Reflections on the Basketball Season, So Far

Before the season started, I made a list of my goals for the basketball season. The season is quickly drawing to a close. Just a few games left in the regular season. It has flown by.

In looking back at my goals, I have done a pretty good job achieving them. One part I did not get to was covering Payton and Lincoln Park. I also did not get a story about a girls’ game published. I tried to do those things. There just was not enough time among to press of other matters.

Several years ago, I wrote that the season was four three different parts. Thanksgiving to Christmas, Christmas, regular season in January and February and finally playoffs. That is a little different for me now. It’s more like there are two different seasons going on at the same time: tournaments and shootouts and League games.

The tournaments and shootouts are about seeing how good one’s team is and getting ready for the league games and the playoffs.

The league games are the ones that matter. The playoffs are, well, the playoffs. The first rule of fight club (playoffs) is you do not talk about fight club (playoffs). Until the playoffs. Even so, I have spent a lot of time studying the sectional assignments evaluating the various paths of many teams through the playoffs. But I will not speculate about that here.

I ought to have stopped to reflect on the season before this point. I might have enjoyed the season more had I done so. I have enjoyed the work of it. I have enjoyed getting better, and faster, as a writer. I still need to keep working on getting better as a photographer. I have concentrated more on the writing because that needed a lot more work.

With the photography, I have scaled back on taking, processing and publishing so many photos. I have tried to take better photos. Photos that I find interesting. I have tried, and mostly failed, to get at least one Kirsten Stickney signature reaction shot. It eludes me. I will keep trying.

I have enjoyed the season very much. It’s been great fun watching a team have some much success but not let it go to their heads. Somehow, they are remarkable grounded. Not really impressed with themselves. Not at all upset about a lack of sufficient recognition. They are just playing the games on the schedule and having fun doing it.

So here we are, the last few games of the season. Then the playoffs. Crunch time. Strangely, I am not the least bit nervous. I am just looking forward to seeing what happens. Let’s go.

New Canon RF 100-300mm, f2.8 Telephoto Lens Tested

I rented the new Canon RF 100-300mm, f2.8 telephoto lens (from lensrentals.com—shameless plug) to shoot basketball this week and at the Chicago Elite Classic. So here are my thoughts on using it to shoot basketball.

I know this is all inside baseball for all but the nerdiest sports shooters. The Canon 300mm 2.8 is a staple, a legend. Ubiquitous one might say. Sun-Times photographer Allen Cunningham told me several years ago that when he got a 300/2.8, it changed for his photography. It made him feel like and shoot like a pro. That’s pretty damn high praise from maybe the best sports photograher in the State of Illinois.

I recently got a Canon R3, the flagship mirrorless camera, the best sports camera that I have used. So the new RF (meaning Canon mirrorless) lens 100-300mm would be nice.

Word is that Canon no longer manufactures its iconic 300mm 2.8 prime. If one wants that legendary, life-changing lens, it will have to be one like the new RF 100-300mm, 2.8 telephoto zoom that I rented.

Except it costs like $9,000. I know, it will last a lifetime and change your life, make you into a pro-level shooter. But . . . $9,000? Plus tax. That’s a lot of money. Like a car. The first car that I bought was a lot less than that, new.

I own a Canon 300mm zoom but it is not f2.8. It’s a good useful lens, especially for daylight football, but it is not razor sharp like the legend.I have use the EF 300 prime quite a few times. I rented the 300mm 2.8 prime when the occasion called for it.

So, is the new 300mm zoom better than the old 300mm prime?

Sure seems to be it is to me. It’s just a razor ship and quick on the auto focus as the legend. No issue there. It’s seems a little longer and a little heavier. Not an issue when it comes to the old versus the new.

But that is not the comparison that interests me. The question now is does the new 300/2.8 take out the other legend, the truly ubiquitous Canon 70-200mm/f2.8 lens that everyone needs, everyone has and everyone loves. It is the basketball lens. One cannot shoot a basketball game without one. One cannot hardly live life without that great lens. It is the most, and I write this without the slightest bit of exaggeration, the best and most important lens in the history of the world.

