Yellowstone Trip--Day 1 (May 17th)

Finally, we are back from our vaction to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. I decided to break up the week long trip into days to give me some time to finish photos. I took over 1500 photos and about an hour and a half of camcorder footage(most by Melyssa). I have slowly been editing photos, starting with the wildlife pics.

This will be an easy post because we started our trip at midnight and not many pictures were taken. I drove in darkness until somewhere in Indiana for about 6 hours on I-90 (almost all of our driving is on I-90). Melyssa slept that whole time and I woke her up about 9 hours in when we were just getting into Chicago. We switched after the big city and she drove until Mitchell, South Dakota. This is where we stayed for the night in a nice hotel with a giant waterslide. We stopped only for gas and food and even saw the biggest green giant in the country. It was in Blue Earth, Minnesota and we took a few pictures with Melyssa posing in a few like the one below. See Melyssa at the giant's feet for size comparison.

Seein' Red at the End

My last week of regular season high school sports for this year has come to an end. It's funny how the final three games were all against Fairport. The girls and boys lacrosse team and the baseball all played Fairport. The Spartans baseball team was the only victor as both lacrosse teams lost to the Red Raiders.  
Anyways, I will be away from sports and a computer for the following week as I am travelling to Yellowstone for a vacation from sports and work.  This time will give me a chance to concentrate on some wildlife pictures. Here is some of the last sports pics for a little while....

Baseball Gallery: GC v. Fairport

Girls Lacrosse Gallery: GC v. Fairport

Boys Lacrosse Gallery: GC v. Fairport

Irondequoit Dominates Lacrosse

Just like the girls lost to Irondequoit on Friday, the boys were dominated on Tuesday by the Eagles too. Gates was only able to muster up two goals as Irondequoit scored early and often. It was difficult to watch on the offensive side of the field as Irondequoit held possesion for most of the game. Here are some shots...

Boys Lacrosse Gallery: GC v. Irondequoit

Afternoon Lacrosse, Morning Baseball

I finished the work week Friday afternoon with some girls varsity lacrosse at Gates Chili High School. The Spartans were taking on the Eagles of Irondequoit. The girls had a very tough afternoon as Irondequoit scored at will to beat Gates soundly.


Saturday morning I was finally able to shoot the JV baseball team as they took on the Greece Athena Trojans. I believe this game was scheduled a month ago but had been previously rained out twice. It was a 9 o'clock start and I must tell you theree is nothing better than starting off your weekend then some morning baseball. The clouds were in and out, so shooting was a little hectic but the photos came out pretty well.

Girls Lacrosse Gallery: GC v. Irondequoit

JV Baseball Gallery: GC v. Athena

More Field than Track

I arrived at Gates Chili High School to shoot another track and field event.  Gates was faced off against Rush-Henrietta.  This time I wanted to get in more field events than track. I wanted to balance out a few events I missed last time out. I concentrated on discus, shot put, pole vault, and the high jump. I feel I am definitely getting a feel for where I need to be for each event and sometimes I do find myself out of place but somehow can get a photo that works. Here are a few of my favorites from the day.

Track and Field Gallery: GC v. RH

Boys Baseball vs. Mcquaid

I was able to get in a couple of innings of the Gates-Chili varsity baseball team before going out to eat. Had to leave early, so I tried to fill up the card with some decent shots before 6 o'clock. Sometimes it adds a little pressure to grab some shots in a small time period and gives you an idea of how the newspaper photographers feel. Gates was playing the McQuaid Knights who has a solid club this year but I believe was missing a few players. I did not see how the game finished but GC had a lead early on.

Baseball Gallery: GC v. McQuaid

Two Days of Softball

Saturday I was bored and wanted to get another girls softball game in. They were away at Brighton so I grabbed the equipment and drove there. Gates held up pretty well and the game was a pitching duel until the Barons broke through with a few runs in the 4th inning. I tried a few different angles to hopefully get a new portfolio shot. Didn't get that shot but some interesting photos.


Monday I shot some more softball but this time it was not a Gates Chili game. A parent asked me to come shoot the Northstar Christian Academy's pitcher. She is having a phenomenal season including a 22 strikeout extra inning game. She also had not allowed a walk all year. Of course, when I show up she didn't have her best game. Nonetheless, she was very impressive and I took alot of photos of both teams (they played Mercy).

Sat. Softball Gallery: GC v. Brighton

Mon. Softball Gallery: NCA v. Mercy

JV Lacrosse with a Touch of Baseball

JV lacrosse followed up the varsity team by playing HFL also. On this friday they played the cougars to a tight game. After getting in 3 quarters, I made my way over to the varsity baseball field and shot about 2 innings of the game. They were playing Rush Henrietta and the light was starting to dim.

I am way behind with the blog and may start doubling up for a couple days. I also have to catch up because in a week I will be making my road trip to Yellowstone.

JV Lacrosse Gallery: GC v. HFL

Baseball Gallery: GC v. RH

Rainy Day Sports

It was overcast as I shot JV tennis early in the evening. The tennis team was playing Greece Athena at the middle school courts. I rushed to get as many athletes in as possible because I knew the rain was coming. The photos didn't come out how I wanted them too, but there were a few decent action shots.

An hour later the boys lacrosse game against the Honeoye Falls-Lima Cougars began and the rain started to fall too. It was my opportunity to try out my rain cover for the 300mm and my new rain jacket and pants. The cover worked great with a few kinks to work out from going horizontal to vertical quickly. The rain gear kept me dry and I was able to pull off some shots I would normally have a difficult time getting in that weather.

Tennis Gallery: GC v. Athena

Lacrosse Gallery: GC v. HFL

Track and Baseball

Took a ton of pictures running around the track at Gates Chili as they took on Webster Schroeder. Alot of events take place at the same time so it is very confusing. I did my best running around for a few hours. I then finished the night with a few innings of varsity baseball. the baseball team was playing Spencerport.

Track Gallery: GC v. Schroeder

Baseball Gallery: GC v. Spencerport