(Warning: This one's long. Hopefully it's informative...)

Last month, I had the opportunity to write about shooting the portraits that go with the preview sections we run before the start of each season.

On Monday, we ran a photo of Sonics rookie Kevin Durant that I had the privilege of shooting a couple of weeks ago.

The planning took weeks.

The shoot took about 15 minutes.

And, like much of my work, it was lining bird cages and wrapping fish by noon on the day it was published.

But that's life in the big leagues.

Shooting preview portraits is often more than just executing a simple photo of the person. Many different things are taken into account — who the player is and which team he plays for, but also we want the photo to tell the readers something about the person and why we think he's important.

With a much-heralded rookie like Durant, the number-two overall pick in the NBA draft, his importance is well-known.

So, I had to determine what it was that I wanted to communicate about him, other than that he's supposed to be a great player.

Some of the ideas I tossed around:

"What CAN'T Kevin Durant do?" As a basketball player, he's supposed to be the complete package — he can shoot, dribble, defend, run the floor and make plays. As well, he's supposed to be the savior of a franchise that has lost its way and might well be leaving the city.

Working with this theme, my ideas included (bear with me as I share with you my very raw brainstorming):

"Kevin Durant Can't Catch a Fish": A shot of Durant at Seattle's famous Pike Place Market, trying unsuccessfully to catch a thrown fish. Or, possibly better, trying to dunk a fish in front of the fish stand there.

Kevin Durant Can't Pour a Latte": Shot of Durant in uniform at a coffee stand, spilling latte foam all over the place.

Kevin Durant Can't Fix Seattle's Traffic: Shot of Durant up in the traffic control center at the top of Colombia Tower, again in uniform, examining traffic screens.

Kevin Durant Can't Fix the Monorail: Shot of Durant in uniform, standing beneath the Monorail, wearing a hardhat and carrrying a tool box, quizzical look on his face.

I know, those are LARGE reaches. But in the context of a full preview section, I thought it had the chance to be visual and funny, as well as making the point that as much as Kevin Durant is expected to bring to the Sonics and the city, there's only so much a 19-year old rookie can do.

Then I found out that we wouldn't be publishing an actual separate section, but rather would be running a series of preview stories within the daily sports section.

So, a series of four or five photos wouldn't work.

I then set about trying to find a way to create a single image that would be successful.

My first idea had to do with the themes of Durant and the Sonics' uncertain future.

I considered having Durant staring into a crystal ball that had Seattle's skyline in it.

Then, of course, I tried to make that better and had the idea of having former Sonic Slick Watts as the fortune teller with the crystal ball, and Durant, in uniform, trying to see the future.

Of course, that was way to complicated. But that didn't stop me from trying to find a crystal ball up until an hour before our scheduled shoot time. I found some, but they were too little to be very visible in a portrait. I actually considered using those psycodelic looking bowling balls, or those reflective garden globes that you can find in specialty gardening stores.

As usual, I digress. And as usual, simplicity won the day.

My final idea was to have Durant leaping over the Seattle skyline. The idea of a "big leap" made sense as this 19-year old wunderkind is making the leap from college to the pros after playing one season at Texas.

The idea SOUNDS way easier than it is to actually execute. First, I drove around the city scouting locations. I even got out of the car and made test frames at three or four different spots.

Nothing was really catching my eye.

I'd recently shot a friend's wedding at Kerry Park, Seattle's most famous viewpoint that looks back at downtown. Like most photojournalists in the city, I try to avoid using this popular destination for my photos unless I absolutely have to. It's just so...cliche.

In desperation, I took a drive up there right before meeting Durant at the team's practice facility. I took out some different lenses and made some test frames, but could only imagine what it might look like.

Then I headed down to meet Durant, his agents, and a member of the Sonics media relations staff.

Let me say right here that along with having a solid concept, it's equally important to have made prior contact with all parties.

The Sonics were good about finding a time for Durant to spend with me. In an email, I detailed EXACTLY what I wanted him to wear. This is an important piece of advice. If you don't detail everything, you can be sure that something will be forgotten.

