Tuesday, June 21, 2005

More fun with the kids

As the Little League seasons wound down, I got out to a couple of softball and baseball games to shoot some more kids of some family friends. Shooting Little League continues to be great fun. The action...the expressions...the emotions...the drama...Little League makes for great shot opportunities...and some of them even have something to do with baseball.

See the photo galleries of game shots here:
Murrayhill Little League, Dodgers vs Reds
Oregon ASA Softball, Blaze vs Rampage
Murrayhill vs Tualatin Softball




Manchester United Premier Cup

Over Memorial Day Weekend 32 of the best U-15 boys and girls premier soccer clubs gathered at the Nike World Headquarters Campus in Beaverton, OR to compete in the U.S.A. Regional Finals for the Manchester United Premier Cup. Over 7,000 boys teams from 40 countries are vying for honors to compete in the Man U Cup Finals, which will be held in Hong Kong in July. For the girls, winning the Regional provides a berth to the prestigious Gothia Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The Oregon Spring weather was perfect for soccer; the action was top notch and the beautiful Nike Campus provided an excellent setting with world-class facilities. The campus was the training facility of choice for the Manchester United English Premier League squad during their past U.S.A. summer tours.

The Washington Crossfire 90 club from Redmond, WA are now busy booking tickets to Hong Kong as they took first place honors for the boys. The Slammers FC of Newport Beach, CA will travel east across the Atlantic as their first place victory sends them off to Gothenburg.

See the photo gallery of game shots here: Manchester United Premier Cup.




Friday, June 03, 2005

Quarter Midget Racing: Region 9 States Race

I have fond memories of when I was a kid watching the quarter midget races at Alpenrose Dairy in Portland with my family. As I remember, we would stop by Alpenrose on a Sunday after church to watch the races...or the little britches rodeo...or the bicycle races on the velodrome...or any of the many other events the dairy sponsors. Alpenrose is an amazing place...a true testament to a family owned business understanding the value of being involved with the community and supporting family oriented activities.

I was taking softball pictures on Memorial Day Weekend for a friend on the main Little League field, which happened to be the first day of the Quarter Midget Region 9 States Race. It was just qualifying and time trials, but I took the opportunity to shoot for about an hour and get a taste of shooting a racing event...quarter midget style. I enjoyed it and will definitely plan to drop by Alpenrose more often this summer and shoot another race. If you want to learn more about quarter midget racing, check out the Quarter Midgets of America website.





Oregon Girls High School Lacrosse Championship

After shooting a recent softball game at Southridge High School I took the opportunity to drift over to the football stadium to shoot the Oregon Girls High School Lacrosse Championship match between Lincoln High of Portland and Lake Oswego High. The match started out during the "golden hour," when the sun is just above the horizon, which provided a very nice warm-toned light. As the match drew into the evening, I went from shooting with great light at ISO 200 to struggling to get a decent shutter speed at IS0 1600 due to the weak stadium lights.

It was a great end-to-end match. The lead changed hands several times throughout the match, but in the end, Lake Oswego scored a "golden goal" in the second overtime to claim the state title. It was a very emotional win for the LO ladies and a crushing blow to Lincoln.




Thursday, June 02, 2005

Half-fast Coed Soccer

How someone came about the idea of coed soccer is beyond me. I know of no other mixture of the sexes in any other physically demanding contact sport. Sorry...coed softball just doesn't compare. Even though on paper one wouldn't think two teams of five men and five women would result in a harmonious outcome, but somehow it all works...given all don't take it too seriously.

I have been an avid soccer player my entire life. Coed games are a lot of fun. The coed team I play on is a diverse mix of talent and characters...to say the least. We have twenty-somethings and sixty-somethings...serious talent and alternative talent. No matter how you measure it, it's a great group of folks and not too bad of a team. The team name is Half-fast and we have managed to start of the season with a 4 and 1 record. The most recent game was in Damascus, Oregon in the foothills of the Cascade Range. The backdrop to the field was a gorgeous view of Mt. Hood. In between substitutions, I took a handful of photos of the game. We won 4-1, I got some good shots of my teammates and the post-game beer was mighty tasty.

See the photo gallery of game shots here: Half-fast vs Accuprint Printers Coed Soccer.