St. Thomas More gave it their best shot. Milbank was just too tough. Not much else to say.

-Ryan

By Seth A. McConnell

I’ve come to enjoy shooting sports as of late. It may have something to do with it being playoff time again and everyone has brought up their level of play.
I shot the St. Thomas More vs. Dakota Valley semi-final game on Saturday afternoon.
Afternoon football is a rarity around these parts so it was something I was looking forward too.
In no particular order some images from the game.

This should have been the lede photo for Sunday’s paper but when I was going through my take I deemed it not sharp enough. It may have had something to do with spending all day on the sideline followed by the Rush game that night.

Dakota Valley was fourth and goal from the two yard line late in the 4th quarter. It was their only real scoring opportunity of the day…

The St. Thomas More defense stood strong keeping Dakota Valley out of the end zone to preserve the shutout and earn a trip to the finals in Vermilion.

I would love to show you a jub shot but again it was pretty evident the Cavs were going to win so there was no real moment of victory.
This is More’s 5th trip to the dome in 6 years and by all accounts their best opportunity to bring home some championship hardware in football to Western South Dakota. A feat that hasn’t happened in quite a while. Good luck Cavs, make west river proud.

-S

By Seth A. McConnell

So close… I was so close to making one of the best sports photos I’ve ever made…
It’s the peak moment of the action, the ball is slipping right through the fingers of the defense, the framing is perfect and… its out of bloody focus. Not just a little bit, oh no its the kind of blurry you only see after a night of heavy drinking.

So close… it was there. I had it, I had the shot of the QB evading a diving line backer just as he was lofting the ball to the receiver that proceeded this moment. I snapped around and framed up the two as the ball came drifting down hoping my camera would focus under the dim lights of O’Harra Stadium… I was apparently moving faster than my camera because it picked up nothing but the hazy effect you experience after imbibing an adult beverage or 12.
Oh well! You win some, you lose some. Tonight was not my time to make this image and I just have to accept it as that. I really wish they would play their games earlier in the evening not only when the light is better but when everyone can see the action on the field. I believe it would increase the level of play as well. You can’t catch what you can’t see. I don’t understand why they choose to start everything so late but what do I know, I’m just a photographer.

This is the action that proceeded the a fore mentioned image. The next couple of frames following this were a little better as far as action was concerned but the dim lights on the field made focusing very difficult and they were soft.

-S

By Seth A. McConnell
Last Tuesday was the first round of high school football playoffs in the state of South Dakota.
I spent the evening in Belle Fourche covering the Belle vs. Hot Springs game.
Belle controlled the game from the start taking a 21-0 first quarter lead and went on to take the W 48-13 on six hot springs turnovers.
Despite the blowout I stuck around until the end hoping to make a few images of either jubilation or dejection and maybe if everything worked out both.
The game wasn’t near the nail bitter it was when these two teams locked up earlier in the season with Belle taking the tilt by three points. With the win in hand there wasn’t much for jubilation from the Broncs so I waited to see what emotion I could get from the Bison.
Making images of a team after a playoff loss is touchy and I could tell when I got close they were not happy to see me but I have a job to do and so I stuck it out. I mainly used my long glass to give myself some distance and be able to make more candid images. I think it worked out well and it allowed me to keep a respectable distance.
Some of these images are sideline outtakes as well.

-S

When your winning huge, its fun to take the field.

When you’ve lost your last high school game it can be hard to leave.

By Seth A. McConnell
It was straight out of a post apocalyptic movie last night as dozens of zombies terrorized downtown Rapid, banging on the windows of businesses, scaring the occupants inside who had no clue what was going on, and even attacking two people on the street (note: they were affiliated with the walk). It of course was the first annual Zombie Walk, an organized walk were willing participants dress as zombies and lurch and groan down the streets in a designated route. This phenomenon has been going on in larger cities for years but last night marked the first of what will hopefully more walks in the Black Hills. The best part of a Zombie Walk or Run is it doesn’t have to be on Halloween.

-S

By Seth A. McConnell

The puck has officially dropped on the second season of Rush hockey and at the moment we are without slideshows as we tweak the new website so I thought I would share some outtakes and favorite images of the 2 week old season. There are roughly 21 images here which is a lot but again no slideshows means long blogs.

-S

King helps a Sundog onto the bench. I wish I would have caught this whole sequence as Kinger first checked the kid into the bench and when he didn’t go all the way over he helped him by grabbing his feet and sending him the rest of the way over.

It’s too bad we lost Brown in goal but Batman was impressive in his first start, very entertaining to watch. I hope to make an image in his next start at home diving and making a save.

But Migs of course is a stud between the pipes and with the added defense the Rush have this year hopefully he won’t have as many shots on goal as he faced last year.