What if one just extends the reach of the GOAT another 100mm? Does the new lens to that? Does this lens give one the fully reach to the other end of the court for the tight shots without the unacceptable crop factor? I thought to myself, I am a big guy heavy lens have not bother me before. The significant weight should not be an issue.

Could this new lens revolutionize the world of photography. A revolution, even at the cost of $9,000, might be worth it.

I shot seven games with it, and parts of a couple other. It was big and heavy to use for basketball in place of a 70-200mm. I found that I really needed the 24-70mm for right under the basket. I also found the 70-200 is indispensible for the near court action. the 70-200 is quicker to pick up, point and shoot than the 100-300.

Admittedly, the 100-300 was great for the far court action. I got some shots in the Kenwood v. Thornton game at the Chicago Elite Classic that I have never gotten before.

So the conclusion? The 100-300 is just too heavy and the throw from 100mm and 300mm is just to slow.

So I guess the long and longer of it is that for basketball the 100-300 is a bit of a luxury. It has an application on a big college-sized court. I might and probably will rent one for a state championship finals. But for $9,000, at this stage in my career, such as it is, it is just too expensive of a piece of glass.

But for football, I could definitely use one. Just no way around it. If one is going to shoot a high school football night game, one must have one. But I already knew that.

This was about the impact of the lens on basketball. So no. The new lens does not take over basketball.

I guess when I win the lottery I will get one to use for football, soccer and lacrosse and occasionally for basketball. The 70-200 is safe.

jacklydon.com Website Review by Jared Polin

I have been watching his You Tube channel for years now. I respect his talent and his opinions. It’s not like he did me a personal favor. He does for anyone who asks (and pays him a modest sum). Early this year, Jared Polin, a You Tuber, photographer, content creator, etc., reviewed my website on video and let me have it.

My website has been basically the same since I started it about four and a half years ago, December 2017. I started publishing my photos and stories in the Center Square Journal about ten years ago. That local new website became Chicago Bulldog Media. I posted my photos on its website and Facebook page but unfortunately that paper went under too. Then the PublicLeague.com. It went under too. Then IL Preps Insider. Luke Druze gave that up a year or so ago. I don’t have good luck with publishers. I tend to kill them off.

Now I write for Inside Publications and mostly publish my photos on this website. Inside has been around for a while. It is a proper print publication and will undoubtedly survive, even with me on board.

My website has been the same for far too long. I played around with changes several times but I always liked what I had better. Late last year I saw that Jared Polin was offering critiques of photos and websites so I signed up. He actually did this critique about eight months ago. In typical fashion, I am just now getting around to posting it and changing the website now.

The video is posted here. I thought I would leave the website as is so my readers could look at it after watching the video and judge for themselves. My plan is to changer the website not look after the video is released. so you can decide for yourselves is the changes were beneficial. Let me know what you think. Let me know what you think of Jared’s critique and let me know what you think of the changes I will make.

Last Day in My House

I sold my house in July and moved out on August 8, 2021. I lived in this house almost half my life. These are the photos that I took that day. I didn’t have to move everything out because the house is being torn down. I just left what I could not keep.

Should I continuing writing?

Sun-Times writer Mike Clark came to the DePaul Prep stadium opener to cover the Marian Catholic game for his main job as preps editor for the Northwest Indiana Times. It’s always great to see Mike. He is such a great guy and so much fun to talk to about prep sports. Just so much knowledge.

He asked me how I liked writing.

“Sports writing is hard,” I told him.

I like to think of myself as a competent writer. Most of what I do is technical writing. I concentrate on clarity and brevity. That should translate to sports writing I thought. I was not looking to win any Pulizer prizes. Just say what happened and publish a photo. Four or five weeks into writing pieces for Inside Publications, such as they are, I am not so sure it’s a good idea. My writing hasn’t been good. And by that I mean, it’s “bad.”

