with on the phone was the first person I met at the security entrance for the Obama event.

Instead of the expected Obama Rally, he had a “Growing American Jobs” summit with Governors Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Bill Ritter of Colorado and Ted Strickland of Ohio, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to discuss the economic challenges that they are seeing firsthand and talk about the impact that Senator Obama’s Economic Rescue plan for the middle class would have on the economy in communities across America.


Participants in the Barack Obama “Growing American Jobs” summit from left to right
The Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson, Governor of Michigan Jennifer Granholm, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker, Senator Barack Obama, owner of South Florida-based Victoria & Associates Victoria Villalba, Governor of Ohio Ted Strickland, CEO of Google Eric Schmidt and Governor of Colorado Bill Ritter.

Governor of Michigan Jennifer Granholm talks about issues in her state as former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker looks on.

CEO of Google Eric Schmidt, left, looks on as the Governor of Colorado Bill Ritter elaborates about economic challenges in his state.

Barack Obama addresses the crowd.

Boxing Eventco Sports, Inc., boxing card at PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Last night I went out to cover professional boxing. Daniel “The Haitian Sensation” Edouard from Chicago took on Francisco “Flash” Osario of Miami in the main event of a seven-bout card promoted by Eventco Sports, Inc., Saturday night Sept. 20 at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

This turned out to be an interesting night; all the fights were competitive and action-packed. The lighting was a bit interesting. They had two banks of lights in opposite corners, in a cross lighting pattern. Which created dark shadows in the opposite corners and any time the fighter’s heads went down. The lighting was extremely poor I had to shoot at ISO 3200 at shutter speeds of 500 to 1000 of a second at F2.8. The only good thing about the lighting was this was the first time I had the opportunity to use my new Nikon D300 camera under very poor lighting conditions. This camera was advertised as handling poor lighting conditions very well and it has as advertised. My only other issue was not being able to get a fight card, because I was looking for a compelling story angle that I could pitch to a newspaper. Without the fight card I didn't have the names of the fighters or where they were from.



Referee Frank Gentile officially stops the first fight of the night as Tyrone Dicks from Miami was knocked out by Isaiah Thomas from Detroit at :50 seconds of the first round as both fighters were making their pro debuts. Dick's lay motionless for several minutes as he was treated by the ringside physicians. He was stable and breathing on his own and taken to a local hospital for precautionary reasons and further review.



Omar Brown (right) from West Palm Beach, Florida lands a left to the jaw of Elliot Alvarado from Hollywood, Florida in the second round in his pro debut. Brown knocked down Elliot in the first round and went on to win a unanimous decision in there four around fight.



Welterweight Omar Brown from West Palm Beach, Florida shows his emotions as he celebrates with his trainer after winning his pro debut by beating Elliot Alvarado from Hollywood, Florida with a four round unanimous decision.



Light Welterweight Clayvonne “Bad Boy” Howard (right) from North Palm Beach, FL. made his pro Debut as he beat Brandon Reid Avebook from Dracut, Mass. with a third round stoppage by referee Sam Burgos.

Eastern Michigan University defeat’s Florida Atlantic University in women's soccer

Today I decided I wanted to shoot something, so I decided to go down to Boca Raton, Florida to shoot a women's college soccer game. I hadn't shot a soccer game in a couple of years so it felt completely strange and my timing was way off.

The Eastern Michigan University women's soccer team held off a late rally by Florida Atlantic University Sunday afternoon, defeating Florida Atlantic 2-1 in Boca Raton, Florida.


Eastern Michigan University #2 Nicole Farrell of Coral Springs, Florida and #17 Brittany Comer of Jacksonville, Florida celebrate their teams second goal in the second half

Florida Atlantic University’s #4 Janelle Simpkins from Nepean, Ontario, Canada takes a kick to the stomach as she tries to defend Eastern Michigan University’s #11 Jessica Lathrop from Indianapolis, Indiana.

You can view all the game photos at.

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=4093836

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Youth football, Treasure Coast Football Conference Southern Division of Pop Warner & South Florida Youth Football League

Football season is here again, I covered my first two games today.
The Jupiter Maroon vs Lake Park Sharks Junior Pee Wee youth football of the Treasure Coast Football Conference Southern Division and the Western Tigers vs Boynton Beach Bulldogs 165lb of the South Florida Youth Football on Saturday 9-6-08. I contacted the Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, HomeTown News, The Weekday and the Jupiter Courier.

As a freelance photographer I tend to first go after news publications in an attempt to sell them photos and try to get the leagues some press coverage. And then I try to go after the parents to see if there's any interest from them.

It is becoming more and more difficult to sell freelance photos to news publications. Because of their cutbacks and limited budget they are tending to buy less and less photos. The Sun-Sentinel no longer has a youth football section, HomeTown News no longer covers Northern Palm Beach County. The Palm Beach Post’s Neighborhood News covering Jupiter and the Jupiter Courier wanted to use my photos for free and the Weekday never returned my phone call.

The other typical aspect is trying to get a roster of the teams. The first game I was fortunate enough to get rosters although one team was missing several numbers of players. In the second game I couldn't get rosters for either team, although I was told they would e-mail it to me the next day. That worked out because once again I was told The Sun-Sentinel no longer has a youth football on the south end of Palm Beach County either and the Boynton Beach Forum never returned my phone call. One team did eventually send me the email of their roster but not the other team.

Ideally what you would like to have is the play a touchdown, fumble, an interception, or just something different and be able to see the motions in their eyes.

I have attached a links to the photos from the games.

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/ThumbPage.aspx?e=4078718&s=0

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=4085893


The Jupiter Maroon’s Brandon Murphy Scores a fourth-quarter touchdown against the Lake Park Sharks in a Pop Warner Treasure Coast Football Conference Southern Division Junior Pee Wee game in Lake Park, FL.

HBCU All White Reunion 2008

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) represent about 3% of Higher Education Institutions in the US and about 2% of US college enrollment. It only seems to reason that as their numbers continue to diminish that those who attended Black Colleges and Universities would like to keep those memories alive and relevant. So with that in mind I attended the Labor Day Weekend HBCU All White Reunion 2008 Sunday at the ZIA RESTAURANT, Inside the Embassy Suites Hotel 4350 PGA Boulevard, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

The event has hosted by KJ Events & District Entertainment for a grown and mature audience dressed in there best white attire could come out to a classy location and share in their college memories with music by Supalova KJ, DJ Lee, DJ Step and live entertainment.