Last year I said I wanted a fight from the rafters. It never materialized but I got my chance the third game into the season this year. I got so excited I shot through my buffer on my Mark III, which left me barely able to make more than one or two images at a time and that is why King’s fist is not in the kids face. Good first fight for King, totally destroying this kid. It was impressive and left no doubt in my mind why King was voted best fighter last year.

I can’t remember if this scooted by Batman or not. I do believe it was during that horrible second period against the Sundogs when they scored three goals in just over a minute or so.

This is how you win in overtime. King feeds it to Wray who finds the twine for the winner 1:15 into overtime. Capping off a two goal comeback with 2:38 left in the third. Exciting game.

One thing I wanted last year was the stick bending on the ice on a slapshot. Mission accomplished.

Nice belly bump on the glass following a scrum behind the net. Probably one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen at a game.

Wray exiting the ice after scoring two goals in roughly two minutes to cap a three goal overtime win against the Sundogs.

By Seth A. McConnell

Seth A. McConnell/Journal staff Josh Stromman yells out numbers as he counts while stretching before practice Tuesday afternoon with the Rapid City Christian football team.

Sometimes as much as you like a photo it doesn’t make it into print for whatever reason.
A couple of weeks back I made images at Rapid City Christians football practice. The school has not had a program for a while and is struggling to get it back on its feet.
I thought this image of Josh really captured the entire story, a young team, struggling to get back on its feet. The young man with the scrunched up face on his back yelling. Perfect.
For whatever reason the image did not run. So i thought I would share it here.

-S

By Seth A. McConnell

Seth A. McConnell/Journal staff Belinda Wickham and her daughter Samantha, 11, rest in front of a pew after having a religious experience during a healing prayer service with Fr. Richard McAlear Saturday night at Blessed Sacrament Church.

For not being a religious person, I’ve always had a fascination with religion and the ceremonies affiliated with different sects and beliefs. Saturday night I shot a healing ceremony (I’m not sure if that is the best name for it…) at Blessed Sacrament Church. I had no idea what I was getting myself into and we had a discussion in the office as to what was going to happen because it sounded more like a Pentecostal ceremony than one that you would find in a Catholic church. This being confirmed by a Catholic friend.
The ceremony itself was different. Fr. McAlear would talk with those wishing to be healed, he would mark the sign of the cross on their forehead with holy water, say a prayer as he stared into their eyes and then… people started falling over backwards weeping. I had never seen anything like it. It’s not my place to say it was strange but it was definitely different and an experience unto itself.
Fr. McAlear pulled me into the ceremony, picking me out because of my barking cough from an illness weeks prior. He wiped the water on my forehead, stared into my eyes and talked with me for a minute, before blessing me and sending me on my way. Unlike a lot of people I didn’t fall over weeping but I did feel a little better… for like 15 minutes before I started coughing worse than before. I wasn’t expecting miracles and for everything to just vanish in an instance but everything is worth a shot, right? A week later I’m feeling a lot better after multiple trips to the doctor and a morning in the ER… I’m not sure the miracle of modern medicine was what they had in mind but to each their own, right?
It was an experience to say the least and one that I’m glad I could be apart of. I only wish I would have been healthy because there were a lot more photos to make.

-S

Cody Tupper, 11, St. Onge, climbs the fence behind the chutes to get a better view of the Newell Labor Day Rodeo on Monday afternoon Sept. 7, 2009. (Photo by Kristina Barker/Journal staff)

The Newell Labor Day parade and rodeo is definitely something that I look forward to. I loved photographing it last year. And I did this year too. And I had a completely different experience. Last year the weather was crummy. It was overcast and cold. Which made for great even light. But this year it was bright and sunny and warm. Hot even. My cheeks are bright pink. Just that change in weather made for a different atmosphere. Everyone was really chatty and smiley. I felt like I came away with a lot different photos than last year. Or maybe it’s because I finally don’t feel like such an outcast in South Dakota and I was more relaxed and approached more people. It’s nice to walk around the streets of a small town, a ways away from home, and see familiar faces. I like that. It’s a good feeling.

And check out the slideshow here

By Seth A. McConnell

I’m not sure what it is but I love photographing bugs. More specifically I love photographing bugs with a macro lens. There is something about taking something so small and making it larger than life.
Before I left the newsroom yesterday to go feature hunt, I grabbed the macro lens knowing that I wanted to shoot a grasshopper. I knew it would be an easy fall back had I not been able to find anyone doing anything and also because I knew we would have an upcoming grasshopper story. Little did I know they were already planning a grasshopper story for today’s paper and my instincts were spot on for potentially needing this photo.
I actually made this image in my front yard. The grasshoppers love the bushes in front of my house and there are literally dozens of them at any given point just hanging out. This particular hopper was on a leaf that was set back in the bush allowing the bush itself to filter the light and soften it up a bit while dropping the background to near black. I shot the image in RAW using a 100mm Macro, f/4 and 1/500th of a second.