ShutterSpeed

Let me preface this entry by saying that anyone who doesn’t give thanks to and/or think about the original Matrix on a daily basis is a fool. Period. There is no excuse for not doing so. It is your mind’s right for giving you the ability to do things like, well, live and breathe.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen the aforementioned film, go out, buy — not rent — buy it and watch it seven or eight times… I’ll wait… good. Great film, huh?

Now you know the scene when you think Neo is about to smoke one of those suited fools on top of the building only to find out that the guy has the kind of agility and quickness that make Barry Sanders and Fred Astaire look like Barry Manilow and Fred Flinstone as he dodges bullets? If not, here is a picture:

Well, that’s just dandy and drool inducing. And since this is precisely the scene that kept me on the couch in my parents’ basement for the better part of a decade eating Rasin Bran and living out my prime, I decided to pay homage to it with a Prep Athlete of the week photo.

My subject, Kyle “Did he just do that?” Grott. His ability to make opposing defensive backs look like my dad on ice skates was good enough reason for me to want to make him look Matrixesque.

The above photo is the final version. To read more on how the shot was made and how my assistant’s foot speed  played a crucial role, read on by clicking “continue reading” below.

Thanks for looking.

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Why is it that the biggest cop out of conversation –weather — is always a non-cop out of conversation in Wyoming? On Thursday night, I said to a co-worker, “I hope the weather stays nice for the two days of state football I’m going to shoot.”

The next day on I-80 between Cheyenne and Laramie, my Jetta was tossed around like an American tourist in a Turkish prison.

Thursday was beautiful with no snow… Friday was more like the movie Alive — you know, rugby team crashes in Andes and resorts to munching on each other to survive. The only major difference was my lack of human meat. It was cold and miserable and I’m pretty sure I would’ve eaten my meaty brother had things not cleared up before Saturday’s games.

Despite bad weather, the games were actually pretty good on Friday. One upset in 2A and a success story in 1A as Southeast won their fourth title in a row.

On Saturday, the nice weather (less snow) resulted in three games with a combined difference of 115 points. That of course was skewed by 6-man dynamo Guernsey-Sunrise’s 76-16 win over Kaycee. The other two games ended in a 25-point win for Sheridan and 30-point win by Douglas.

I had fun and am glad I didn’t have to eat anyone.

Congratulations to the champions and the runner-ups for making it to Laramie.

Thanks for looking.

This is the third time I’ve had the chance to shoot Morgan Hartigan.

And for the third time, I struggled.

Luckily, she’s not only a good swimmer, but a patient individual, too.

The above image was among the final frames of the afternoon shoot. Morgan was home sick from school and I was on assignment sick of work. The timing for us to meet could not have come at a better time. As the kids say, it was sick.

At first, I had the idea to mimic a shot by photo chief little Mike Smith. His shot was of a spider web covered in dew. In each droplet was an image of a flower from the background. Pretty cool shot, so I thought it might be cool to experiment with that technique on a swimmer.

Not very cool execution on my part.

I got the light right, but I couldn’t get the water to form the correctly. I guess watching the Little Mermaid beforehand would have been a wise decision — you know, the scene when Ursula gets wicked crazy with the ocean.

Since my initial attempts to be awesome failed (story of my life), I moved on to a few techniques I knew might work. Do you like how I confidently knew, but there was still a doubtful might? Me too.

Morgan laughed a lot at my lame jokes and attempts to make her feel less uncomfortable. I think it was laughter intended at me, but I will interpret it as laughter with me.

In all, it was OK, but I would like to have nailed the water shot. In all likelihood, there will be another chance to shoot a swimmer in the future. Probably just none that will humor my lack of humor with compensatory laughter.

For more photos of the Morgan Hartigan shoot, click “continue reading” below.

Thanks for looking.

Editor’s note: AAron wasn’t really sick of work, it just sounded more clever written as such.

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My tennis skills are reminicent of those put on display by Milosh the tennis “pro” on Seinfeld — I’m no better than a ham sandwich on the court.

Maybe if I had the opportunity to attend the QuickStart Tennis Program, I could at least hold a racket without bleeding and/or crying. Unfortunately, I attended the Mr. Pee Wee Tennis camp as a kid and I was more interested in the sweatbands. Needless to say, my career went as far as bicycle with no wheels.

The assignment was fun. It was tough to not take a good photo (aside from really bad light). The photos in the slide show above are just a few of my favorites despite the fact that I envy the kids for their superior talent.

I’m almost ashamed, but not surprised to admit that a group of 4-6-year-olds posseses more talent than I. Oh well, at least I can take solace in… well, there isn’t much I can latch on to. *Sigh*

Thanks for looking.

This is the original take from PAW Austin Breckenridge. Due to spacial constraint and an editing decision, it ran as seen below — size and crop. Above is the original, which is not a bad photo — just not the right photo for circumstance.

Austin is a good kid with a lot of athletic talent. Last season, he became the first Central sophomore in years to win a state wrestling title. This past week, he replaced starting running back Michael Davis — who was ejected — during the Indians’ game against Green River.  He took control and ran for 120-plus yards with two touchdowns.

During yesterday’s shoot, we ran into another snag besides editing; the city was affected by a power outage. Thus, we didn’t have any variation in the shoot. I could’ve used my Speed Lights, but I didn’t bring them.

It’s likely Breckenridge hasn’t seen his last “spread” in the paper. Next time, he should get his due respect in both size and crop.

Also, the below image’s tone is flat for some reason related to Photoshop. I cropped it from the above image and saved it. The tone flattened.