I’m sure it will come back to haunt me. That is, my affirmative answer the other day to the question, “Would you be willing to help out the (Utah) SPJ Board?”

Already they’ve put me to work. I spent part of today with an editor going through photo contest entries from another state, narrowing down the selections in each category so that tomorrow we can pick the winners.

Here are some thoughts…

In this contest photographers were allowed to enter prints or CD’s. Judging the prints was really easy. You throw them out on a large table and starting yanking the losers. It’s fast. Having to load discs into my laptop to look at a single photograph was obnoxious. The extra time it took to go through all the disc entries was a huge burden. We didn’t hold the inconvenience against the people who sent discs; we judged them fairly. But if you’re entering a contest this year, submit your photos in the most convenient manner accepted. Because some judges will hold it against you.

Now that the main Utah contests have moved to online entry, we’ll probably see other states follow suit. (Contests are one thing we’ve been at the forefront of.) I’m really looking forward to judging contests in the future when I won’t have to sift through dozens of file folders filled with prints, discs, paperclips and gluestick. I’d much rather hit a URL and go from there.

Other things I’m working on right now…

Audio/Still/Video edit for a weekend sports profile.
Utah SPJ contest website

…also, an editor gave me two Notebook Screen Cleaning Wipes. Just so you know.

The sun went down at around 4:30pm today but it wasn’t really dark until I stepped into Bountiful High School’s gym to shoot a basketball game tonight. The frame above is my first test frame, before I had to adjust my ISO higher than desired and my shutter speed lower than any sports photographer would go if they had a choice.

I ended up shooting at 320th of a second, which was really unfortunate. The frame above is in focus, but the action is too fast for the slow shutter speed to freeze it. And I was shooting at 3200 ISO, which really fills the frame with noise. Hey, the camera’s five years old, what can I say?

Here was the other fun thing. I’ll often shoot a frame of the scoreboard after key plays so I know what the score was at that moment. The scoreboard here was one of those kinds that has LED’s (I guess) that flash faster than the eye can see. But the camera easily notices and you end up with a blank scoreboard, even though to your eye everything is visible. To combat this I usually take three frames of the scoreboard in a fast sequence, and only if I’m really unlucky will all three be blank.

Okay, I think I’m done complaining about stuff. Here are some photographs of varying quality…

That was the other photographer shooting the game. He does a lot of Bingham games. There was a great moment when Bingham’s Nate Girsberger (4) walked into the team huddle during a timeout. He had just hit a few tough shots and as a joke, chest-bumped the coach, who was caught off guard and flew back about three or four feet. Alas, sometimes great moments like that don’t make great stills, as this sequence demonstrates…

Trust me, it was a great moment.

The Bingham starters came out of the game in the fourth quarter, holding a forty point lead over Bountiful.

It’s been a good year for shooting soccer in Salt Lake. World Cup Qualifier, MLS All-Star game, MLS Playoffs, and now the icing on the cake, Real Salt Lake’s Championship win over Beckham, Donovan, and the LA Galaxy.

Real Salt Lake forward Robbie Findley (10) collides with LA goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.

LA’s Sean Franklin and Real Salt Lake forward Fabian Espindola (16).

Real Salt Lake forward Robbie Findley (10, right) and LA defender Gregg Berhalter.

Real Salt Lake forward Robbie Findley (10) flies over LA defender Gregg Berhalter.

LA’s Landon Donovan missed a critical shot in the shootout.

Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando (18) blocks a shot.

Again.

Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando (18) celebrates a miss by LA’s Landon Donovan during the shoot out.

Landon.

The win.

David Beckham.

Kyle Beckerman.

Fans.

With the Cup.

I’ll put up some real photos as soon as I get a second, but I couldn’t help but notice the poor condition of BYU’s football field during today’s game.

Often my wife will ask me, “What are you shooting tomorrow?”

Almost always I answer, “I don’t know yet.”

It’s not that the information isn’t available. I just find it easier to not look until the final moment. I’ve never been big on pre-visualizing my shots. I’m more of an improv photographer and like to go in with a clear head. But more than that, if you’ve got a dud assignment on your line you don’t want to toss and turn all night long “looking forward” to it.

Another reason I don’t look is that the schedule is always changing. News happens and assignments get shuffled. You can have an assignment on your line for three days only to have it moved off at the last minute.

Early yesterday the assignment “Magna Alleys” was on my line. Here’s the Description from the assignment:

A network of historic alleys remains in Magna. Salt Lake County wants to make it less expensive and less cumbersome for property owners to eliminate these alleys.

Here are the Instructions from the assignment sheet: (Hey wait a minute, I thought Chris Magerl, our photo editor four editors back, had the line “Instructions” changed to “Notes.” When did we revert to taking instructions? We used to consider ourselves journalists on par with those filling out the assignments. Oi!) :

Instructions: (I provided a couple locations of alleys above, but there are a ton of them in the old neighborhoods of Magna)

I looked at that assignment and thought, okay, here’s a challenge. Magna is very photogenic, but photographing alleys for a story on county zoning law? At least the story wouldn’t make the front page, I thought, meaning that if I failed not as many readers would see it.

I didn’t have to worry too long, because Magna Alleys soon vanished from my line, either moved to another shooter or NO-GO’d.

Fast forward to 4pm. It’s freezing cold out with heavy, dark cloud cover. The sun, if you could see it, is getting low. Phone rings.

Editor: You’re back on Magna Alleys. Head out there.

Me: Okay, I’m heading west, but it’s getting dark out. This would have been a much better shot earlier when we had light.

Editor: It’s going to be the centerpiece photo on the Utah Section.

Me: Gulp.

With that kind of set up, you’re expecting an awful photo of an alley in Magna. Oh, I did get a few of those, but lucky for me long-time Magna resident Norm Fitzgerald was game for a photo in the alley space behind his home:

Also, big thanks to Scott Sommerdorf for finding an old Canon speedlite in his basement and letting me use it. It’s been a big help on at least a dozen assignments now. Who knew?