I learned that lesson some years ago while watching another shooter working at baseball's Spring Training, who was shooting three pitchers on a day they weren't pitching. They showed up wearing shower slippers and didn't have their spikes because no one had specified spikes.

So, I made sure to send an email to all parties specifying that I needed Durant in his home white uniform, with game socks, game shoes, and any wrist or headbands that he would wear during the season. Lastly, and very importantly, I also asked for an NBA basketball. Forget any of those things, and the shoot can go sideways before you even snap a frame.

The other important thing when working with athletes is to set a time frame and then to STICK TO IT. It seems that every media relations person and players I've worked with have stories of being kept long past the time promised.

This is important for two reasons. One, is that the players are busy, and have many obligations and even though it is in the team's best interest to have their players publicized in the newspaper, it's a reality that they don't have a lot of time. The other is that if you promise 15 minutes and can keep it to 15 minutes, the better chances you have to work with that athlete again.

These are not my secrets, but are pieces of advice I've been given by pros over the years that have really helped me do my job.

At the team's practice facility, I met with Durant, one of his agents and a member of the team's p.r. staff. I told them that I wanted to take him to Kerry Park, and that the shoot wouldn't take longer than 20 minutes.

They readily agreed, and we arranged to meet.

I arrived first, and set up a battery powered strobe pack with a single flash head on a sturdy light stand. I needed it to be portable enough to move around.

Kevin arrived, and fortunately, the park was fairly empty. I didn't want the shoot to turn into an autograph frenzy. I was fairly sure most Seattleites wouldn't recognize him, but in a uniform....

My idea was to shoot him appearing to leap over the skyline, lit by a flash combined with ambient daylight just a stop or two underexposed.

The day was one of those sunny/cloudy/windy days were the light changes almost by the minute. The upside was that it had the possibility of dramatic clouds, but also it could have changed with each frame.

As it was, I got really lucky with the light.

I showed Durant what I wanted him to do, which was to jump off of a small ledge to give him the needed height and then land on the ground a couple of feet below.

This was tricky. Asking an athlete to jump, run, etc, is always fraught with my fear of him injuring himself. I asked Kevin if he was confident doing it and he laughed and said it was no problem. I looked over at the Sonics' representative at hand, and he didn't have a problem with it either.

I used the first couple of frames to aim the light and to show Kevin what I wanted him to do. Because I was shooting digitally, it was easy for him to see the idea. This one was shot with a 24-70mm lens, just so I could see the effect before moving to a longer lens:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 42mm, ISO 100, 1/250th sec., f11 w/ strobe)

Once he saw the possibilities on the back of my camera, he was hooked and into it. We worked on finding a spot for him to start his jump so he would be leaping over the Space Needle. Still, I knew I needed to work quickly and limit the number of jumps I would ask him to do.

Quickly, he got the hang of it. However, the ball was in his left hand, which was where the strobe was coming from:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 70mm, ISO 100, 1/250th sec., f11 w/ strobe)

At this point, I was worried about the exposure, and changed my exposure to allow some overexposure. As I was shooting RAW files, I was pretty confident I'd be able to "hold" the whites of his jersey and shorts (that is, to lower the exposure as to keep the texture and shadows in his uniform visible), while also having proper exposure on his face.

Luckily, Mother Nature was cooperating at this point, and the cloudy sky was created a perfect backdrop.

I asked him if he could kick his back ala Michael Jordan, and he said he wasn't sure if he could. I wasn't sure if he was joking with me or not. So on the next frame, I pressed the shutter at what I thought was the peak of his jump:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 70mm, ISO 100, 1/250th sec., f11 w/ strobe)

However, I hadn't switched my motordrive from multi-shot to single-shot, and I accidently got a second frame, albeit without the strobe. As luck would have it, the second frame had the exact pose I was looking for. However, it wasn't lit:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 70mm, ISO 100, 1/250th sec., f11 w/ strobe)

So, I asked him to jump one more time, and to do the same exact pose. Because he's an elite athlete, he nailed it. Because I got lucky, I caught the exact moment I needed:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 70mm, ISO 100, 1/250th sec., f11 w/ strobe)

As you can see, the frame is overexposed so I could have proper exposure on his skin tones.

