I spent much of yesterday in Ashburn at Redskins Park for the team’s first minicamp of the year. One of the media relations guys said he was surprised at the amount of coverage for voluntary workouts. Maybe so but I guess with a new coach, Donovan McNabb in burgundy and gold and a few new running backs, it was to be expected. Basically it took 90 minutes to get there, 90 minutes to get back and 25 minutes to shoot if you don’t count the hour-long press conference after practice, for which I had to wait another 90 minutes. I discovered early on that a lot of this job is waiting – waiting for access, waiting for the right light or composition to come together. It also took me a little while to learn that time spent waiting was not necessarily time wasted.

I recently wrapped up the winter All-Area sportraits. Of the bunch, I was really happy with this one of Avery Green, a basketball player for Courtland High School. He was fun to work with and was interested in the process of his portrait.  As I was writing this and looking at the other 6 photos in the series, all I could think of were excuses about why the pictures sucked. And since nobody likes hearing excuses, I’ll leave you with the one picture I actually liked. The rest were not bad; they were just average. It is definitely a bummer having to admit to a certain level of failure but I must say I came into the project without a clear plan or approach.  I think I’ll take the spring off and let one of my colleagues experience the joy that is All-Area while I cook up some ideas for our football preview!

I spent a few days over the past couple weeks covering a few area teams trying to make it to the state title game. Sadly for them, they fell short. Luckily for me, it means football season is another day closer. I just need to make it through baseball… On a technical note, the first picture was shot with a Nikon D300 at ISO4000, hence the noise, and the other two with a D3 at around ISO3200.

I went to FedEx Field yesterday expecting to see the Redskins get slapped around by the Broncos. I didn’t really care one way or the other being, you know, an objective journalist. Deep inside my heart of hearts though, being from PA, I root for the mighty Iggles and seeing somebody, anybody slapping the Redskins around brings me a bit of joy. Except Dallas.  $%@# Dallas. Plus, seeing how badly they can lose was getting kind of interesting. Lo and behold, the Skins actually weren’t playing too badly and better still, I was in a good position for most plays. Except of course for the game-winning TD by Ladell Betts. I was on the left, he went right. It happens. I guess in the scheme of things, yesterday was a weird day in football – Bengals beat the Steelers, Skins win. The Pats going for it ( and failing) on 4-and-2 on their own 28-yd line. What’s next? Cats & dogs living together? Mass hysteria!

I covered the Northwest Region quarterfinals yesterday at Liberty High School. Because of all the bad weather, the games had been moved from Friday night to Saturday, which made working on a day off a bit more palatable. The first game, Colonial Forge vs Franklin County was one of the better games I have seen in a long while. It was a barnburner – blow-for-blow scoring, great athleticism on the part of the players, great crowds and lots of emotion, all which make for good pictures. I also have to say that usually I can’t stand most high school bands, particularly when they butcher the national anthem but Forge’s band was even good! In the end, with seconds on the clock, all Forge had to do was hold Franklin on 4th down but the Eagles completed a pass, converting the first down. Forge held them off for two downs but Franklin kicked a field goal, leading 37-35 and leaving .8 seconds on the board. Point-eight?!?!   As I was working the sidelines, trying to get a picture that showed the proverbial agony of defeat, an assistant coach gave me a hard time, telling me not to take a picture of a kid who was beside himself. I told him I’m trying to work here and he said he’d block my camera every chance he got. It’s funny how everybody loves you when they’re winning but when things get tough, that changes very quickly. I suppose he felt like he was protecting the kid but unfortunately for him we don’t live in a fuzzy and warm fantasy land where everybody is special and a winner. And I had already taken the picture. It gave me a some joy to tell him that.

After that game I was kind of tired – with that much action I found myself hustling back and forth all game long – but I had a second one to cover. I was hoping Brooke Point vs William Fleming was going to be a nice 14-10 kind of game. Initially I was right, the Black Hawks took an early lead. I thought, “Great, it is a nice slow game, they are winning so I won’t get any grief after the game.” And I said as much to a guy on the sidelines. Well, for my sins, the game quickly developed into another score-for-score slugfest. Brooke Point came out on top in the end 44-35 and I was whipped. The party doesn’t stop though – Redskins vs Broncos today and MORE high school playoff ball on Monday. It could be worse – I was originally slated to head to Virginia Beach to cover the state field hockey tournament. Nothing against the athletes but even after years of shooting the game, I am still baffled by some of the nuances of the game.

