State tournaments make for some long days. I’ve only been here since 1 o’clock this afternoon, so I guess I shouldn’t be complaining. My fellow shooters put in the long hours today as well. But it’s 11 o’clock and I’m ready to go home, feed the dog, and hit the hay. I’m posting this photo because it didn’t fit into any sort of edit. And I seem to like this blog as a place for outtakes. The body language of this Philip player doesn’t say “win,” but I was having too much fun playing with space and this awesome red floor. Thank you to whomever opted for red. Best color ever. Good luck to all the girls tomorrow.

Photo by Kristina Barker

 

Seth A. McConnell/Journal staff: Antonio Goodbear of the Rushmore All Stars places his head in his hands in the dugout before the start of the 5th inning against the Canyon Lake All Stars Thursday night at the Harney Little League Fields. Rushmore trailed 13-0 heading into the fifth.

I had the unique opportunity to cover the little league championship game last night. It being a championship game the emotions were high. I made the above image heading into the last inning. Goodbear had given up quite a number of runs the previous inning and was alone in the dugout with his face in his hands when I looked over. Its a very intense and a very telling moment. In fact I would say its one of the better images I’ve made in the last couple of months. Its that agony of defeat we always hear about. I love this image mainly because it says everything it needs to say without saying too much. You want to know more but at the same time you don’t.  With this in mind I headed back to our sports department to see what type of space we had and the probability of it going in. I showed them the image and they broke the bad news… Room for one image.

Yikes!!!

I knew this image would not see the light of day. We talked for a while about it, I tried arguing for my photo.

“It’s a great shot!” I exclaim

“But he’s 12″ They retort

Ultimately we went with an action shot. It came down to the age of the kid involved if he would have been in high school we would have went with this shot but since he is young we went the other direction.  I don’t know if I agree with that but I have to respect their decision. It does bring up a good question though: At what age is it ok to run sports photos of dejection? Nobody wants to see themselves in an image of dejection or tragedy but its part of the business. This is only a sports photo but if I would have captured a 12 year old at the scene of a fatal crash, fire, shooting, etc… in the same position would we have run it

I’ve been having this discussion all day with colleagues at other papers. My friend in Arizona said he wouldn’t have run it because of the age and being sensitive to the long term impact on a kid at this age. A friend in Wyoming said it would’ve been lede sports run huge.  I personally don’t know if I would’ve made it lede but I would’ve like to have seen it run. Losing is an unfortunate, but all to real, part of life. Losing is part of the risk we take when we choose to compete. You don’t get reactions like this from people who do not understand what it means to lose. I made several photos while he was sitting there. He heard the shutter click, looked up at me, we made eye contact and he went back to doing what he was doing ignoring that I was even there. This is unusual of anyone under the age of 18… They always want to mug and smile and throw up hand signs no matter the situation. I think he had a lot more going on than to think about some silly kid with a camera standing in the entrance of the dugout.

I could literally write for hours about how I don’t agree with futile competition over mean nothing titles and accolades but I don’t have the time and I’m assuming you don’t have the interest in reading what a photographer has to say… minus little blurbs here and there

I started writing this a while ago when I was at the arena but work called (literally, they changed their minds about something and I had to get to real work…) and I didn’t get to finish my thoughts so lets try this again…

I’ve spent the last three days perched high above the earth in the press box of the Sioux Falls Arena covering the State Volleyball Championships.
I’m not a huge sports fan and quite frankly I wasn’t too excited about driving out here to cover the tournament but in all honesty (minus everything that went wrong… more on that in a bit) I’m really glad I got the opportunity too.
I always forget how much everyone elevates their play at State Tournaments and how much fun it actually is to cover.
Thanks to Dave at Inertia who lent me his nikor 300mm f/2.8 Friday and Saturday I was able to mix up the way I shot and got to feel uber cool walking around with that chunk of glass for the weekend. Granted my shoulder is incredibly sore now but to have an opportunity to shoot with such a killer lens was nice.

It came in handy especially towards the end of the game when tensions run high on the bench.
I think every photojournalist loves the chaos at the end of a championship when you get tossed in the middle of the muck and the emotions are pouring.
I will concentrate on that with this blog.
Although thanks to a new rule in the state of South Dakota those great shots you see of the team getting mobbed by the fans after the big win are over. Which stinks for fans, teams and photographers as it is very anti-climatic.
Anyways.
Photos:

The Pierre bench was set up directly in front of the Stevens fans.
Created a nice juxtaposition.

again that 300mm was so nice!
It allowed me to get these tight shots of the Pierre girls after the game.
(Sorry this gets a bit jumpy in here. I was browsing as I was naming files and its really late and I don’t feel like changing things around)

Depressing enough?
How about a few winners…

So there you have it.
A few winners a few losers.

Its now well past one in the A.M. and I have to get up and drive back to rapid in the morning. I drank entirely too much caffeine to get me through day 3 of the tournament and I can hardly sleep so I have this

Delicious food I purchased from a vending machine on the first floor to look forward to.

I know, I know.
How did I get to be so lucky?
(I can’t find my way around this town and its too late to attempt to find a grocery store or diner that’s open 24 hours…)

Anyways.
I’m off to sleep.

More photos this week and hopefully I can get Ryan Soderlin (our new photo editor) to give you a little introduction of himself and maybe, we can get this blog rolling again.

by Seth A. McConnell

I learned an important lesson this afternoon involving golf carts, hills and writing on the ground.

I got sent out to cover the St. Thomas More invitational golf tournament this afternoon at the Elks Golf Course.
I’m not a big sports guy but I enjoy shooting golf for the soul purpose of riding in the golf cart.
I’m young and a guy so I enjoy all these little toys. (I know the fascination with toys and gadgets will probably never end.)

So I’m zipping around the course with the pedal to the ground trying to catch up with the lead group while trying to avoid the group behind me as I don’t want to become a moving target.

If you’ve been to the Elks GC you know that it is full of rolling hills especially on the back nine. Between the 15th and 16th there is a rather large hill so I speed up zipping down the hill to keep my moment up to climb up the otherside.
Someone decided it was a good idea to write a sentence in large white letters on the hill.
My curosity peaked and I decided to attempt to read said sentence…
Instead of stopping and reading I kept my foot to the floor taking my eyes off the car path…
Next thing I know I have all 4 wheels off the ground, I’m not sure if I got all 4 wheels off the ground at the same time but at any given moment at least two were. It didn’t take long before the beast started leaning to one side.
I calmly slowed down a bit and corrected the cart back onto the path and kept flying along.
This of course happened in the
I couldn’t tell you what the writing said but I do know this.
Next time i decide to read something on the ground as I’m zipping along I’m going to slow down.
I, again being young, thought it was insanely fun as well.
Anytime you can get a vehicle off the ground and it doesn’t flip is usually a good time.

I still don’t understand why certain sports writers don’t want to ride in the cart with me.

-S