Best of 2018

Over the years I published my favorite photos of the year in “best of” posts on the Welles Park Bulldog and Chicago Bulldog Media. I always enjoyed doing this. I could really see improvement in my work.

Now, it’s a lot of work just to pick out photos. I took about 60,000 photos this year at about 90 events. So that’s like games, family events, political events, parades, stuff like that. 60,000 pictures is a lot but it is very skewed because sporting events require something like 500 to 1,000 photos just for one game. But I still covered a lot of stuff.

I am not so sure I have gotten any better at it being a photographer this year. I spent a lot of time just experimenting around with the Canon 5D Mark IV trying to make the most out of it. There is a lot of technical stuff to master in that thing. I probably worried more about that than thinking about the subjects.

I study the photos of the pro sports photographers. My photos aren’t as good—not really even close. Brian O’Mahoney’s photos are always so crystal clear and tight. Worsom Robinson’s are always so well composed and so well sell lit. Allen Cunningham’s are always so action packed. Mine are always so grainy and far away. I have to make the leap to a 300mm/f2.8. Anybody got $6K they are not using?

So I picked out these photos as my best of the 2018. I will cull through them a little more and remove the not so good ones. I may add some more from the Christmas tournaments.

Let me know what you think.

Team Rose Shootout--Sunday Edition

I saw three really good games on Sunday (December 9, 2018). It was the first time I saw Leo this year. They looked really talented if a little undisciplined. The Lions came back and beat Bloomington. Bloomington is talented by not closers.

Kenwood v. Hillcrest was next. Those were two big, strong and talented teams. It was great to see them. It gave a some great perspective on the good teams out here.

The third game I saw was Orr v. Oak Park-River Forest. It was my first time seeing Orr this year. It is not the same Orr team as it has been for the last few years, but still very talented—and entertaining. The same Lou Adams. Lou has to be my favorite coach to photograph. I have talked to him a few times over the years. He is a very nice man.

Oak Park is good. They caught Orr in the last to minutes and then quickly closed the deal. Wasn’t even close at the end. I was impressed. It was a bit of a sloppy ending. Technical fouls, officiating screw-ups, pissed off coaches. Nevertheless, it was very entertaining.

I experimented with the settings on my camera. I changed around the auto-focus settings to see what works best for basketball. I moved the ISO around. The photos seem quite grainy to me but look okay on the webpages.

These are not my best photos. Not sure why. I have to keep working at it.

Team Rose Shootout

Team Rose Shootout.

The Team Rose Shootout is a great event with top match ups. The Mount Carmel facility is excellent. The light in the gym leaves a little to be desired in terms of quantity but the color temperature is better than most.

St. Viator 72, Oswego East 69. I am more impressed with Trey Calvin and Jeremiah Hernandez every time I see them play. These two young Lions hit their shots. I don’t remember either missing a free throw or a lay up when it counted. The Lions are one of the top 3A teams. We may be looking at a Sectional or Supersectional match up between the Lions and the DePaul Prep Rams in 3A.

Uplift drops Br. Rice 71-59 in OT. I was really looking forward to the Markese Jacobs v. Marquiese Kennedy matchup. It did not disappoint. Almost like a DePaul v. Loyola matchup. Both players put there respective teams on their backs in crunch time. It will fun watching them in years to come.

I couldn’t stay for the big game between Bloom and Morgan Park. I understand Bloom won. I saw Bloom last weekend at the Chicago Elite Classic. They are for real. Balanced. Talented. State title contenders.

Morgan Park I have yet to see this year but I think we all know what to expect. They will be there at tournament time. I will get out to see them at least a few times before. Put the Morgan Park v. Whitney Young game on your calendar.

Here are some photos from the games.

47th Ward Aldermanic Forum

Last night (4 Dec. 2018) about 250 people came to Lane Tech to hear and see the candidates for 47th Ward Alderman. I was not surprised that so many people came. The aldermanic election has been the talk of the neighbor for six months.

I am impressed with the quality of the candidates. I would have no problem with any of the candidates being elected. I have my favorite of course, Eileen Dordek, she is clearly the best, but more on that later.

What struck me most was how similar the candidates positions were. They all have the same positions on issues. We all want to support our local schools, an elected school board, properly funded pensions, more police to fight crime, property tax reform, a progressive income tax, TIF reform, etc., etc. etc.

