This past weekend I headed back to my home in Kent, Ohio to take a couple days off from school. While I was around, I spent some time shooting our softball and baseball teams as they played at the University of Akron.

With our limited shooting positions for softball back at OU, I relish any chance I can get to shoot the team on the road.

Firestone Stadium in Akron, the host of this year’s Mid-American Conference championships, has a lot of great elevated options, and great light to boot.

On the second day of the tournament, Ohio fought hard but made an early exit, losing to Kent State.

Even with the loss, I was happy to get a decent frame out of my home plate remote camera.

The following day, I headed out to cover the baseball team in their first of three games against Akron over the weekend.

Since the game was early in the day, I worked angles that allowed me to shoot backlit.

My favorite frame was after the Bobcats’ win, as a lone Akron player walked back to the dugout.

After the game, I headed back over to the softball tournament to shoot in the last moments of light for the day. With Ohio out of the tournament, I was able to experiment and play with the light.

I was especially happy when Central Michigan celebrated their win in a pocket of light on the first base side.

This week, I’m back in Athens for the final week of the spring sports season. It’s amazing how fast these eight weeks have gone.

As I wrap up my time at Ohio University, I’ve spent a good portion of the school year training and mentoring a new group of photographers at the athletic department. Recently, our team completed its first project of the football season, the poster for the spring game.

After a week of coordinating schedules between nine student athletes, facilities management, and the football staff, we decided on a 9pm shoot at Peden Stadium.

We settled on a spot a midfield facing the home stands, and Alex began with a series of exposures to capture the fading sunset.

Next, we shot the image of the athletes. Our lighting setup was simple, two front lights (key and fill), and two rim lights to mimic the stadium lighting.

Here, Alex checks his exposure while Maddie and Emily keep the main lights from being blown away in the wind.

Once we had our options of the athletes, we shot a few more images for use in the composite. The picture above was used for the stands in the final image.

The final step was to light paint the Peden tower. Emily took a light and walked across the stands, popping the flash while I shot 1/2 second exposures. In total, we used 7 images similar to the one above for the final composite.

A few hours in Photoshop later, and the final product was done, in plenty of time to be sent off to the printers for the game.

This year, the Bobcats won two games in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1964. At 29-8, they were also the winningest team in school history. After covering them all season, I followed the team to Cleveland, Nashville and finally to St. Louis.

This year’s (and next year’s) team is truly something special. Records aside, I have never seen a group of athletes so focused on working together to win.

After receiving a bye into the MAC tournament, Ohio faced Toledo in their first game at the Q.

Unlike later in the run, I was able to mount my favorite remote on the post.

After the game, I trailed behind Coach John Groce as he lead D.J. Cooper and Walter Offutt to the press conference.

With a 65-57 win over the Rockets, the ‘Cats were off to the next round to face Buffalo.

For a change, I took a 300mm lens into a huddle instead of the usual wide angle. While it was incredibly hard to follow coach Groce with such a tight lens, I caught him at just the right moment as he stared down the players.

Ohio escaped with the win, defeating the Bulls 77-74.

Just like the day before, I made one of my favorite images of coach back in the locker room., as he embraced Walter Offutt.

In what seemed like the inevitable outcome, Ohio drew Akron for the championship game. After handily defeating the Zips two weeks earlier in the final home game of the season, it was time for the Bobcats to face their season rival on a court just 40 miles from the JAR.

Before the game, the overhead lights were turned off as the players were introduced. All that was left to light the crowd was the ring of video boards, which are normally a nuisance to photographers. In this case, they actually helped light the Ohio fans behind the bench.

It was a hard-fought battle, but the ‘Cats ultimately prevailed, holding onto the lead in the final seconds and defeating the Zips 64-63 for a spot in the NCAA tournament.

After the initial celebration, Ohio’s Ivo Baltic ran to the stands to embrace his father, Alojz.

Ohio University president Roderick McDavis did the honors of cutting the final cords of the first net.

On the other end, coach Groce did the same, with the help of his son, Connor.

Back in Athens, the team gathered with fans at Baker Center to watch the selection show. Just like the night before, Connor was right by his father’s side as coach addressed the crowd.

Before the show, I mounted a few cameras around the room to capture the moment the team was selected to play Michigan State.

After a day to pack and rest before the next leg of the journey, I traveled with the team to Nashville.

After arriving around lunch time, we had the rest of the day off to explore the city.

Bridgestone Arena

I was able to meet up with some of my family, who showed me around the historic downtown in Franklin.