In the computer, I was able to adjust the exposure without harming the photo. RAW is a "lossless" way of recording images. It means that I can make changes without adding digital noise or otherwise reducing the quality of the image.

Here's what the original looked liked in the software:

And here's what it looked like when I darkened the image in order to "recover" the detail in his uniform:

After that, I isolated the uniform and lightened the rest of the frame back to the original exposure, corrected the color a bit, cropped the frame slightly and had a finished product:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 70mm, ISO 100, 1/250th sec., f11 w/ strobe)

Finally, and thanks to you that have made it to the end of this post. Here is the published page:

Washington's game against visiting Arizona last Saturday was supposed to be different.

The Huskies, losers of five in a row, were favored to win.

Yes, Washington has the toughest schedule in the nation. Yes, they start a freshman at quarterback. Yes, Arizona has struggled all season, and yes, their coach is on the proverbial hot seat.

Yes, it was all set up in Washington's favor.

No, they didn't win.

But for much of the game, it looked like they might.

Knowing all of the above as I shot the game, I wanted to be hyper-aware of the emotion in the stadium. The Huskies desperately needed a win, and a victory over Arizona would prove to doubters that their earlier losses to tough opponents was not a signal that they couldn't beat lesser ones.

In other words, they were facing a beatable opponent, and there would be no excuses if they lost.

It started out fine for Washington. Quarterback Jake Locker scored on a 14-yard scamper and I manage a shot of Locker and teammate Corey Williams together in the end zone:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 200mm, ISO 400, 1/1000, f3.2)

Tied at 7-7, Jake Locker connected with Marcel Reese on a 98-yard touchdown that goes into the record books as the Huskies' longest play from scrimmage. As fellow photographer Mark Harrison and I were splitting the field, I was fortunate enough to be in the right place for the play. It's weird to be shooting the start of a play from 98-yards away, but this time it paid off.

Reece takes off over the middle after catching the ball:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 400, 1/1000, f4.0)

Switching to a body with a shorter lens, I am able to show the distance between Reece and his pursuers:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 100mm, ISO 400, 1/1000, f2.8)

Finally, the celebration occurs right in front of me, and I'm able to use a wide-angle lens that puts the players in the foreground and nice shot of the stadium behind them:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 16-35mm/f2.8 lens @ 19mm, ISO 400, 1/1000 sec.,f2.8)

Some in the photo work area thought that one a little "awkward", so I also moved this more conventional frame:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 70mm, ISO 400, 1/800 sec.,f2.8)

If you're a follower of Husky football, you know what happened in the fourth quarter. Washington's porous defense and suddenly stilted offense blows a 41-26 lead in the fourth quarter.

Wildcats receiver Mike Thomas (10), does much of the damage, and finishes with 10 catches and three touchdowns, here celebrating with teammate Delashaun Dean:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 400, 1/1000, f4.0)

As it became clear that Washington was going to lose, and lose in a spectacular fashion (blowing a two-touchdown lead to a bad team at home? Really?) I began trying to find a picture that would sum up the day.

I shot into the stands. These pumpkin-headed people managed to be spirited and dispirited all at the same time:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 400, 1/1000, f5.6)

Fans in the east end zone react after Arizona takes the lead:


(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 70mm, ISO 400, 1/800 sec.,f2.8)

As the clock wound down, I found senior Marcel Reece, the same player who had scored the 98-yard touchdown earlier, sitting dejectedly on the bench after his teammates had gone onto the field after the game. The posture of the men in the background helps the composition:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 16-35mm/f2.8 lens @ 21mm, ISO 400, 1/1000 sec.,f4.0)

Leaving the field, I saw this man leaning over the rail in the end zone near the big scoreboard. At first I shot him with a longer lens:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 400, 1/800 sec.,f2.8)