Ten years ago, I started covering sports and politics for Patrick Boylan’s Center Square Journal. It was hard and time consuming. I gave it up to concentrate on photography. I love the photography. I have gotten pretty good at it. It’s opened doors for me.

I knew all this when I approached Inside about writing a prep sports column. My thinking was I don’t have to write well. Who really cares? I didn’t want to be so proud that if I can’t do it as well as real sports writers, I won’t do it at all. There is so little coverage of high school sports that people will just be glad to have more. The Inside publisher loved the idea. He didn’t seem concerned with my amateur status.

As I was talking to Mike outside the DePaul Prep stadium, he clearly had read my articles although he graciously never said as much.

“You are telling a story. Nobody wants to hear too much of the game action,” he said. “Just figure out what the story is and write about it.”

Mike is so right. His gentle advise affirmed my thinking. He inspired me to keep going. He pointed me in the right direction on how to be a good sports writer.

Thanks Mike.

Chicagohenge--Vernal Equinox from Adams and Wabash

I have been thinking about taking some “Chicagohenge” photographs ever since saw it several springs ago. It worked out well yesterday falling on a Saturday when I had some time to prepare and got downtown.

The first issue was when to be ready to take the photos. My iPhone weather app said sunset was at 7:03 p.m. Frankly, I did not know how long the effect lasts. I hear all the You Tube photographers talk about “golden hour.” An hour didn’t seem like too much time to wait so I thought I would be ready at 6:00.

Next was where to take the photos from. I wanted to get some El tracks in the foreground. From the Vashon Jordon’s photos I saw on Friday, I thought perhaps the Aon Building looking west down Stetson. The El tracks looked cool.

I wanted a little more of a canyon effect. So I was thinking an El station on Wabash. Turns out that the Washington and Wabash station is in the middle of the block so that wouldn’t work. Adams and Wabash was it.

There is a nice west facing walkway below the platform that works nicely, even a railing to attach my GoPro. I arrived about an hour early. When I got there, it was just me and a woman with her son. See was determined to photograph the event with her iPhone.

I set up my GoPro for a time lapse. GoPros are so easy, practically run themselves.

I figured the 70-200mm on my 5D Mark IV pretty much my best camera, especially for something like this.

Guess who shows up. Vashon Jordon himself. I met Vashon several years ago when we were both shooting a basketball game at Brooks. He was still in high school then. I have happened into him several times since then at various things. Wonderful young man and talented photographer. He quickly set up his stuff.

Not long thereafter the catwalk filled up with photographers and spectators. Show time.

What surprised me most was how quickly the effect comes and goes. It is just a few minutes. The sun doesn’t come straight down. It moves from about 11:00 on a clock face to 5:00.

I had never done this before and I did no research on camera settings (which I obviously should have). I figured light would not be an issue so I set the ISO on 100.

A fast shutter speed would be a must. I tried from 1/500 to 1/8000. Turns out that between 1/600 and 1/4000 work best. The sun itself is blown out anyway. I was afraid to go any slower fearing damaging the sensor.

I did not know what to do about f-stop. I figured it would have to be high. I tried f/22 and f/11. With a high shutter speed, even taking pictures of the sun at f/11, the photos were dark. I settled on f/8. Probably, could have gone lower. I will work on this part in the Fall—Autumnal Equinox.

It was all I could do to frame up the photo, snap off a few and then cycle through settings. Then it was over. Everyone disappeared.

Vashon and I snapped a few selfies and it’s time to go.

I included both color and black and white photos so one can see the difference and which look better.

I like the photos that reveal some of the street traffic. I will have to frame that up better and work on enough exposure for that next time. To do that right it would probably require putting together a composite photo. I don’t know if I have the patience for that. My photoshop skills are rudimentary.

Not for everyone I suppose but very much fun for me. I am pleased that I got usable photos out of it. Nothing too crisp but that will take a little practice.

See you September 22.

DePaul Prep Falls to Providence Catholic 54-37.

The DePaul Prep girls varsity basketball team took on Providence Catholic Saturday afternoon on Senior Day. The young Rams only have one senior on the squad, point guard Eva Budziszewski.