The next day, the ‘Cats practiced at the arena and took part in a press conference.

Game day began with a send-off at the hotel with the marching band and cheerleaders.

Over at the arena, I caught the team in the tunnel before they took the court for warm ups.

The 110 may have only been able to send 25 members, but they did everything they could to be just as loud as the usual pep band.

Since the NCAA doesn’t allow post remotes during the tournament, I had to be a little more creative with my remote cameras.

In the final minutes I caught one of my favorite moments of the game, when freshman Stevie Taylor realized that the Bobcats were headed to the next round.

After the game, we headed downtown to enjoy the vibrant Nashville nightlife.

For the next game, the team was sent off at the hotel by the band.

My favorite frame was of one of the Marching 110 trombone players framed against the red walls of the hotel.

Before the game, the 110 performed in downtown Nashville for the fans.

Back inside Bridgestone arena, Jon Smith won the tip-off to start the game.

Walter Offutt lead the team with 21 points on the way to a 62-56 win over South Florida.

Back in the locker room, president Mcdavis was pretty happy with the win.

Due to a fast-paced travel schedule from the NCAA, we flew back to Athens immediately after the game.

At this point, the Bobcats were in the national media spotlight. Media requests came pouring in as boarded the plane, and my colleague Drew could barely fit them all in his notebook.

After a day of rest in Athens, the team headed off to St. Louis for the Sweet 16.

By the time we landed, the wind had picked up considerably, gusting at over 30mph as we waited for our bags on the tarmac.

When we arrived at the hotel downtown, the team was greeted by fans.

Once we settled in, I headed out to explore the town with a couple friends from the 110.

The next day, I headed off to the arena to cover the open practice and press conference. Tired of riding buses everywhere, I took a train.

It was an amazing feeling walking into the Edward Jones Arena for the first time. Normally used for NFL games, the giant space dwarfed the small court.

Game day began with the 110 and cheerleaders performing in a pep rally downtown.

Back at the hotel, the team was sent off to the game by hundreds of fans.

Several players from the 2010 NCAA Tournament team came to see the game.

Along with the cheerleaders and band, I headed over to the Bobcat Bash.

President Roderick McDavis gave a rousing speech, as always.

Minutes later Ohio faced the #1 seed UNC for a spot in the Elite Eight.

Ohio hung with the Tar Heels the entire game, fighting for every loose ball.

Bobcat Nation showed up in full force.

D.J. Cooper struggled with UNC’s size, and was held to just ten points.

With less then four minutes left in the game, Ohio pulled into the lead.

At the last minute, UNC tied the game into overtime. Ohio’s shooting fizzled, and coach Groce knew the history-making run had come to an end.

The next morning, the team traveled back to Athens.

Along the way down Rt. 33, fans cheered on the team as the buses approached Athens.

Back at the Convo, hundreds of fans welcomed the Bobcats home.

With no graduating seniors on the team, the future looks bright for the Bobcats. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this team.

After a day back in Athens to recuperate from the Arnold, I headed back on the road to cover the Mid-American Conference basketball championships.

The first game I covered was Ohio’s second-round loss to Central Michigan.

Right after, I shot Northern Illinois’ game against Akron for their media relations department.  Above is the shot that won their second-round game in the final eight seconds.

With some coordination with the tournament staff, I was given access to the team areas to cover the celebration.

Later in the week, I covered the championship game for fun, since I had the free time before the men’s championship later that day.

As the final seconds wound down, Eastern Michigan pulled away with the lead.

One of the best parts of covering the game was that since I didn’t have to turn in images for anyone, I was free to shoot whatever I wanted. Instead of focusing on grip and grins as I would have to normally, I worked some different angles of the celebration.

As I was shooting the image above, AP’s Amy Sancetta got this funny picture of me sitting under the ladders the players were using to cut down the nets.

AP Photo/Amy Sancetta

My February was another month filled with basketball, plus a few surprises.

Bored at a lightly-attended women’s basketball game, I tried some new shooting positions, including shooting against the band.

When my good friend John asked me to shoot a portrait for his senior recital, the gears in my mind started to turn. We ended up with an image we were both quite happy with.

For the men’s basketball game against Bowling Green, I shot the first couple of minutes from the catwalks.

For the Bracketbuster game a couple days later, I made do with a broken strobe, working with the new shadows it presented.

Over the third weekend of the month I traveled to Akron for the MAC championships in swimming.

My month ended as it began: with basketball. Before the final home game against Akron, I headed up to the catwalks to shoot the Convo with the lights out.