What I didn’t hear was any one of them talking about his or her vision about what they want the Ward to be. This may have been due to the format of the event, but they were asked to differentiate themselves the others.

I also didn’t here anyone talk about development. That is the area that the Alderman has almost unfettered discretion and opportunity for good or evil. Somebody ought to have brought it up. It was obvious. Each missed the opportunity to stand out.

But we are only getting started. Your mailboxes will soon be full of stuff from the candidates.

I just love elections.

Here are some photos I took last night.

Chicago Elite Classic

I photographed the Chicago Elite Classic for Illinois Preps Insider last Saturday (Dec. 1, 2018) at the Wintrust Area. It was my first time there. I loved it. Great light. I could not stay all day. I only saw the first three games. I was most interested in the Uplift v. Evanston game. Both teams impressed me. Got some good photos. Hope you like them.

DePaul Prep Dismantles Providence-St. Mel 73-53

The DePaul Prep Rams dismantled the Providence-St. Mel Knight 73-53 s on Friday evening (Nov. 28, 2018) . The Knights came in off busting into the Super 25 with a #18 ranking, just behind the #16 Rams. This was a premier game this opening night of Chicago Catholic League play.

It was a tight game through much of the first half. The Rams opened a 32-24 half time lead on the strength of Ty Johnson’s three pointers.

The third quarter as all Rams—just took them apart in all phases. It was all Rams after that. If they can do anything, they can finish.

One CCL game down. Mt. Carmel next Friday.

Evanston Tops St. Viator 72-63

Basketball Season Starts; DePaul Wins Thanksgiving Tournament

The DePaul Prep Rams survived a very tough Lane Tech Indians team, 45-38, to win the fifth annual Lane/DePaul Prep Battle of the Bridge Thanksgiving Tournament. First time the Rams have won their own tournament.

What I saw on Friday evening was toughness. The first half was close. Defense and missed shots predominated. With the Rams leading by nine at the half, I expected Perry Cowen to come out and take over the third quarter the way he did against Notre Dame. Perry scored four points but by the end of the third but Lane had rallied on some three pointers to take a one point lead early in the fourth quarter.

It was Raheem Anthony who took over the game in the fourth quarter with seven of his game high twenty-one points. At the start of the quarter, Raheem committed a foul and got t-ed up. I couldn’t see or hear exactly what happened that lead to the technical foul. But it didn’t seem to bother him. He went right back to work running the office. At one point, his drive and crossover dribble literally caused Lane’s star point guard Michael Molloy to fall down leaving Raheem a wide-open jumper in the paint.

In the last minute, with the Rams up by seven Raheem was fouled on successive possessions. He walked up to the line as confident as could be and drained the 1-1 free throws sealing the victory all the while shooting looks to his pals in the front row.

This senior group doesn’t panic. They take care of business.

So far.

The first part of the season over. Now on to Catholic League play.

As for Lane, that is one tough determined team. DePaul Prep is one of the best teams in the Chicago area and the Indians almost beat them.

I was very impressed with toughness in the paint. Sr. center Vuk Djuric battled DePaul’s Pavle Pantovic. It was actually more of boxing match. Neither player could make shots underneath because the other would not allow it. Djuric took a elbow to the nose spilling blood on the floor and sending him to the locker room until the second half. When he came back, they picked up where they left off.

Lane’s Michael Molloy scored 14 points including a couple late layups to keep the Indians close at the end. (The photo below is of Michael Molloy in the fourth grade “Big 10” championship game at St. Benedict.)

I don’t know how Lane will fare in the tough Red North against Farragut, Lincoln Park, Crane and Marshall, but if tonight was any indication, those teams better come to play. They are going to be in for a fight.

DePaul Prep Defeats Lane 45-38 to Win Battle of Bridge Tournament

DePaul Prep Defeats Notre Dame 65-46

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated the Notre Dame Dons 65-45 on Wednesday evening (Nov. 21, 2018) in the DePaul Prep/Lane Tech Battle of the Bridge Thanksgiving Tournament.

Notre Dame Defeats Lake View 47-35

Dons survive a challenge from the Wildcats at the DePaul Prep/Lane Battle of the Bridge Thanksgiving Tournament 47-35.