But taking the camera away from my eye, I saw another possibility. Moving closer with a wide-angle lens, everything came together — the sadness, the loneliness, and the undeniable truth of the final score up in lights:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 16-35mm/f2.8 lens @ 21mm, ISO 400, 1/1000 sec.,f4.0)

Even though I'd gotten the shot I wanted, I lastly made a frame of this guy leaving the stadium, who was sad and also more than a little bizarre at the same time (perhaps a little TOO bizarre):

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 115mm, ISO 400, 1/00 sec.,f2.8)

I applaud our photo editors and designers for taking a risk and putting a "non-action" photo on our Sunday sports cover:

Here's today's Monday morning football lesson, courtesy of one Nate Burleson:

An NFL halftime is only 12 minutes long.

12 minutes. Not 20, like in college, nor 15, like in high school.

So if you're a fan at the stadium, get that beer quickly, and make your bathroom trip fast.

And if you're a photographer, make sure to get your hot dog pronto, else you might miss a game-changing play.

Like, for example, Burleson's 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to open the second half of Seattle's victory over visiting St. Louis at Qwest Field (not the first huge play by Burleson this season, btw).

Not many plays in football are as exciting as a kick return for a touchdown, and Burleson's exciting dash made for nice photographs of one of the biggest plays of the day.

A lot of fans missed it, and so did many photographers, who were still in the photo workroom when it happened.

Luckily, I didn't. Otherwise, in the words of Ricky Ricardo, I'd have a "lot of 'splainin' to do!" to my editors this morning.

Twelve minutes is not a long time. Especially because photographers have to wait at least two minutes of halftime to reach the photo room, since we share the same entrance as the Seahawks players.

Download a card, hit the restroom, grab a hot dog. That's the routine for many. Of course, many have to transmit images during that time, but good planning can assure that at least one photographer will be on the field from your staff.

In our case, fellow Times' staffer Jim Bates and I had planned that he would be the one to transmit the two photo our website needs before the end of the game, allowing me to return to the field.

I think I was one of only TWO photographers on the field for Burleson's big play. The other was Seahawks' team photographer Corky Trewin.

Burleson's run was long enough that I was able to shoot with each of my three cameras at different points, thanks to the help of my assistant Doug Fleming, who won the chance to assist by being the high bidder at this year's Groz-with-Gasathon put on by KJR radio.

As he takes the kickoff, Burleson starts to his right and eludes a tackle by St. Louis defender Eric Bassey (41):

(Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 640, 1/1000 sec.,f2.8)

Next, Burleson stares down Rams' kicker Jeff Wilkins, and leaves him with a juke to the left before continuing to the right:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 640, 1/1000 sec.,f2.8)

With a half-dozen Rams behind him, Burleson seeks blockers ahead of him to clear the way:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 640, 1/1000 sec.,f2.8)

Will Herring (54) appears on his right and looks for someone to block:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 640, 1/1000 sec.,f2.8)

At this point, I'm wondering when to switch from a camera with long 400mm lens to one with the shorter 70-200mm lens. It's a tricky proposition. Switch too early and you risk missing a 400mm shot that is tighter and shows the player's expression. Switch too late and you miss showing the space that the player has moved into and the distance he's put between himself and his defenders.

I make the switch and my first frame has Herring finding St. Louis defender Ron Bartell and shielding him from Burleson:


(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 145mm, ISO 800, 1/800 sec, f2.8)

The next frame is probably my favorite because you can see Burleson's face as he looks back and sees his nearest defender being blocked. You can also see Herring's expression as he finishes the block:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 85mm, ISO 800, 1/800 sec, f2.8)

The rest of the series with the 70-200 is shot from behind Burleson, as I was stationed around the 20 yard line. I was a little upset that I wasn't in the end zone, where the players piled on in celebration, but I really wasn't in a position to complain.

I grabbed the 400mm again and made a couple frames as Burleson turned back toward the bench and smiled:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 640, 1/1000 sec.,f2.8)

Lastly, I saw him jumping and doing celebratory "chest-bumps" with teammates and Doug handed me my third camera, which had a wide-angle lens for this shot of Burleson and teammate Bobby Engram:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 16-35mm/f2.8 lens @ 16mm, ISO 400, 1/640th sec., f2.8)

Thanks to Nate for reminding me that there's a reason I skip that halftime hot dog.

