Gary, Gary, Gary.........

 ......Gary Patterson!!! Hands down in my opinion one of the best college football coaches in the country and luckily enough I get to shoot him almost every week in the fall strolling the TCU sidelines. Catching Coach Patterson with a "smile" is a different story. After coming off a Rose Bowl victory last season with a senior laden offense, the Horned Frogs started this season slow with a loss to Baylor. Along with a loss weeks later to crosstown rival SMU. A win at Boise St. in November turned the season around, and along with an invitation in October to join the Big 12, coupled with a newly renovated Amon G. Carter Stadium (to be completed next season) and a possible BCS berth once again this year there is reason to smile in Fort Worth! Here's 3 from Saturday.......

WEEEEEEEEE........

.............well once again another year of PGA golf is complete in the DFW area....I find it a bit strange and sad that over the course of 11 days in May two tournaments; The Colonial in Forth Worth and The Byron Nelson in Irving are played in such a short amount of time. One kinda gets golfed out during this period of time, but as a photographer or fan if you don't get your fill you have to wait another 350 some days! Thursday was great weather day at the "Nelson" with highs in the 80's as friend & photographer Holly Paulson joined me on the course making images and editing as we focused on Jordan Spieth, Sergio, KJ Choi and Dustin Johnson. Saturday was hot and miserable and to make matters worse I tried to do way, way too much and paid the price walking close to 10 miles on the day. Today was awesome, I hung out with Claire most of the day as we camped out on 5 different holes 2, 9, 11, 17 and 18 waiting for the pro's to come to us! The tournament was won on the first playoff hole by tour rookie Keegan Bradley over Ryan Palmer, who sunk a birdie putt to force the playoff....As always here's 3!!!!

Greetings.....

....from fabulous Las Vegas!!! Got here a couple of days early for March Madness and have been shooting the Mountain West Conference Tournament the past few days....Had a classic game in the women's semi-finals as Utah came back from 11 down late in the game to defeat BYU 50-49 on a last second buzzer beater. But the last five minutes of shooting that game I was on fire! Some really nice images. Tonight on tap on the men's side it's New Mexico vs BYU and SDSU vs. UNLV from the Shark Tank on the campus of UNLV. 6 games down and 4 left; than the fun will begin! Here's a few from the closing moments....

Basketball....

.....playoffs begin tomorrow night for the boy's and I will be shooting Keller vs Lewisville up at Denton Guyer not a bad local for a basketball game, but will I shoot a winner? I give it 50/50 chance...just give me a good game like the one I had Friday night!!!  Fossil Ridge played Northwest for the 4th playoff spot from District 7-5A  and with the Panthers winning 51-46 in double overtime, in what was probably the best game I was able to shot all year. Lot's of emotion, two overtimes and a nearly full gym. Well, off to Denton tomorrow night in what probably will be my last high school basketball game of the year, darn! And KISD, please buy some new lights!!!

J-I-M-M-E-R!!!!!!

........Saturday afternoon Jimmer Fredette and the BYU Cougars were in Fort Worth to play TCU and the Danial-Meyer Coliseum with a capacity of around 7,500 was sold out for the first time since 2004. Not because of TCU that fans came out to see the 6th ranked Cougars and possible player of the year Fredette, but because of the 5,000 or so BYU fans that made the DMC their home for 2 1/2 hours on this February afternoon. It was a rockstar, cult like following for BYU and their star player Fredette with signs, jerseys and more kiddos under the age of 5 that I have ever seen at a basketball game in my life. BYU won 79-56 in an uneventful game, but this is the shape of things to come in Fort Worth as TCU joins the Big East in one season the likes of Syracuse, Georgetown, Pitt, Villanova, Louisville and St John's will be visiting every winter...Wow real good basketball is on the horizon...Here's 3....

PLAYOFFS!!!!!

.....Well once again the Keller teams I shoot come up short in playoff action! The past two nights it's been high school girls basketball with Keller losing last night 80-53 to Lewisville and tonight Timber Creek was defeated by Western Hills 57-46. So my streak continues as I haven't shot a playoff win in about 3 years now....It was  pretty fun game to game with fast pace and very athletic action by Western Hills provided  with some decent images. It looks like one more high school hoops game on the schedule for the season as Keller boys will opne the playoffs next Monday or Tuesday night....Should I stay home? And personally like never before I am high school hooped out!!! Here's 3....

Great.....

......hockey game tonight in Dallas! The Stanley Cup Champion and my home town Chicago Blackhawks were in action tonight against the Dallas Stars. Added to the fun was long time Stars goalie Marty Turco was in net for the visitors. The Hawks got out to a first period 3-0 lead in front of the sell-out crowd and it seemed it might become a laughter...no such luck for 30 percent of fans that were sporting their Indian Heads proudly on their chest! The Stars came back to tie the game on a speculator Brendon Morrow goal half way thru the third period. After a scoreless over time Dallas prevailed 3-1 on penalty shots to win the game 4-3. Probably was the most exciting hockey game I have shot in a long time!!! Here's my take!

I hate this gym.....

........with each passing time I shoot in the main gym at Keller High School I get more and more frustrated. The light is poor and seems to keep getting worse and worse every year. This season ISO 5000, Shutter 500 and F2.8...and it's still dark.  To make matters even more depressing the lights cycle BIG TIME....shoot a 5 frame sequence and 5 different color balances, even if you manual white balance only 1 frame is proper. Than there are the back rounds! I refer to to now as the "circus tent" as KISD Athletic Director Bob Dejonge told me a story early in the season about the principle at the time the gym opened saw another gym with this painting configuration and HAD to have it. Bob told him it would like like a "circus tent" he insisted! Distracting is an understatement...so I went old school lat night and shot monochrome in the camera and actually I was pleased with the results. Less distracting for sure, light still cycled 2-3 f-stops on exposer and motion blur killed me! Here's to 3 from the B/W circus tent!

New for me.......

......old to others! Well, it's always nice to visit and shoot in different arena or stadium; kinda like riding a roller coaster for the first time. I guess there are other analogies, but I will stay away from them. I shot the Memphis vs. SMU  game at Moody Coliseum on Wednesday and was very entertained by a decent basketball game won by the Mustangs 64-58 and a GREAT old building....kinda reminded me of DePaul's Alumni Hall crossed with Old Chicago Stadium....small but old and full character. Other shooters said it was dark, but after shooting at UNT and high school gyms I never complain. I look forward to going back on Saturday when the Houston Cougars visit. No Phi Slamma Jamma is gone! Here's 3..........