Whitney Young Handles Lane 78-69

The Lane Tech Indians (13-7, 4-4) traveled to #5 Whitney Young Dolphins (17-6, 6-1) Wednesday evening (Jan. 23, 2019) for the final CPS Red-West North conference game. Despite the Whitney Young looking every bit the part of their #5 ranking, Lane Tech hung around all evening on the strength of an impressive press break and excellent three point shooting. The Indians got within six points late in the fourth quarter but the late charge failed with the Indians falling 78-69.

The Whitney Young gym presents some challenges to photographing games. First, there is very little room between the baseline and the wall. I couldn’t risk sitting down because I would not get out of the way if a player come flying off the court. Second is the matter of the cheerleaders. Two rows of cheerleaders on either side of the lane—maybe 20 or 24. Not enough room for cheerleaders and photographers.

On the bright side, Whitney Young improved the lights since last year. They installed some new fluorescent lights which are a vast improvement.

I hope you like the photos.

Lane Falls to Orr 72-53

Last night (Jan. 18, 2019), the Lane Tech Indians fell to the Orr Spartans 72-53 at Lane. Lane played their hearts out but Orr was just too good.

I wish I could write more about the game. But last night, more than usual, I wasn’t paying much attention to the game. I was concentrating on the getting good shots, on being in the right position to get good shots and on anticipating the action.

As it turns out, I did okay. Not my best work, but respectable work on short notice without an opportunity to prepare. A good day. The day of my first photo credit in the Chicago Sun-Times.

I hope you like the photos.

Photo Comparison

So part of why I am doing this blog is to chronicle my growth as a photographer. I am not so sure that it is such a good idea to do it so publicly but I don’t have much to lose so what why not. To that end, I thought I would compare a photograph I took to a photograph taken by another photographer of the same subject. The two photographs are below.

The photos were taken at the Evanston Township High School Gym on January 11, 2019, at almost exactly the same time from different angles. This provides an opportunity I have not previously had to compare one of my photographs against one taken by another photographer of the same subject at the same time.

My photograph is the one on the right. It was taken from underneath the west basket slightly north of the rim. The photograph on the left was taken by Nic Summers of Sports Star Photos (sports-star-photos.com). I didn’t have a chance to speak to Nic that night and I have never meet him. I briefly looked at his camera. It appeared to be a Sony mirrorless. I did not see which model. Frankly, all those Sony’s look the same. I can’t be sure which lens but it was the color of the G Series Sony lenses. I obviously don’t know any setting information.

So how are they different? Color for one. Color temperature or white balance is so much to taste I don’t know what to say. I don’t like yellow light so I try to correct for it as much as I can even if the color of the light in the gym is yellow.

The principal difference I can see is the graininess of my photo. I took the photo with an original verson Canon 7D. I bought this used 7D about five years. It was originally released in 2009. It uses an APC sensor. It has many of the features of the advanced full frame Canon line up, just not a full frame sensor. I have gotten good results with it over the years but its image quality is far surpassed by my 5D Mark IV.

The ISO was set at 4000—hence the graininess. I don’t get that level of graininess with my 5D at 4000 ISO. So I presume this is the limitation of the smaller megapixel smaller sensor. A modern full frame Sony sensor is vastly superior to the old 7D without a small sensor.

Both photos are good mostly because of the Jalien Gibson and the New Trier player whose name escapes me. It was an exciting play that we both captured. Nic Summers got more out of his camera that I did.

I have to find a way to overcome the graininess issues with my photographs. I plan to save money to purchase Canon’s mirrorless replacement for the 1Dx Mark II whenever that comes out. Canon must surely be planning such a camera. It is going to be pricey!

UPDATE: Nic Summers informed me that he used a Sony A9, 8000 ISO, 1/800 shutter speed at f3.2.

Wow, this really shows the advance during the last ten years of photographic technology. The performance of the A9 at 8000 ISO is remarkable. The exposure is pretty close to perfect. Only slightly grainy. I can see why the A9 is said to be the best sports camera there is.

