Six Games, Five Days, Four Hours Sleep, Three Days til X-Games!
It’s almost 2am, but I’ve had a long week, and I’ve got a lot to take care of., so I’m sneaking in a post real quick. Wednesday night we covered the state Little League tournament, specifically Blue Ridge, a team from the White Mountain area of Arizona. They didn’t fare well against the Tempe Guadalupe team. Thursday night, we saw Blue Ridge fall to the eventual state champions, Mountain View.
We mixed it up Friday, catching a Mercury game, as they squared off against the Seattle Storm. Diana Taurasi led all players with 31 points and 9 rebounds, and the Mercury defeated the Storm 94-80. Great way to end the week, but the weekend was just beginning.
Saturday, we were treated to a double header of Little League. The semi-finals were supposed to run consecutively, followed by a Sunday state championship. A last minute call from the regional LLB changed those semi-finals to run concurrent, and the final to take place afterwards.
Five hours of hot Mesa sun pounding on us almost drove everyone crazy. Mountain View, who I’d seen earlier in the week, eventually defeated the team from Douglas. Our day started at 6am and ended at 2pm, but exhaustion kicked in and the rest of Saturday was a blur.
Fast forward to Sunday. The Mercury played their last game before the WNBA takes a break for the Beijing Olympics. Unfortunately, despite a few surges late in the game, they fell to the Indiana Fever, 88-84. Diana Taurasi put in 25 points, with Cappie Pondexter adding 21 in the losing effort.
My cameras are worse for the wear, as I lost a button on one of my cameras. A quick call to Canon Hospital and I’m informed that the button needs to be added during assembly, so my camera will have to go in. Oh, and apparently they’ve never heard of that happening (nor have I, for that matter). But with X-Games only a few days away, I’ll live with it until afterwards, and then send it in. BTW, notice the scratches on the screen, or rather the plastic film over it? That thing is pretty tough, and has a lifetime replacement warranty. I’ll write more about that when I get back from X-Games.
Ah yes, X-Games. For me, it’s the only reason I look forward to summer. Remember, summer here in AZ involves 115 degrees in the shade at times, so it’s not exactly a great time of year.
Two venues: Staples Center in LA, and Home Depot Center in Carson City, hosting insane event after insane event. Public and televised events go later in the day, but eliminations run early, and practices for that run even earlier. So many things to cover, but you have to pick and choose your battles.
I’ll be leaning towards BMX events, because as it turns out, Chad Kagy (pictured) happens to be a member of FredMiranda, and was kind enough to give me some pointers on shooting BMX a couple of years back, which was my first year covering the event. He won a gold that year, but last year could not compete due to injury. He actually posted to let us know he’s doing well and keeping healthy. I’ll be rooting for him.
On top of all that, I get to cover X-Games with one of my best friends from college, who will be doing a variety show and segments all throughout the weekend. Time permitting, I may do a video if I have any interesting setups or ideas to share.
And, while I’m out in LA, I’ve got some people that want some portraiture work done. So I’m wondering how I’m gonna fit some Elinchroms, a few softboxes, and a Vagabond II into a suitcase. Thankfully, I have two of the photographer chic Airport Security bags by Think Tank Photo. So I have the luggage. I just need to make sure I can make it through security.
So ya, it’s past 2am now, and I’m looking at slightly under four hours of sleep, but that’s gonna be the norm for the next week or two.
And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I would love to go to the x-games nevermind photographing it.
Can’t wait to see some of the pictures taken here.
Good luck.