Puncher Villa ready to whoop some butt.

As much as I blog about the derby girls, one might think they’re all I shoot. Since they’re so much fun and the results are so awesome, I’m kind of forced to write about them!

The shoot was for the Crossroads City Derby Sucias; the all-star travel team consisting of skaters from the respective home teams (Reguladies, Spitfire Sallies and the Rink Rash Revolutionaries).

We decided on some location shots around Las Cruces, and met up at the West End Art Depot to get started. The building provided some nice grungy looking backdrops to contrast the beautiful skaters. On the train track, next to the building and gifted by the photo background gods, were a couple of tank cars with colorful graffiti that were left overnight. After getting the required shots, including one of Puncher Villa tied to the train track, we headed over to the colorful handball court on Picacho Avenue.

These were easily my favorite shots; from the individuals to the group shot with the team on their backs (thanks to Goldie Blocks for the killer idea), the artwork on the wall provided a great backdrop. From a photo geek perspective, I tried to shoot wide, from 10mm to 24mm to get as much artwork in as possible. I ended up having to strobe the back part of the wall with a Profoto Magnum reflector separately to get some even lighting across the wall.

The best part for?  My beautiful wife joining me for the shoot, where she assisted me and got the “derby girl experience” first hand.

Thanks to Robbie and Andre for flagging, gripping and holding to stuff for me.

The Las Cruces High School Cheerleaders cheer on the volleyball team

Congrats to the Las Cruces High School Cheer Team for winning the Blue Trophy (first place) in Co-Ed Cheer at the 2012 NMAA Spirit Competition this weekend in Rio Rancho.

The Bulldawgs edged out 3-5A rival Alamogordo and Oñate to win the coveted trophy.

Below are a couple of my favorites shots from the 2011-12 season, including a shot of Jovoni, who I had a photo session with a few days for the competition. Way to go guys!

2012 Mayfield Softball - Seniors

I think my favorite things in photography is the uncertainty about a gig; not knowing what to expect, and if needed, thinking on your feet, making the best of a less-than-perfect situation and walking away feeling good about it.

In pretty much that situation, I walked away feeling good about the photo shoot I had with the Mayfield softball teams, and the great bunch of young ladies I had met.

The shoot, initially scheduled at their practice field, was rumored to be at the Field of Dreams. After everyone had made the 200 yd walk across the parking lot to the FOD, it was finally determined that the pictures would be taken at the less scenic practice field. We then waited another 30 minutes trying to gain access to the field. With the shoot finally starting at 4:45 (an hour late), and the sun setting at roughly 5:50 and 34 girls to shoot, I had to work fast!

34 girls might not sound like too many, but I had to get group shots, team shots, and a variety of poses for the team poster. Since girls tend to be a bit more picky about their appearance, and like to try different poses, I plan on longer sessions. If it were 34 boys, I would have been done in 20 minutes.

Long after the varsity team had left, a group of junior varsity/freshman players hung around to try some extra shots, which turned out to be some of my favorites. Since the juice in my battery pack was low, I went to a single light, and put the girls to work by having them position my reflector. By the time we were done, it was dark and me and my battery were spent.

Gear-wise, I used a Profoto portable battery pack, powering two studio strobes to balance out the full daylight. For modifiers, I used a beauty dish as the main, and a softbox as a fill. The nice thing about shooting in daylight is the sun makes a fantastic hair light. To lessen the depth of field, I used a diffusion filter when it was brighter, but abandoned the idea and made the decision to work out the distracting backgrounds elements in post.

I’ve since had a chance to shoot the Lady Trojans in action against against Eldorado and at the Southern New Mexico Softball Invite, and they’re fun to watch; it will be an interesting season in District 3-5A. Good luck Lady Trojans!

The Junior Varsity team getting it done

The player/pose was masked out for the poster

It’s been a while since I’ve shot any kind of prep softball action (not since the 2010 state tournament and last season’s NMSU-Nebraska showdown), so I felt a little rusty during the first game of the Mayfield vs Eldorado double header the first Saturday in March. Luckily the rust didn’t last too long and the weather warmed up for a couple of great games.

It’s amazing to see how physical the game can get, and by physical I mean getting beaned by the softball at full speed. The pitcher for Mayfield, Tiana Molina took a couple of those hits, both on pitches in the second game. The picture above is the first, more violent hit. Two innings later, she was hit in the elbow by the second errant pitch. The following inning, Eldorado pitcher Shawntianna Martinez took a line-drive right to her solar plexus, and amazingly shook it off and continued to play. These are some tough girls!