The story on the game will follow. There will be a preview of my Inside article later in the week. For now, I hope you like the photos. It was great to get back to doing girls’ games. This weird COVID season has limited my availability. I should be able to get at least one more in before basketball comes to screeching halt.

As always, Go Rams!

Wildkits Pick Up Where They Left Off, Evanston 81, Vernon Hills 60

The Evanston Township High School Wildkits defeated the Vernon Hills Cougars in Evanston Saturday afternoon 81-60.

More about the game in my weekly column in the Inside Publications—insideonline.com.

My thanks to the nice people at ETHS, Athletic Director Chris Livatino, in particular. Very well done and safe operation in this COVID season.

Here are my pictures from the game. I hope you like them. Photos from the girls game to follow shortly.

Basketball Went from Zero to Four in Three Days

I have photographed four basketball games in the last three days and been glad to do it. Thursday was Prospect at Notre Dame. Last night was Maine South at Loyola. Today was Vernon Hills boy at Evanston, then Vernon Hills girls at Evanston.

It look a little getting used to again. Not exactly riding a bike; more like hitting a golf ball. It took a few swings to get back in the groove.

Thursday and Friday were challenging. I had to shoot from the balconies above the court. But not today for the two games at Evanston, I was on the court at it’s wonderful Beardsley Gym. The light in there if very good. As we all know, the light in the gym is the important part of basketball. It was just fun to be back on the floor. The pictures were better because of it.

It was a challenge last night at Loyola to shoot from the balcony well off the floor. I got some good shoots but for that type of shooting I need better equipment. It would have been right up Brian O’Mahoney’s alley. He is very good at doing it this way and gets razor sharp tight images from above. I don’t have the right equipment to make the most of that style.

More about the games themselves in my weekly column in the Inside Publications. Pick up the print version or subscribe at insideonline.com.

Here are the pictures from the Loyola v. Maine South game. Hope you like them. The photos from the Evanston v. Vernon Hills games will follow shortly.

Best of 2020

Never been so happy to put a year behind me. I won’t bore you with details of my pandemic year. Let’s just say I didn’t do much and worked a lot.

Didn’t take as many photos in 2020 has I have in years past. In 2020, I took about 36,000 photos. That is down by over 50%. In 2019, I took 80,000 photos, 73,000 in 2017 and 43,000 in 2017 and 2016.

My 2020 photography plans were upset. I planned to start doing some college basketball. I also planned to upgrade my equipment. Both put on hold.

One good thing is that this year gave me a chance to concentrate on some non-sports photography. I want to do some architecture photography, so I started in on that.

I got a 50mm f1.8 lens. It has been fun learning how to use that.

In picking out my favorites from 2020, I realized that processing on my phone and immediately posting to Instragram has become a much bigger part of what I do. One can see those photos here. The mobile processed photos don’t seem to make it to the file management system. I am gonna have to fix that.

I went through my photos and picked out the ones I liked. So here are my favorite photos of 2020. Interesting collection. None that I would say are among my best ever but I like each one for a variety of reasons. I hope you do too.

footnote: My “best of photos” previously included a photo of Bridget Gainer making the peace. That photo was actually taken by a great photographer Steve Gross. We were both shooting the 47th Ward Democrats event in early 2020. Somehow Steven’s photo ended up in my file system. It was probably because I was posting his photos which he graciously donated to the 47th Ward Democrats. So I apologize to Steven. We should all learn a lesson to watermark photos like Steven does or idiots like me can claim them. I have learned a great deal from Steven. I am so thankful that have just had the good fortune just to be around him. His photos are so simple and elegant. He did a portrait of me which I love. Sorry.

Old Photos Recovered

I started photographing sporting events in 2010. I didn’t start doing it regularly until 2011. At the time, I saved my photos to a Western Digital external drive.

At some point in late 2013, that drive failed. All drives fail. I learned a hard lesson that day. I looked into recovering the data at that time but I just didn’t want to spend the money. Frankly, it don’t even bother me that much. I just keep going.

