Well.....

......I am not quite sure why I don't have the interest or desire to write to a "blog" so it must be the way I was raised by Bonnie and Ray. Or I don't have that internal burning interest in sharing my thoughts and whereabouts with everyone else. I guess that's why I don't have a Facebook or Twitter either. But I do have some time on my hands once and while and I do have images to share; so here goes.....If you have read any of my prior post you realize I rarely get to shoot winners especially come playoff time. This year so far with four football playoff games under my belt I had no less than an 0-4 record for the teams I was covering. Volleyball I was 1-1. So no "jube" (as Jim Cowsert) calls it for football....all dejection, all sadness, all the end of our season.

So throughout the years I have learned there is a way to make nice images without getting in the face of sad players with a wide angle; so I prefer to use the 70-200 or the 300mm lens for these situations. With winners they want to be shot, they want to be captured on a DSLR sensor, so go wide, in some cases real wide.....but losing teams not so much. Most of these players have work really hard to become a high school athlete especially here in the the state of Texas and although these moments may not seem special now I think it's import to make these images even if I am the only one who sees them. It's the moment of time I am capturing so here are four images I really like all from different games. Keller, Fossil Ridge, Colleyville and Trinity. You're ALL winners. And remember these images are copyrighted, don't use them.

It's been 371 days give or.......

  .....take a few since I have blogged! I have shot over 100 games or events over that period of time and NOT posted one photo. Pretty sad! But at the same time I
have been Facebook, Twitter and Instagram free. The best part is I seriously love the fact that I don't feel the need to have to tell the entire world what I am eating, drinking, thinking or doing! People that feel the need to do that are seriously narcissistic in my humble opinion......
So with all that being said this blog will serve as the official outlet and home of RTCarlinPhoto as I have left my SmugMug account expire because of a various number of reasons mainly the cost and lack of parents buying photographs. Everyone is a photographer now days! Give them an iphone and hell Instagram will be the new Associated Press.
So it's time to post some pixs and try make sure I at least do it once a week. I stopped posting after about 6 &7 football games last season. So lets pick up on that theme, to date I have shot 11 football games and have another 3 this weekend.....so here are 3 long over do images; one great, two so-so....but I am not looking back over 11 games. Back on Monday, the good Lord willing with games 12, 13 and 14!!! And some SWEET images....rain in the forecast for Saturday's SMU-TCU tilt...got some plans if there is lightening!!!

Instagraming SIX & SEVEN.................

................Football games six and seven of the season were pretty uneventful! LD Bell defeated Keller 17-14 in game which saw the Blue Raiders score 17 points in the fourth quarter to defeat the Indians. Keller led or was tied with Bell most of the game but just couldn't clean up little mistakes that would have allowed them to win. My Saturday started bad with me forgetting me credential on my work bench in the garage, but thank goodness the nice folks at SMU took care of me. Thanks Olivia and HH!!! As far as the game not much of a contest as Texas A&M defeated SMU 40-something to 3. Hopefully by next week the Mustangs can work out their early season offensive funk and give TCU a game next Saturday. So that brings me to the picture portion of the old blogspot. SI.com has been posting Instagram photos on their website and featuring galleries of just Instagram pixs. There was some discussion among us photographers if they are shooting these pics with a phone or Digital SLR. I believe most of the images were taken with a DSLR but not sure what happens then. Are they sent to an iphone or ipad and Instagramed? Or are they using some kind or Instagram program on their Mac or PC, none of which I could find in an internet search....so here ya go..Here's 6...make that 7...Instagramed! I feel so SI!

 

 

3, 4 and 5....................

...............now in the books!! Game three was Alabama vs Michigan; a game I was so looking forward to as Brittany would be on the sidelines and YES, I was hoping the Wolverines could give the Tide a game...well I hardly saw Britto because it was all business for her and 'Bama jumped out to a 31-0 lead in the early second quarter, game over!
Game 4 was Keller Central vs Boswell, the first game I shot for the Star Telegram in a looooooong time and besides having computer issues in the KISD press box it was fun shooting on deadline and seeing (albeit very small) a pix in the sports section the next day. It actually was a pretty good game, but I missed the entire 3rd quarter because images were flying to the FTP at 3kb a second!!!! Geez, reminder to self hardwire next time I shoot at Keller!!!
Saturday was time for TCU as they defeated Grambling 56-0 to open the remodeled Amon G Cater Stadium in Fort Worth, in addition playing their first game as a member of the Big 12. I must say they did it right. What a beautiful on campus stadium the Horned Frogs have and should provide an awesome setting for Big 12 games vs. the likes of Texas, Oklahoma and Baylor in the coming years. Here's Britto, a beaten up Denard, great light at Keller and beautiful AGCS....

Game Dos......

 .......in the books! Glad preseason football is OVER! Can't wait for ESPN Gameday Saturday morning and Michigan vs Alabama that night! Go Blue Bitches.... Not bad 2nd half as Cowboys win 30-13 over the Dolphin. Here's four....

Bitches.........

.........it's been way, way, way too long!!! Blogging too much is one thing, blogging not at all is another!!! Well football is back and it seems fall and winter bring out my blogging desire. It's been a long spring and even longer summer but Tori Hunter is glad I am blogging again...so is Dicky Pride, who is all pumped up! Danika doesn't care and Ryan Palmer is upset that I haven't blogged since February. John Daly wishes I would wear his clothing line, I guess I am fat middle age white guy. I prefer the Mike Stone (not pictured) look, khaki shorts and black top. Cheerleaders are looking to be my new favorite and Cowboys are jumping for joy! Game #1 in the books....at least one, two, three do I hear four  more games in the next week?

