Wordless Wednesday: Shot on Goal

Linking up (for the first time ever) with Wordless Wednesday.

Off the pitch and back to the diamond

My son Henry's high school soccer season has ended (although he's still playing with his club team), and his high school baseball season is underway.  He's the good looking one, third from the right without a hat on.  Come back tomorrow for a baseball story, in words and pictures, as part of Sian's Storytelling Sunday.
P.S. for those of you curious about my big decision, I got the camera! Will start playing with it and posting results soon.

Where I've Been (on the Pitch)

I've been spending a lot of time out at the soccer pitch lately. The end of the high school season comes with a burst of activity . . . the last few games bunched together; the senior honors game; coordinating uniform returns and ordering the end of season awards. It's always bittersweet to close the page on the season and say good-bye to the seniors, including:

Chato (a kid whose life is pretty rough and for whom making the team has meant so much)

Alex (who's also an awesome baseball player and whose mom is one of my best friends)

Omar (one of the few four year soccer players and a boy with whom Henry has played off-and-on since he was six years old)

Mischa (he loves soccer and was crushed when he didn't make the team last year; so glad he made it for his senior year)

Alex (our striker who has struggled with keeping his grades high enough to remain eligible for play; this year, he managed to do that and had a great season):

 

Juancarlos (awesome defender and another four year player; an all league selection with a very ready smile)

Spending time on these boys is definitely worth it, but I'm looking forward to getting back to my art desk.  (And Henry has already played his first high school baseball game of the year!).

Soccer Faces/Soccer Stories

My faces #7 and #8 for the 29 faces challenge turned into soccer players - one has a Diego Maradona feel and the other a bit of Roy Keane going on.  They seemed good artwork to blog a few stories from my son's high school season. Long time blog readers will remember that the boys had an amazing season last year, going on a championship run that was truly special and will be remembered all their lives.  This year has been a different story. Nine of our players graduated, and we moved up to a higher division fielding a much weaker team.  They're currently 3-7-2, with two games left to play. We're fighting against relegation. 
But, in the midst of that, there's been rays of hope as well:
1.  They boys haven't given up. They keep trying and, in the last three games, have gone 2-0-1. I think they will finish the season with their heads held high.
2. For the first time in recent memory, none of the boys were removed from the team for poor academic records. The grade cut-off is not that demanding, but the soccer players typically come from disadvantaged backgrounds and we usually lose one or two to poor grades. This year, every single one has managed to stick with the team, and we have many players focused on going to college.
3. We had a wonderful ceremony for our first Friday night home match where we unveiled a sign for last year's championship, as well as the newly purchased and installed signs marking the school's 13 previous championships.  We had at least one player from each of those championship years in attendance at the ceremony.
4. Last Friday night, we had a crowd of almost 200 fans for "Youth Soccer Night."
5. On a personal note, DS Henry has been attending college I.D. camps and showing well.  He has at least one college that is very interested in having him play for them. When a different college complimented his skills but suggested he should focus on non-Division 1 schools, he said he might print that email out, use it as motivation and then send it to the coach after he makes a Division 1 team!
It turns out that there are many measures of success I guess, and even without a shiny championship patch for this season, it seems the boys have done pretty well.  Wouldn't you agree?

Storytelling Sunday (Picture): The Armband

There are many things Henry is on the soccer field:  fast; hard working; coachable. Definitely talented. But there's one thing he has never been - a leader. It just has not been in his nature to stand up and fill that role.  
Until this year. 
Congratulations son.
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To see more stories for Storytelling Sunday, go to this link.

And so it begins . . .

My son takes such joy in playing soccer - in whatever venue it takes.  This week, the regular high school season began, and I'm looking forward to a little of this:

And a lot of this:

It's going to be a tough season, as the boys moved up to a higher division after winning the championship last year.  But, regardless of what happens, I'm looking forward to spending time with this boy:

I love you, son.
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Weekly OLW Check-In.  Things slowed down, as I've been busy grading exams and helping the soccer team, but I did manage to:
1. Finish organizing and filing all my collage images - a big project that I'm glad to have done.
2. Reorganized/expanded my stamp storage and put away the big bag of stamps that had been accumulating for quite some time!  I hope to show you what I've done pretty soon.