My Canon 5D Mark IV has much better ISO performance than my 7D but I wasn’t shooting it at 8000 ISO at the Evanston game, mostly because I didn’t need to.

I am going back to ETHS on Saturday for the War on the Shore so I will be able to do some more testing. This exercise has been very interesting and productive—for me at least.

One more thing. A comment points out that Nic Summers photo shows the basket. I didn’t write at all about composition but I think she makes a good point. Nic’s Photo has that advantage. I usually try to show some of the rim and/or net if possible. I don’t remember why I didn’t in my photo.

#5 Morgan Park Defeats #12 DePaul Prep 62-56

Coach Nick Irvin and his #5 ranked Morgan Park Mustangs came to the DePaul Prep this evening (Jan. 12, 2019) for a shootout with the #12 ranked DePaul Prep Rams. In a high energy game, the Mustangs held off the Rams throughout the whole game despite good shooting by the Rams. Although the Rams drew within 3 points late in the fourth quarter, Morgan Park prevailed in the potential state championship preview by the score of 62-56.

More on the game and the rest of the inaugural Steve Pappas Shootout later. Let get right to the photos.

New Trier Girls Beat Evanston 46-45 on Late Free Throws

The second Evanston v. New Trier matchup of the last night (Jan. 11, 2019) at Evanston was even better than the first as the Trevian girls topped the Wildkits 46-45. With time running out, New Trier point guard Tinah Hong drove the baseline drawing a foul. Just a cool as can be, with the game on the line, she stepped up to the line and drained the tying bucket—nothing but net. Then, after an Evanston time out, Tinah again stepped up to the line and drained the game winner—nothing but net. Evanston had a few seconds but couldn’t get up a shot to win.

I got some good shots of this game. Some of the photos are a little too grainy but they are pretty well lit. I hope you like them.

Evanston Tops New Trier 54-46 in Conference Showdown

Great game. Wildkits held off a late charge by the Trevians and came away with a convincing 54-46 victory. My third time seeing Evanston this year. Each time they have come out victorious in tight games over quality opponents—St. Viator, Uplift and now New Trier. I love the Evanston gym. It has such a stadium quality—and video scoreboards. My favorite gym in the area, well at least today.

As for the photos, it was not my finest work. I got to the game a little late so I was a little rushed. I hope you like the photos.

DePaul Prep Handles St. Francis de Sales

The #12 DePaul Prep Rams (12-3, 6-0) defeated the St. Francis de Sales Pioneers (1-17, 0-7) 87-34 this evening (Jan. 8, 2019) at DePaul’s Tom Winiecki Gym. I haven’t seen a win by so much in my memory. I don’t really know what to write about the game. Had my team been on the receiving end of a 50 point defeat I would not be happy about it. But it didn’t seem to me that the Rams were trying to rub it in. It seemed like they just really wanted to play and were not thinking much about the score. The starters didn’t want to come out of the game. They just wanted to play.

The Rams will have their chance on Saturday when Nick Irvin’s Morgan Park Mustangs enter the Tom Winiecki Gym for the marque game of the Steve Pappas Shootout. Should be a big crowd and a chance for the Rams to prove themselves against top competition.

As for the photos, I used the auto ISO seething for a game just to see how it would work. The ISO just as high as 12,800. Those photos came out very grainy. I set it at 6400 in the last game and it was still pretty grainy even on a phone screen. So I dropped the ISO to 4000 to see how that would look. I had of boost the exposure on all the shots but they were not grainy. The highlights might blown out a little but not too grainy. I guess one must just pick one’s poison.

Hope you like the photos.

Half Over and Plenty Left to Do for DePaul Prep Rams

The season is half over. 29 regular season games with 14 in books. The DePaul Prep Rams record stands at 11 wins, 3 losses and 5-0 in the Chicago Catholic League. The Rams are ranked #12 in the Sun-Times Super 25 and #15 in the Chicago Tribune top 20.

The Rams have wins over #23 Providence St. Mel and #13 Leo. The three loses have been to Benet Academy, (12-3, 4A, currently ranked #16), Marian Catholic (14-1, 4A, #4) and Oswego East, (11-2, 4A, #17) by a total of nine points. So basically, the Rams have a couple good wins and three “good” losses.