DePaul Prep Defeats Taft 60-15 in Battle of the Bridge

The DePaul Prep Rams played angry. The Rams defeated the Taft High School Eagles 60-15 in the season opener last night in the Tom Wienicki Gym. The game wasn’t as close as the score suggests. 24-2 at the end of the first and 34-5 at the half. Taft played hard; they just ran into talented team that wanted to play hard.

It did not seem to matter who the Rams were playing. They were focused. Not a lot of cheering or congratulations on the lopsided score—just focused, serious business.

Perry Cowen looks like he has added muscle. Sophomore Ty Johnson started the game at point guard and looks a foot taller that the last time I saw him in March. The Rams starting line-up of Cowen, Pantovic, Anthony, Mosley and Johnson is going to give a lot of teams trouble. Shower and Matthews off the bench can keep up the pressure. This team is poised to win a lot of games and make a deep run in 3A.

Based upon the Rams Super 25 rank at #21, Sun-Times Reporter Michael O’Brien sees the Rams obvious talent but doesn’t appear to believe at they have the mental toughness to be a top tier team. City Suburban Hoops Report’s Joe Henricksen does and puts the Rams in that top tier of his rankings at #10. I know it was Taft but last night at least, it looks like the Rams have what it takes.

The season has just begun 30 or so games to play. It will go quick. Stay tuned.

High School Basketball Starts Today!

The high school basketball season starts today.

 I have been looking forward to this season for months now. Since the disappointing end to the DePaul Prep Rams season last March in the Sectional final.

The Rams come into this season ranked 21 in the Sun-Times Super 25 and 10 in Joe Henricksen’s Top 80 teams. Preseason rankings are all about expectations. So expectations for the Rams are high—very high. This will be the third season that this group of players have played together now at the varsity level. Each year they have gotten better and better. The Rams have one of the area’s top players—Perry Cowen. The Rams are among the favorites to win the Chicago Catholic League with Loyola, Leo and St. Rita.

The Rams are also seen by many observers as among the top teams in 3A with Morgan Park, Bogan, St. Viator and St. Rita. So the expectations are high for a deep run into the IHSA 3A playoffs.

It seems only a few short years ago that the Gordon Tech Rams had lost 33 Catholic League games in a row. Those days are long gone. Under Coach Tom Kleinschmidt, the Rams win games they should and pick off favorites here and there.

Personally, I am going to approach this like the 2016 Cubs season. Take the season in phases, enjoy every minute and not get weighed down by the expectations. God willing, we will all be in Peoria on March 16th for a matchup with can tell our grandkids about.

First phase, the Battle of the Bridge Tournament. So, see you at the Tom Wienicki Gym tonight at 6:00 p.m.

And I will also be shooting as many other games as I can get to while still remaining married.

Loyola Throttles Maine South 17-0 in 8A Quarterfinal

It is better to finish strong than start strong. Despite three losses Chicago Catholic League Blue early in the season, the Ramblers looked as dominant on defense Saturday against Maine South as any team I have seen this season.

Make no mistake about it. Maine South is a very good football team. Maine South came back in the second half to beat a very good Mount Carmel team. The Hawks made a believer out of me. Nevertheless, the Ramblers played a flawless game on defense and a brilliantly conservative and physical game on offense to shut out Maine South at Maine South.

Lincoln-Way East will have to go to Wilmette to face the Ramblers. Lincoln-Way has played some tough teams, Crete-Monee, Naperville Central, Thornwood. But they don’t play in the Catholic League’s Blue Division and they did not face Mt. Carmel, Brother Rice and Montini.

I am looking forward to this game. The semi-final should be a very good game.

Which brings me to a second subject—the dominance of the Catholic Schools in the football playoffs this year. In 8A, three of the four surviving teams are Catholic Schools: Brother Rice, Marist and Loyola. 7A has Nazareth and Mt. Carmel. 6A has Notre Dame. 5A has Joliet Catholic and Montini. 4A has Immaculate Conception and Bishop McNamara. 2A has St. Teresa (Decatur, Illinois). That’s eleven of the thirty-two teams. That’s basically 1/3 of all eight classes and half of the biggest classes.

How did this happen? Don’t know. I don’t even want to speculate.

What’s gonna happen? There will be some talk, in the usual quarters, about kicking private schools out of the IHSA. Don’t want to go there either. I’m sure we have all heard quite enough of the multiplier talk.

Personally, I think it will swing back. The DuPage Valley restructured. It will be back. And who knows what is going to happen with the Catholic Super Conference next year.