You’ve gotta love nice, fall afternoon light. Now if I could just apply that light to some football…

A week or two ago I was sent up to Colonial Beach, the so-called Playground of the Potomac, to get a picture to illustrate a story about some proposed beach ordinances that on face-value, appeared to eliminate fun and/or shenanigans at the beach. Locals the reporter and I spoke to suggested it was directed specifically Latino people.  I suppose the bottom line is why would you do anything to drive tourists away, especially these days when a place like CB could benefit from those who would ordinarily be going to the Outer Banks or Delmarva. Anyway, here’s the photo I came up with:

Pedro Marquez, of Manassas, gathers up his fishing poles after fishing along the Potomac River in Colonial Beach, Va. on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009. Several ordinances have been proposed that would restrict certain activities including fishing from the beach. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)

I’ve said before that I like shooting sports and some days a bad game is still better than some of the dross that passes for journalism but I think I need to draw the line at high school volleyball. I think part of this stems from my lack of interest in this sport and part of it is the awful high school venues – bad light, cluttered backgrounds. All that aside, in an effort to clean up the ugly backgrounds, I went up into the bleachers to shoot down on the action and came up with this:

Colonial Forge's Erin Godshall (#12) and Morgan Hymes (#15) collide as they both attempt to return a shot against Mountain View on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)

Despite my dislike of volleyball, here is a series called The Season by my friend Scott at the Chicago Tribune about a high school volleyball team. Proof that sports is about so much more than just game action. Good stuff!

*thank god for football

I tend to get down in the wintertime. I guess it is the cold and the gray skies. My wife on the other hand told me she can’t stand the summer, especially August. Come to think of it, I don’t like it either. And not just because I sweat like a pig at a sausage factory.  I think it’s because there is no football. But that is all behind me.  Football season is in full swing and I am beginning to get into midseason form. I must admit my first two weeks were pretty ugly – think of it as the photographic version of the Redskins!

Plus I decided to change up my approach. Last season I toted a 400mm lens to most of the games I covered and the ‘look’ began to get a little stale so this season, I decided to go a little looser with a 300mm. The longer lens gave me a little less reason to move around and find different angles. I would sit in a general area, pop on a teleconverter and wait for the action to come to me. Now I’m staying much closer to the line of scrimmage and moving more. So thank you to SI’s Robert Beck and his article at sportsshooter.com for motivating me to change up my game!

So here are a few pictures from some recent prep games. The puddle one was from the first game of the season. I think its an ‘almost’ -too quiet a picture for the paper. Probably too quiet a picture to ever see the light of day, really. I think I need to make an effort this season to take some time at each Friday night game to make more ‘flavor’ pictures. Mostly because the action is usually fairly lackluster. That is my mission tomorrow night!

Massaponax players, reflected in a puddle following heavy rain, watch their teammates warm up prior to the start of Friday's game against Spotsylvania. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)

Christian Barham, center, and his Eagle teammates listen to the pregame prayer before the start of Fredericksburg Christian School's first football game. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)

Chancellor's Tony Russell tries to avoid Massaponax's Andre Wyche on a punt return during Friday's game at Massaponax. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)

Massaponax football players lay their hands on a stone with a plaque honoring Ryan McGhee, a Massaponax graduate who died in Iraq, before the start of Friday's game against Chancellor. His jersey, number 33, was also retired. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)

I haven’t had many positive things to say and I’m trying to minimize my griping about the newspaper business.  I guess I should address that soon though as it has a bearing on my work.  In the meantime, here are a few pictures from recent assignments including the Redskins/Ravens preseason game, a balloon festival, the start of high school football practice, the area’s sole remaining cannery and a portrait of a young man heading to college.

Samantha Schuldt, 10, of Fredericksburg, holds onto line attached to a 1/4-scale balloon while pilots waiting for fog to dissipate at the Annual Balloon Festival at The Flying Circus Aerodrome in Bealeton, Va. on Saturday, August 15, 2009. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)

Children stand inside of Richmond resident Bubba Winslow's balloon at the Annual Balloon Festival at The Flying Circus Aerodrome in Bealeton, Va. on Saturday, August 15, 2009. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)

Washington Redskins punter Hunter Smith punts the ball from deep in Redskins territory. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)

Washington Redskins tight end Fred Davis fumbles the ball in the second quarter of the first preseason game in Baltimore, Md. on August 13, 2009. Davis recovered the ball on the play. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)

Caroline County High School graduate Marcel Anderson is heading to Norfolk State to start college on Saturday. photographed at his Doswell home on August 12, 2009. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)

Andrew Lucas, a football player at Fredericksburg Christian School, take a water break during the first day of practice on August 10, 2009. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)

John Brown pulls a basket of tomatoes from a steamer at the Caroline County Cannery near Bowling Green on August 6, 2009. The Cannery nearly closed but will remain opne for at least another year. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)