Beyond Team Colors

I am almost done scrapping my Christmas, 2010 pictures! Yea! I can't wait to finish them up and put away the holiday paper and embellies.  But I thought I'd take a little break today and work on a prompt from Shimelle about scrapping on black cardstock.  I scrap on black cardstock a lot, but I almost always pair it with orange.  Because I live in Halloween-town. Not really - sometimes it just feels that way.  Half Moon Bay is a self-proclaimed pumpkin capitol, and the High School colors are black and orange.  The sports travel team colors are (almost invariably) black and orange. Plus, we follow the San Francisco Giants (whose colors are - you guessed it- black and orange). So, I took the challenge today to scrap on black cardstock, do a sports page and not do (primarily) black and orange. I pulled pictures from the soccer alumni game and paired black with deep teal. I love how this made the inevitable orange in the pictures really pop.
Once I finish my holiday pictures, I'm going to move on to working on a bunch of sports pictures.  So, be prepared for lots of orange! Are their any team colors or recurring color pairings where you live?
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Today I am grateful for: a bright sunshiny day and a surprise day off!

Single Word Captions - what say you?

Sad.

Frustrated.

Hurt.

Angry.

Carded.
Spent the last few days in Chowchilla, CA (approximately the middle of nowhere; filled with orchards and farmland, I kept looking for bee boxes!). It was not the best soccer tournament Henry and his team have had, but I'm actually quite happy with the emotion I captured in these photos. A different perspective than my typical sports shots which look more like these:

It's good to take a different perspective on things sometimes. What do you think?

Sunday Scavenger Hunt: Sports Edition

{It's been a while since I played along with the Sunday Scavenger Hunt at Ashley's blog, and I've missed it. Plus, it's a great reminder that Monday will mark the kick-off of my Summer Photography and Snapshot Scavenger Hunt! There's still time to sign up. Go to this post for details. Now, on with this week's Sunday Scavenger Hunt - the items requested were: letters; from a flower's perspective; emotion; bliss; and natural frame. Just FYI, I'm posting this a day early, as I'm in Chicago on a quick business trip.  I'll catch up with you all when I return.}
1.  Letters (above):  Henry earned his varsity letter in soccer this year, and he also received a champions patch.  Both will eventually go on a school jacket, so I wanted to take a photograph of them for his scrapbook.
2. From a flower's perspective - shooting on the ground at the soccer match.

3.  Emotion. Love the expressions on the players' faces.

4.  Bliss.  This one I pulled from my files. It's Henry after scoring two goals last season.

5. Natural Frame. Because Henry plays baseball, too.

Thanks for stopping by; see you Monday with my summertime scavenger hunt list!

Major League Baseball Opening Day

Today is opening day for Major League Baseball in the United States, and John Fogerty's song "Center Field" really captures the excitement of the day for me. Can't get enough baseball? I also found this wonderful video which captures the goosebumps of an actual game.  It's long (12 minutes) and only uses still photography, but the music is terrific:

Finally, for you S.F. Giants fans out there, the Giants anthem from last year:

The Giants open in Los Angeles this year against our hated rivals, the Dodgers.  Their home opener isn't until April 8th.  We'll be there on April 10th, for Buster Posey Rookie of the Year Day.  We can't wait! Why do we love baseball so much?  Read my post here and this one here, and you'll get a little understanding of how it can draw us together as a family. What about you?  Will you be taking in any baseball this year?  Or for my international readers, what sports will you be going to see live?

Sometimes you've got to play hooky . . .