It has been a long time since a DePaul Prep or Gordon Tech team has been this good. The Rams last won the Catholic League in 2000. The 11-3 mark is the best in the tenure of Coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

The first part of the year made believers out of those that thought the Rams might not be very good given the loss to North Chicago in last year’s sectional final. The Rams made a believer out of me early when the just appeared to play angry. Serious as a heart attack. Ask Notre Dame and Lane Tech. Those games impressed me. The Rams put those good teams away. Providence St. Mel came into the Tom Winiecki Gym hot and with a lot of hype. The Knights left soundly defeated.

The Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic, while disappointing for the Rams, was not a failure. They lost a close game to a very, very good Marian Catholic team. I have seen a lot of good teams this year: Evanston, St. Viator, Bloomington, Morgan Park, Curie, Uplift and Bloom. Marian Catholic looked just as good as any of those teams. As for losing to Oswego East in a double overtime 3rd place game, that means nothing. Who cares about a third-place game? Not me.

Still, the season is half over. It’s too early to be a good season. There is a great deal of work left to do and many very good teams to overcome.

The best teams left on the regular season schedule are #5 Morgan Park, #21 St. Laurence, #22 New Trier, and then CCL rivals Brother Rice, Fenwick, Loyola and St. Rita. The best is yet to come, a preview game against Morgan Park, a trip to Quincy, a fun one in a big shootout against New Trier and then the Catholic League games. Win the Catholic League. That’s what I want to see. Win the Catholic League.

After that, we’ll just have to see what happens.

Providence St. Mel Defeats St. Ignatius 62-40

I was impressed by Providence—St. Mel. For a really old building, the facility is impressive. The building was well lite and immaculate.

The gym? Not so much. The light was probably the worst I have seen in the Catholic League. It’s pretty much all about light. We all need clean, white light and lots of it.

As for the game, it was a fast game—one hour and ten minutes. It was well played, not very many fouls. The refs did a good job.

The Wolfpack came out playing well. They made some outside shots and harassed the Knights big men inside enough to make them miss a ton of shots. St. Ignatius also did a great job breaking the press early and scoring off the press break. It was 26-23 at the half.

The second half was a different story. The Knights dialed up the defense. The Wolfpack stopped scoring off the press break. They were limited to some good outside shooting. Providence St. Mel began scored inside and off the break and pulled away.

I ran a Twitter poll on which game I should go to and this game won with 42% of the vote. Really glad I went. Another gym added to my list. Saw another CCL team, St. Ignatius.

The photos are not so good. I boosted the ISO really high. I just wanted to see if I could get away with it even though I pretty much already know that 12,800 is too high. I guess I just prefer grainy photos to photos that are too dark. There are a couple good ones. The dunk by PSM’s Deion Jackson is pretty good. Love the expression on his face.

I hope you like them.

Day One Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic

I saw three games of the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic. I planned to stay there all day. But I can’t seem to ever stay for a whole day of games.

I arrived in time for the second game, Marian Catholic Spartans v. Glenbrook North Spartans. The Glenbrook North Spartans played a spirited first quarter staying with the Marian Catholic on the strength of outside shooting. But it did not take long for the other Spartans to pull away. Marian Catholic excelled in all phases; they shot well, scored off the fast break and played outstanding defense. Final: Marian Catholic 67, Glenbrook North 47.

I didn’t photograph the third game, St. Charles East v. Stevenson. I caught up on preparing for the DePaul (9-1) Prep v. Urban Prep Englewood (0-9) game next.

The DePaul Prep Rams came out a little flat but Perry Cowen added seven in the second quarter and the Rams never looked back. Granted this was not the most serious test for the Rams but this team of seniors just seems to take care of business.

St. Charles East should prove a tougher test for the Rams on Thursday. Assuming they survive this Kane County test, the Rams are likely to face one of their toughest games so far. Marian Catholic is as good as the Rams have faced with the possible exception of Leo.