How fast can a Duck run?

I had the opportunity see for myself as I was assigned to shoot the University of Washington vs. Oregon football game on Saturday.

It's been a pretty heated rivalry for about 20 years or so, and in that time I've seen the momentum shift from school to school, depending on their relative successes.

I've been to games in Eugene in when the Huskies were in the midst of a run of bowl games and Top Ten rankings, where Dawg fans flooded Autzen Stadium and seemed to outnumber the locals.

Classless louts, said the Duck fans.

Fast forward to 2007. Oregon is ranked in the top ten, and Washington hasn't won a game in over a month.

The west end of Husky Stadium was filled with green and yellow, the Oregon colors. Their fans were not only visible, they were loud.

As the Husky Marching Band unfurled the flag for the national anthem, the Duck fans started a loud "GO DUCKS!" chant that filled the stadium.

Classless louts, Husky fans said.

Of course, this being sports, bragging rights start and end with the game at hand.

The football fans out there already know that Oregon routed Washington, 55-34.

Washington couldn't stop Oregon's spread-option offense, but they particularly couldn't stop running back Jonathan Stewart, who ran for 251 yards.

I knew coming into the game that Stewart, who played prep football at Timberline High School south of Seattle, would be a major factor. In fact, Stewart and current Washington running back J.R. Hasty (Bellevue High School) were both All-State players.

As it turned out, Hasty would barely play, and Stewart would leave his Nike tread marks all over the Huskies and their stadium.

Watching Stewart churn up yardage on long runs during the first half, it was obvious that we would need photos of him for our coverage

Stewart leaps over a blocker in the first quarter:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 400, 1/1000th sec., f2.8)

Later, he raced for the corner trying to score, but was forced out just before crossing the goal line. As you can see, I'm pretty close to being trampled here:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 70mm, ISO 400, 1/1250th sec., f3.5)

Stewart takes a Husky defender along for a ride:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 400, 1/1000th sec., f2.8)

And in the fourth quarter, he breaks free into the Washington secondary yet again:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 800, 1/800th sec., f2.8)

Focusing hard on one player when you know the story is about him can make your life easier. But it's important not to lose sight of everything else going on.

Our coverage naturally centers on the local team, but with Stewart hailing from the Seattle area, it was also logical that he would be our main focus. After all, the Huskies losing another football game this season is not breaking news.

I was a bit surprised to see this photo of Jake Locker being surrounded by Oregon defenders as our cover photo in Sunday's paper:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 1000, 1/640th sec.,f2.8)

But as a couple of photographers noted to me, the photo is storytelling, and visually compelling because of Locker's expression and the fact that you can see his eyes.

Here's what the cover looked like:

Seems like each week there's at least one REALLY big high school football game.

This week, it was a KingCo 3A matchup between visiting Newport and Bellevue.

Parking at Bellevue is notoriously tough, so I fought traffic to the Eastside and parked my car at the high school at 4:30pm.

Kickoff, mind you, was at 7:30.

And when I got there, the lots were getting full.

The parking spot is important to me because it also doubles as my "photo workroom", since many of the high school stadiums have tiny press boxes (if any) that are always full.

I need to park close to the field so that when deadline comes, I can retreat to the office in the front seat of my car to download, edit and transmit pictures back to the office.

In the ensuing three hours, I walked to a nearby Starbucks, where I was able to do a quick blog entry, make travel plans for December football, and do some archiving. Then I met some friends who meeting at a local gathering spot who were having dinner before walking to the game.

I left them to their food and drink and walked to the stadium, and they said they'd meet me at the game. As I walked, the rain began to fall, and the wind began to blow.

The game was dominated by Bellevue, who won, 19-3, but even a victory and their homecoming celebration was no match for the elements:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200/f2.8 lens @ 70mm, ISO 3200, 1/250th sec., f4.0)

In fact, if you looked at the cheerleaders from each school, neither side looked like they were winning. They just looked cold and miserable.