As my regular readers know, my family are fans of the American baseball team, the San Francisco Giants. They're having a very good run this year. They made the playoffs and won the first round, thereby advancing to the National League Championship Series for a best of seven series against the Philadelphia Phillies. They split the first two games in Philadelphia and then returned home to San Francisco for games 3, 4 and 5. Well, I bit the bullet and paid through the nose for two tickets so that my 15 year old son, Henry, and I could go to the first game. I've got an art journal page brewing about the experience, but I wanted to write the story of the day while it was still fresh because buying those playoff tickets . . . best investment. Ever. 
Henry was thrilled when he heard the news and enjoyed bragging to his friends the day before the game.  When I went to pick him up early from school - he and I both dressed head-to-toe in Giants gear - the attendance officer smiled broadly at us and asked, "And where are you two going?" Before I could squeak out, "Would you believe a doctor's appointment?", she said "Are you going to the game? I wish I were. Have a great time!" Henry is such a hardworking and good student that not one of his teachers or school administrators would begrudge him a day of playing hooky.
We took the train to the game, and, as more and more fans boarded at each stop, many "go Giants!" shouts were heard. We walked to the glorious stadium, which is located down town about half a mile from the train stop, and the excitement grew with the waves of black and orange all around us.  Chants of "Let's Go Giants!" filled the air, as vendors gave us signs and rally towels to take into the stadium. 

We scooted down to the edge of the field to watch batting practice, and I snapped these images with my iphone:

(that'd be Henry)

(apparently, I wasn't the only parent who had pulled their kid out of school!).
Once back in our seats, the opening ceremonies got started.  I got goosebumps when a huge American flag unfurled on the field, military jets flew over and a beautifully voiced singer sang our National Anthem. 

Then the crowd went wild when Barry Bonds (a former Giants superstar player who has kept his distance from the team and the ballpark because he has become the symbol of the "steroid era" in baseball) was announced to throw out the first pitch. The stadium erupted as the prodigal son returned.  
But that eruption was nothing compared to what happened when the Giants took the lead with a two-out rally in the middle of the game or when they turned a double-play at game's end to clinch the victory.  We were all fist pumps and high fives; back slaps and hugs; dancing in the stands and screaming for all we were worth. I can't count the number of times Henry turned to me and said, "This is the best day ever!"

Afterward, we walked by the television broadcasting booth because Henry wanted to try to get his face on TV (he did).

And truly we were in no rush to leave.  I think we both wanted that day - and the glow from it - to go on forever.
The Giants now have a 3-1 lead in the series. If they win tonight (Thursday), they go to the World Series. If they lose, they go back to Philadelphia needing to win one of the last two games to advance.  No matter. Whatever happens with the Giants, I feel like I winner. Because I got to spend this day with my boy. And I'm grateful. Because sometimes you've got to play hooky.

Busy, Busy (photos to scrap)

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had much time to create art. I started teaching my new semester on Monday night (a huge, heartfelt thank you to all your wonderful comments on my video yesterday; they made me feel terrific!). Today (Wednesday) is the first day of school for my kids. We got all the school shopping done, and DS Henry finished all his summer work in the nick of time. In spite of the above sign I spied at the baseball field over the weekend, I'm pretty ready for them to go spend some time with their teachers and friends!
Speaking of the baseball field, the boys had another successful weekend, winning the tournament:

I tried my hand at taking some "generic" baseball pictures I might be able to use for greeting cards or sports-themed artwork.  As my photography skills continue to improve, I think this is something I'd like to do more of.  Here's the best shot, which I turned to sepia, but  I think could be improved with other effects (once I learn photoshop):

Of course, I had to take a couple of my boy, who was really happy to have contributed with his bat this tournament (by hitting well and scoring a lot; interesting note, at this age level, the travel teams all play with wood bats instead of metal/aluminum/composite). He usually contributes with his glove (he normally plays amazing defense, but our pitchers threw so well in this tournament, that wasn't really needed):

Love that kid!

