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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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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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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.

WTE Prep Athlete of the Week Kelsey Eklund of Burns.

Pretty impressed. That is how I feel about my experience shooting Burns track star Kelsey Eklund. A number of reasons contributed to my overall feeling of the shoot.

One being the chance to cruise into the country in order to visit the 11 or 12 people who live there.

Beware: seriousnesses follows below…

Not only did Ms. Eklund dazzle the camera with a natural smile and comfort, which required little to no direction on my part, but she was also able to wrangle every single pair of sneakers in the entire town for use as props. I used the 10 or so pairs as a backdrop for this shot. By looking at the photograph, it is difficult to realize that she is actually laying in a strategically empty space with the sneakers merely surrounding her body. There are, however, a few dark spots where shoes could not fit (due to a lack of pairs).

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WTE Prep Athletes of the Week East High School's Brittany Rehm and Ramon Robinson. Both Rehm and Robinson won the high jump last weekend. Rehm, a senior, also ran the second leg of the winning girls 4x100 meter relay. Robinson, a sophomore added a win in the triple jump. AAron Ontiveroz/staff

This shoot with East High jumpers Brittany Rehm and Ramon Robinson was fun, but sort of long (only in terms of extension cord, or course).

Like Lamont Sanford (not affiliated with Cheyenne eatery Sanford’s), I acted like a big dummy. Instead of parking near the track at East High, I chose to park near the main office some 472 miles away. Why? Because I wanted to obey the rules, which read something like, “Any person(s), who is not a student, faculty or staff member, entering the premises of Cheyenne East High School during operating hours must first sign in at the main office or suffer the consequences of crossing Laramie County School District No. 1. and the code of the Thunderbird” I did not actually read the rules, but I’m sure it’s in there somewhere.

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