I am struggling about what to do about the finals. The football finals are the same time as the start of the basketball season. What is a photographer to do?

St. Rita Blanks DePaul Prep 40-0 in Season Ender

Dissappointing seasons came to an end for both the DePaul Prep Rams and St. Rita Mustangs on Saturday (Oct. 20, 2018) with a 40-0 whitewashing of the Rams by the Mustangs. I had high hopes for the Rams at the beginning of the season. They had some athletes, a little bit of size. I thought they could pick up some quality wins. It wasn’t to be.

I saw St. Rita twice. They gave a good game to a very good Brother Rice team. 3 and 6 is a surprising record for such a good team.

Both programs will bounce back. On to basketball.

Hope you like the photos.

De La Salle Handles DePaul Prep, 40-22

The DePaul Prep Rams faced the De La Salle Meteors at DePaul’s new home field, Chicago Academy, 3400 N. Austin. The noon game at that field makes for good photos. It didn’t work out too well for the Rams. The gave up the first 40 points then scored the final 22. De La Salle just proved a little to big and fast for the Rams.  

It was a great day to take photos. I noticed that the autofocus setting was reacting really slow. I need to work on adjusting the setting. Canon autofocus is so good. I must have work on that. Small issue but I can do better. The settings are so robust there is a better why.

Football is winding down. Playoffs are coming up. Looking forward to that.

Hope you like the photos.

Took a Week Off

I didn’t shoot any football games last weekend nor any tonight (Oct. 12, 2018) evening even though there were plenty of games. I know there are only nine games in the high school regular season but I just wasn’t feeling it.

Last week was all messed up because of the game cancellations and the weather related early starts. I planned to go to the Nazareth v. Marist game but it started early and I couldn’t get there in time.

I am not all that broken up about missed a week. I needed a little time off. My photos haven’t been anything special lately. I have just been going to through the motions trying to quickly publish some shots on Twitter and get a lot of impressions. That distraction might be necessary but it doesn’t make for getting great shots.

I didn’t shot any games tonight, well frankly, because I was too tired. I had a long stressful work week. I went out for sushi instead with Mary and had a wonderful time. We talked.

I am going to shoot the DePaul Prep game tomorrow with no tweeting—well maybe a little. But I am going to concentrate on good shots.

No photos in this post.

Brother Rice Continues CCL Blue Dominance with 21-14 Win over St. Rita

Brother Rice hosted St. Rita Friday night (Sept. 28, 2018) in a Chicago Catholic League Blue showdown. The Crusaders maintained their lead in the conference with a 21-14 defeat of the Mustangs.

The Crusaders opened the scoring early in the first quarter with a 73 yard touchdown pass and run from senior quarterback John Bean to senior wide receiver Dylan Summers.

The Crusaders took the 7-0 lead into half time and opened the third with a long touchdown run by John Bean. The Mustangs answered immediately thereafter with a kickoff return touchdown by St. Rita sophomore wide receiver Henry Wilson to make the score 14-7.

In the fourth, Brother Rice senior cornerback Danny Fitzgerald picked off an errant pass and returned the ball deep into St. Rita territory. The Crusaders capitalized on the Fitzgerald INT with an inside touchdown run by senior running back Jessi Plunkett.

Despite a late St. Rita touchdown drive, Brother Rice held for the win improving its record to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the Catholic League Blue.

Maine South Over Evanston in Classic Showdown

The Maine South Hawks held on to defeat the Evanston Wildkits 21-13 in a classic showdown the won’t soon be forgotten. The highly ranked Wildkits hadn’t beaten Central Suburban South Conference rival Hawks since 2014 and it was looking like this might be the year. It wasn’t to be.

A huge homecoming crowd greeted the Hawks and their fans. The Wildkits took the opening kick and methodically worked their way down the field to the Maine South ten-yard line on a lovely seven-minute drive behind to tough running of junior running back Quadre Nicholson. The Wildkits stalled with successive incomplete passes. Going for it on fourth down, the Kits came up empty and turned the ball over on downs.

Maine South grabbed the momentum, took the lead on their own long drive and played just well enough to hold off the no-quit Wildkits, winning the game, 21-13.

It was one of the best high school football games that I have seen in years. Good teams, good coaches, good players.

It would not surprise me if these teams meet in the 8A playoffs.