Newport's cheerleaders:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 3200, 1/250th sec., f2.8)

Bellevue's cheerleaders:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 3200, 1/250th sec., f2.8)

In this celebration picture of Bellevue players after their first touchdown, you can see the rain bouncing off of them:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 3200, 1/250th sec., f2.8)

I moved this photo because of the great expressions on the faces of the players:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 3200, 1/400th sec., f2.8)

When the weather is bad or unusual, it's important to try to make that part of the story you're telling with your pictures.

And by the way, my friends never made it to the game. They took one look outside and stayed nice and warm the entire evening.

Thanks to all of you that responded to my posts regarding the focus issues with the new Canon flagship camera, the EOS 1D Mark III.

Thanks also to those of you who pointed out that this blog got linked to from CNet's Crave blog.

I even extend thanks to those of you who insist that my blurry images are a result of user-error. Trust me, I'm the first to admit to user-error focus issues. Remember the photos from this day?

The always-reliable Rob Galbraith has a link to Canon's official statement on his valuable website.

Yeah, I'll be sending my cameras in.

Then, when my pictures still suck, I'll again have no one to blame but myself.

Seahawks fans: You weren't the only ones with a headache last night after watching your team go down in flames to the previously winless New Orleans Saints.

Just check out Seattle tackle Walter Jones, who gets his temples massaged mid-game. But can you blame him? His team botched a long-snap that resulted in a touchdown, had a field goal blocked, and saw superstar running back Shaun Alexander scrounge around the Field Turf for only 35 yards on 14 carries.

Perhaps a massage was in order:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 1600, 1/500 sec.,f2.8)

Actually this picture almost calls for a caption contest.

Almost.

'Cause I don't got no prizes. Unless you are in dire need of a Seattle Times baseball hat.

One of the closest game-changing plays I've seen at a football game happened last night at the battle between second-ranked Bothell and third-ranked Eastlake. Our stellar prep writer Tom Wyrwich was on the scene.

Leading 13-10 in the fourth quarter, Eastlake's Cory Mackay caught a pass at the Bothell 5-yard line, then dragged two defenders with him towards the goal line. He looked like he was going to score, giving the Wolves a huge 20-10 lead. But Bothell's players never gave up, and forced the ball loose just shy of the goal line.

Officials ruled the play a fumble. Eastlake's coaches, players and fans pleaded that Mackay had crossed the goal line before fumbling. Bothell's sideline rejoiced.

Up in the press box, Tom Wyrwich and other reporters watched the play again and again on instant replay.

Hold up. Eastlake has instant replay? As my eight-year old daughter would say, "Oh. My. God." ("OMG!" to you hipsters).

Yowza. Amazing the difference in neighborhood schools. A friend who is an assistant coach at Interlake (also on the Eastside) says that they didn't even have functioning headsets between the coaches box and the sidelines until the third week of the season (apparently they need to hold more fundraising carwashes next summer...)

Here's some frames from the sequence. I'm sure fans in Bothell will see this as proof the ball came loose before the goal line, just as I'm sure fans from Eastlake will argue he scored. And lastly, no, high school football referees are not allowed to use replay.

Mackay makes the catch on a "jump ball" between Bothell defenders:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 170mm, ISO 3200, 1/320th sec., f2.8)

Turning for the end zone, he's grabbed by Bothell players as he leans for the end zone:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 140mm, ISO 3200, 1/320th sec., f2.8)

In the next frame, if you look closely, you can see the football loose and out of his hand:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 140mm, ISO 3200, 1/320th sec., f2.8)

This is the frame that ran on the sports cover. The football is clearly loose. Bothell's Jamey Mulvihill (2) is in front of Mackay, and Mulvihill's hand is over the goal line. This is what proves to me that Mackay had not reached the goal line before losing control of the ball. The football is clearly behind the Bothell player's shoulder pads:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 140mm, ISO 3200, 1/320th sec., f2.8)

Yes, I hear you, Eastlake fans. It's close. It's THISCLOSE:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 140mm, ISO 3200, 1/320th sec., f2.8)

The person with the best angle was the official, and he was standing on the goal line. And anyway, the call stood.