With the COVID slowdown I was looking for photography stuff to do. I went back and took stock of my photos and my growth as a photographer. I wanted to see those photos again so I sent them off to a data recovery vendor. I am glad I did. They recovered 88,000 photos. Most of them I forgot all about. There are even some good ones.

I noticed a couple things. 1) I have learned a lot over the last ten years about exposure and composition; and 2) contrary to what many You Tube photographers like to say, the camera does matter—at least when it comes to sports photography.

In January 2010, I bought my DSLR, a Canon 2ti kit from Costco. The first basketball that I set out to photograph seems to the January 15, 2010, game between St. Benedict and Crane. I looked at the metadata for the photos. I was shooting at f4, 1/125 to 1/250 and ISO 3200. As I recall, I was struggling with exposure and had thought I needed to have the shutter speed that low. I learned later that shutter speed is king. One can boost exposure but there is no cure for blurry!

Since then, mostly through trial and error, I learned shutter speed is king. I learned composition mostly by imitating photographers that I was around, Worsom Robinson, Quinn Harris, Brian O’Mahoney, Allen Cunningham and Kirsten Stickney.

I watch a lot of You Tube photography videos, Tony and Chelsea Northrup, Jarrad Polin, Ted Forbes, etc. They all say—the camera doesn’t matter. Can one make great photos without a great camera? Yes. But if one wants to consistently make good sports photos—particularly basketball photos—you need good equipment; f2.8 lenses and a camera with high ISO capability.

The following are a few examples of my early photographs.

Outside Wrigley Field

I found myself driving by Wrigley Field so I stopped and took a few photos.

Stay at Home Order Protest at Thompson Center

On my way to drop off Dan downtown, I noticed police and media gathering in anticipation of a protest at the Thompson Center. I wasn’t covering the protest for any publication but it has been over a month since I photographed any people so I could not resist. I just wanted to shoot something. I went to the office, put on an N-95 mask, gloves and a hat. Then walked up there. I love a good protest. Some many different people to photograph.

This protest was pretty tame. Not a whole lot of action. But lots of honking horns. If never hear another horn honking it will be too soon.

I got some good shots. I learned a lot about how to shoot in the harsh midday sun. The good part is that was plenty of light. My Canon 7D works great in lots of light. Just as sharp as the 5D Mark IV. One also has a lot more options in Lightroom when there is plenty of light.

I got a very interesting shot of a couple at the southwest corner of Clark and Randolph. They were lite with direct sunlight from behind them on Clark Street and from in front of them by reflection off the Thompson Center windows. The high f-stop meant everything was in focus and there is very little depth perspective. I am fascinated by this one.

I hope you like the photos.

Day 28

We are four full weeks into this stay-at-home phase of this historic global pandemic, and I have not written a word about it in this blog. I started this blog as a place to post photographs, not a place to vent or opine on subjects I know little about. I am not a columnist with a gift for observation, analysis and the English language.

Since I haven’t been shooting events, I have only posted twice in the last 28 days. The first was on Day 1, photos from the DePaul Prep v. North Grand regional final basketball game a few days prior. The second was Day 15 when I posted previously unpublished photos from a DePaul Prep regional playoff baseball game last spring. I was missing baseball that day. I ran across the photos that I did not have time to process immediately after I took them. Then the relevancy of the photos was overtaken by events, so they never got posted. On April 4th, I thought people would like to see them.

Nevertheless, I have still been taking photos. I have started carrying my DSLR everywhere I go—which turns out to be very few places, basically just to the Jewel and to my office downtown.

Some of those photos are below. I generally don’t publish in black and white but somehow it seems appropriate now. The photo the bird is in color. I saw this strange looking bird among some pigeons sitting quieting in a corner of a building on LaSalle Street. I have never seen a bird like this before. It seems quite out of place—a duck sized bird with an unusually long beak. Perhaps someone knows what it is?

These photos are not particularly good. I am not a good street photographer, nor am I particularly trying to be. This global pandemic is requiring me to adjust and pushing me in an other direction.

I hope you like the photos.