In and Out of my photography comfort zone

Shimelle's last two prompts in "Love your pictures, love your pages" have been about finding your personal comfort zone in taking photographs  and then in stepping outside it.  I have thought (and blogged) a lot about photography and my style, so I won't bore you with all that again! But I did try to apply her lessons when I went to DS' sectional semifinal baseball game the other night and thought I'd share some of the results.  The picture above is safely within my comfort zone:  sports action photography.  I love this picture of DS Henry applying a tag.
I also tried to move around and take pictures from a few different angles.  I don't think this one worked very well:

But I did like this one, taken from the back, of the coach and baserunners watching a new pitcher warm up.  I turned it to sepia and liked that effect:

It may surprise you (or not) to learn that I have very limited computer knowledge about working with my photographs.  I don't have photoshop or photoshop elements or even any photo editing software, other than the free disk which came with my camera.  I think a goal for next year will be to start learning about that side of photography.  In the meantime, here's  one more "out of my zone" picture that I liked.  I turned it to black and white:

This is the huddle taking place when our starting pitcher left the game with one and a half innings left to play.  He had thrown a brilliant game (allowing just two hits), but the rules only allow the boys to throw a certain number of pitches, in order to protect them from injury.  In this picture, I imagine that the coach is telling Henry that, as short stop, it will be his responsibility to lead the defense and support the relief pitcher.  And Henry did.  Brilliantly as a matter of fact.  The boys won 8-2 and play in the championship game on Thursday night.  If they can win at least one of their next two games, they will qualify for the state tournament starting on Saturday in Sacramento.  They've never gotten that far before, and it would be a dream come true for many of them.  Keep sending those good luck vibes, and I'll let you know how it works out.

Cat-ching Up

So, Shimelle had this wacky idea that we should put our cameras on the ground and use the earth or floor as a tripod.  While I was considering that idea, my cat JJ started rolling around begging to be photographed! I was really pleased with this portrait of her.  When I went downstairs to take some other ground-level photography, she followed and I took a few more nice portraits while I was laying on the ground, actually looking up at her:

I think the purpose of the assignment was to capture something interesting in the foreground (like the carpet in the picture above), but I also found it a good reminder to change levels and perspective when shooting pictures.  I hope to repeat this assignment outside - I'm thinking a baseball game would be an interesting place to do so.  I'll add those photos after I take them.


I thought this would be a good opportunity to catch up on some questions posed recently:
1.  What type of camera do you use?  I have a DSLR - Nikon D50. It's a fairly rare camera that Nikon only made for about a year.  The rumor is that someone had a brain fart at Nikon and actually let a camera design (the D50) into production that would accept other types of lenses, not just Nikon lenses. Nikon stopped making the D50 and replaced it with the ubiquitous D40.  I love my camera, but it is probably over half way through it lifespan, so I'm thinking about moving up to a D90 at Christmas.  Other suggestions welcome!  How do I know it's halfway through its lifetime?  Check out this database for more information.

2.  How can you make a bookmark out of plaster?  Well, the plaster I use are cloth strips infused with plaster. They're sold as Rigid Wrap by Activa here in the states.  They're used in paper mache and mask making, but they're similar to the wraps used to make medical casts.  I reconstitute the plaster by adding water, and I can make it more or less pliable depending upon the number of sheets I use together and how much water I use.  I first learned about plaster in a class I took with Judy Wise, and you can read more about my various plaster creations by clicking on the plaster tag on the left.


P.S. Anyone want to come and wash my windows? There's some pretty obvious nose prints on them!


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Meanwhile, I spent Saturday and Sunday watching DS Henry's Juniors All Star team compete in the Sectional Tournament.  They're currently 2-0 and play Monday night in the semi-final game.  The competition has been pretty tough; they've won both of their games by just one run, but they're hanging in there.  Even though Henry's not having his best tournament, it's a good team and they're moving forward.  Here's Henry on the mound:

Thoughts of good luck gratefully accepted!