But high school football is about more than the action while the ball's in play.

Here are a couple of additional frames from last night's game.

The temperatures dropped during the game and while players waited for an injury to be attended to, steam came off of their bodies:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 3200, 1/320th sec., f2.8)
It might be more compelling in black-and-white:

Eastlake's dance team took the field at halftime on a fall Friday night:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 200mm, ISO 3200, 1/320th sec., f2.8)

In a previous post, I started describing the focusing problems of Canon's new flagship camera, the EOS 1D Mark III.

After shooting some tests at a youth soccer game and struggling through the Seahawks' road win at San Francisco, I acted against my best instincts and brought the cameras to Pittsburgh with me last weekend.

Needless to say, the cameras underperformed. And as mediocre as I can be some days, having cameras that don't function properly is just bad news.

Take for example this is a portion of a contact sheet from the game (note — all images are shot with a single autofocus point in the middle of the viewfinder):

From a contact sheet glance, the images appear sharp. And when reviewing them on the LCD screen on the back of the camera, they look sharp, too.

But upon closer inspection, there are all kinds of problems.

This is the full, uncropped version of frame at far left of the bottom row of the contact sheet. It's shot at 1/1250 sec., so movement wouldn't be a factor. Looks pretty sharp, right?

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1250th sec., f2.8)

A closer look reveals the ball appearing VERY sharp and the player's face appearing in focus:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1250th sec., f2.8)

An even closer look at the face shows a weird blurriness that I can't account for. It's like the sensor is vibrating or something. The Mark II had a similar problem before a firmware upgrade solved it. But his face is simply not sharp enough, even at this enlargement:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1250th sec., f2.8)

Of that entire series, only one frame was as sharp as an image on a Mark IIN. I thought the best composition is in the last frame (bottom row, far right) where the running back has separated from the players in the background. Not only is he centered between them, but he is also further ahead of them, giving the viewer the sense of a good run and a long gain. But this frame, in which the camera has had at least eight frames to track focus, is neither sharp nor soft in the traditional sense. It's just "fuzzy". If you look closely, the football seems to be the sharpest part of the frame, which makes no sense at all:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1250th sec., f2.8)

And a tighter crop:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1250th sec., f2.8)

Here's the all-important face:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1250th sec., f2.8)

More weirdness: the ball appears to be sharp, and is the sharpest part of the frame, but looking at it closer again reveals that strange fuzziness to the image:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1250th sec., f2.8)

The bottom line is that when the camera does not perform correctly, it makes finding the great moments of a game even harder. Instead of choosing frames by judging light, composition and moment, I'm choosing them solely by the accuracy of the focus.

I will say this — when the camera does focus correctly, the images are unbelievably nice. We used this photo of Mack Strong in the newspaper last week after injury forced his retirement:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1250th sec., f3.5)

Editing the Pittsburgh game was tough because of this. I'll keep testing the cameras and hope that Canon finds a solution.

Thanks to all of you that have noticed that I'm shooting with new cameras. Man, you guys really read the fine print!

Last week, I received two brand-new Canon 1D Mark III's, which are the latest top-of-the-line professional cameras from Canon, which is the brand used by the staff at the Seattle Times as well as pros all over the world.

There are many many great things about this new camera -- improved imaging, a "live-view" option that lets the shooter see through the viewing window (like a point-and-shoot camera), and, very important to sports photographers — amazing ability to shoot in very low light.

In previous posts, I've written about using on-camera flash at high school games, as well as the options of shooting available light. The Mark III removes any questions about shooting without flash.

With the last version of the camera (the Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN), shooting at ISO 1600 was a tricky, and barely palatable solution.