Thorn's Madness.....

 ......Courtesy of Hank Thorns and the TCU men’s basketball team the madness has started early! For the second time in 9 days the Horned Frogs upset a ranked team at the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum in Fort Worth.  On Valentines night the 11^th ranked UNLV Runnin’ Rebels visited and lead by as many as 18 points late in the second half only to have the Thorns led Frogs come back to win in overtime 102-97. The win set off a wild scene at the DMC as TCU students stormed the court and Thorns was carried off on the shoulders of teammate Craig Williams. The emotion late in the game was like nothing I shot before as the TCU reacted after every basket as they headed up court making some sweet images.

This past Saturday night #18 New Mexico came calling and the Frogs answered the bell once again as TCU crushed the Lobos 83-64 in a game that wasn’t really even close in the second half. Steve Alford’s team was shut down in the final 20 minutes as the Frogs outscored the visiting Lobo’s 45-26. Cue the fans! Cue Thorns! Cue another celebration! As the final minutes counted down I asked Brandon Wade, who was shooting for AP if he had a wide angle lens I could use to shoot the celebration. He offered up his fisheye and boy oh boy I gotta get myself one soon! Here’s some Frog’s fisheye fun……

Hoop.....

...there it is!!! Now, that football is over it's time to take to the hardwood and shoot some hoops. Love me some college basketball. Even though I wasn't feeling 100%, because this darn cold won't go away I decide to shoot both the Boise St. at TCU and Denver at North Texas games on Saturday. Although none of the teams are having great seasons I was entertained by two great basketball games.


Boise St. led 50-34 with just under nine minutes remaining and the game pretty much looked over. But someone forgot to tell the Horned Frogs that as they went on a 20-2 run to close out the game and win 54-52 in Fort Worth. I really enjoyed shooting Bronco guard Tre Nichols (#10) a senior from Killeen, TX. He sports dreadlocks and can jump out of the building, a darn fun player to watch. Love the pix of him with one eye closed driving to the basket....ARGG!
Then, it was time to drive up to Denton for a 7pm tip off between the Pioneers and Mean Green and once again I forgot how darn DARK the Super Pit really is. Patrick Green was shooting for U of Denver and had strobes set up. David Minton of the Denton Record-Chronicle was rocking the Nikon SB-whatevers! Me? Crank up the ISO and just shoot, bitches. It still amazes me what 6400 ISO looks like now days on the Mark 4 or 7D. I have to admit the first 10 minutes of the game I was in a fog! The action was fast and furious and I was in the dark. Until you shoot there you have NO idea how dark it is. Strobes or not, it's hard to focus, manual of AF!!!
After moving to the other end of the court during a timeout I seemed to get my act together as it was about a F-stop or two brighter at the other end and I was able to start making images. And I am sure glad I did!!! UNT features freshman Tony Mitchell a 235, 6'8" forward from Dallas, who was a man was among boys scoring 30 points and out muscled Denver inside the paint. The Pioneers featured an outside game hitting on eleven 3-pt baskets. UNT lead by 7 with under a minute remaining but Denver fought back to tied the game at 66 as time expired in regulation. In a wild finish North Texas scored on put back off a miss with one second remaining for the 75-74 OT victory. So two games won by a total of 3 points (2 is the minimum) and a very entertaining day of making images!!! Here's a few....

Football season is...

...over. It's January 9 and tonight the BCS Championship game will be played between LSU and Alabama ending the college football season. There are only 7 NFL games left; none in Texas. Thus, my year of shooting football ended on Saturday with the FCS Championship. (“FCS” what you say? Too confusing to explain so let us leave it at that) The game was played between Sam Houston State and North Dakota State at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, who both advanced thru a “playoff bracket”  (imagine that concept) to the title game.

There was a standing room crowd of over 20,000 packed in to Pizza Hut Park and the stands on the east side were “hunter orange” filled with SHSU Bearkat faithful, while the west side was full with an eye popping neon yellow sported by the Bison fans from NDSU.

The past 5 months I figure I shot over 60 games which included high school, college and NFL action. I never look at any game differently…there were some NFL games that were really boring (Seattle vs. Cowboys), some high school games that were great (Southlake vs. Keller Central) and probably the best game all year was SMU vs. TCU which the Mustangs won in overtime 40-33 over the Horned Frogs.

But there was something really special about the game on Saturday. These aren’t players that are likely to go to the NFL or coaches making millions. These teams are rarely on TV; in fact they played most of their games in front of 6,000 fans of less. These are student athletes that play the game because they love it. But, the main difference Saturday than any other game this season was the fans! Most North Dakota fans traveled 18 hours by bus and car to Frisco to see their team win the NCAA Div I Championship 17-6 over Sam Houston. The passion, the energy and excitement was like no other game I shot all season long.

So when I look back at the fall of 2011 football season, what will I remember most? Will it be shooting LSU’s first victory of the year, the near miss by Keller Central vs. eventual UIL Texas State Champion Southlake, or Case Keenum’s record setting TicketCity Bowl Performance to name a few? Nah, hands down it was Saturday;  Bearkats vs.  Bison, not because of the quality of the game, but because of the excitement fans which made it so much fun to be there! Damn it was fun!!! Can’t wait for late August….

Did I mention the Bison hats that looked like something out of a Fred Flintstone cartoon? Here's 15.....