And then after Marian Catholic, either Lincoln Park, H-F or Oswego East. The Hinsdale Central tournament is tough.

DePaul Prep Edges Leo in OT

The #11 ranked DePaul Prep Rams edged the #4 Leo Lions on Friday (December 21, 2018) 61-58 in DePaul’s Tom Winiecki Gym. This matchup of the top teams in the Chicago Catholic League did not disappoint. One could tell that it was going to be close in the end even as the Rams opened a six-point early lead.

There were a great many Leo fans in the crowd. I haven’t seen so many opposing fans since the last time Loyola came in. The game got a little chippy. I didn’t really see what was going on. I have a very narrow field of view looking through a 70-200 mm lens all evening. I miss a lot. But of what I saw, it did not look too bad.

Leo’s DaChaun Anderson played inside against DePaul as well as anyone has this year. He is a beast and can finish. Myles Thomas was solid as usual. And of course, Fred Cleveland. He seems so small out there but I have never seen a small guard like that so able to drive and score.

With 4.1 on the clock in the fourth quarter, after DePaul’s Raheem Anthony missed the second of his 1 and 1 with the scored tied, Leo senior guard Fred Cleveland took an outlet pass and launched a shot from three quarters court which banked in off the glass for an apparent Leo victory. But with the ball in air, a ref blow his whistle repeatedly waiving off the shot because of a travel by Fred Cleveland. I didn’t see it in real time but seeing it on video, it looked like a travel to me and the referee started the call before the shot when it. Nevertheless, the Leo faithful were not happy.

In OT, the Rams finished as usual. They seem so determined this year. I wish I could pick a standout performance by one of the Rams. But they all played well. They all contributed. Pavle scored inside. Ty Johnson hit a big 3 late. Perry scored inside and outside including another monster dunk. Lance played great defense, rebounded and hit his shots. Brian Mathews come off the bench in the first half and hit two big free throws. Solid and determined all the way round. The Rams rallied back from losing the lead late in the game.

The Rams improved there record to 9-1 overall and 5-0 in the Catholic League. The games against Blue division CCL teams begin after the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic which starts the day after Christmas. The Lions record drops to 9-2 overall and 4-1 in the Catholic League. Leo’s #4 ranking is in some jeopardy but if they fall, they won’t fall far. They played well but were edged in the end by the talented and determined #11 ranked Rams.

As for the photography, I took 2130 photos. That’s a lot more than I usually take. I am not sure why—just a lot of action. I tinkered around with the settings again, going with a fixed ISO at 6400, rather than automatic. The auto setting was pushing up to 12,800 which gave me images that were too grainy. These images came out okay but I had to boost the exposure on all of them.

So onto the Christmas tournaments. I am not sure where I will be yet. I will be out at Hinsdale Central for some games but I will be looking for the best matchups of teams I haven’t see yet. I had planned to go to Pontiac but I don’t know if I will this year. We’ll see.

DePaul Prep Handles Providence, Improves to 8-0

The last time I was at Providence Catholic in Lemont was five years ago when Gordon Tech faced Providence and Miles Boykin in a football game. The Rams played hard but lost 42-0. This evening there was a measure of payback.

The DePaul Prep Rams took apart the Providence Celtics at Providence like I haven’t seen in a Catholic League game in as long as I can remember. The first half ended 31-8. The Rams continued their intense play. They continue to play angry. There was no let down. I over heard some Providence parents talking after the game. They kept saying, “our boys played hard but that’s a good team.” “That’s a good team.”

Rams 56, Celtics 25. DePaul Prep improves to 4-0 in the CCL and 8-0 overall. ESCC crossover game tomorrow (Sat., Dec. 14, 2008) versus Benet Academy in the Tom Winiecki Gym. The Rams look to repeat last year’s victory over Benet when the Rams won 35-34 at Benet on Lance Mosley’s last second jumper.

As for the photos, Providence has the nicest light of any gym I can remember. Very clean white light and plenty of it. The photos turned pretty good. I got a couple nice one of Perry Cowen’s dunk.

Hope you like the photos.

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.