The Mark III shot at ISO 3200 looks like the older cameras at ISO 1000. Here's an example:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 3200, 1/400 sec.,f2.8)

Pretty amazing, if you ask me. For you old-time film shooters out there, my colleague Mark Harrison likened the improvement to when Kodak came out with their T-Max 3200 black-and-white film, which revolutionized low-light film shooting, and he's absolutely right.

So what's not to like about the new camera?

Actually plenty.

Steve from Texas writes:

"I noticed that all this week's shot were with the ark III. How did the focus tracking work for you? There is much discussion on the web concerning this issue. All your shots were crystal clear. Has your "keeper" rate increased,decreased or remained the same with the new body?"

Yes, believe it or not, Canon's new flagship camera...has trouble focusing.

And it isn't a rare isolated problem. The camera has trouble tracking subjects in its autofocus. Further, the problem is worse in bright, sunny conditions with low ISO's.

It's a well-documented problem, and Canon has acknowledged the problem.

Over at Rob Galbraith's informative website, their staff has put together an exhaustive study of the problem.

Also, it's been a hot topic on the Sportsshooter.com message boards.

Important note — pleaes keep in mind that the following evaluation is NOT scientific, but rather based on my personal experiences with the Mark III and the each previous generation of the EOS-series of digital SLR's.

I received the camera two weeks ago, and tested both at a youth soccer game before I went to San Francisco for the Seahawks/49ers game. I noticed that some images were a bit fuzzy, and I thought I detected some front-focus (point of sharpest focus is in front of subject) issues.

Here's a full-frame example, which looks pretty sharp (note — all images are shot with a single autofocus point in the middle of the viewfinder).

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 100mm, ISO 640, 1/1000 sec., f2.8)

Take a close look at the player's face — it's a little fuzzy, even at such a big enlargement:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 100mm, ISO 640, 1/1000 sec., f2.8)

Examine the grass at his feet. The grass slightly in front of him is sharper than the focus on his face. And with at 100mm I don't expect such shallow depth-of-field. Even with shallow depth-of-field, the Mark II cameras would focus on the subject. This camera seems to jump around much more:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 100mm, ISO 640, 1/1000 sec., f2.8)

The next day, in San Francisco, I noticed some image softness, but since I hadn't put many frames through the cameras, I decided I needed more work to really make an evaluation.

So last week, in Pittsburgh, I got my answer. And it's not a good answer. The camera is not very good at achieving initial focus, nor tracking in servo-mode. And, I occasionally get a frame that appears to have some weird shakiness throughout.

I'll continue this post in another entry, since it's getting pretty long and involved.

It was pretty clear after Pittsburgh scored their second touchdown that the Seahawks were finished for the day.

Knowing the outcome of a game early has its benefits as well as challenges.

It's easy because I know what I need to shoot — last week it was jubilation after the road win at San Francisco, and this week it was frustration and dejection after being shut out in Pittsburgh.

It's difficult because it means if I'm searching for emotion on the sidelines, I'm missing shooting action photos on the field. And I spent most of the fourth quarter shooting players on the sidelines.

Sounds a bit predatory to be hunting for photos of guys being dejected, right? But one has to remember that I spent the same effort hunting the jubilation last week in the 49ers game.

Fullback Mack Strong was injured and unable to contribute on the field:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1600 sec., f2.8)

I think the frame that captured a lot of the frustration and exhaustion of the Seahawks is one of tight end Marcus Pollard sitting on a Gatorade tub near the end of the bench:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 16-35mm/f2.8 lens @ 26mm, ISO 200, 1/1000 sec., f5.0)

Wide receiver and backup quarterback Seneca Wallace sat alone on the bench well after the other players went onto the field for post-game handshakes:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 98mm, ISO 200, 1/2000 sec., f4.0)

However, everything, including emotion, starts with quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, which is fitting since he's the quarterback and leader of the team.

But when his shoulders slump, he does his little frustrated frown, and throws his arms up in exasperation, everyone from team owner Paul Allen to the guys who load up the truck after the game know it's over.

And that includes me.

I actually saw when head coach Mike Holmgren came over to Hasselbeck to tell him that he was being replaced. Matt's reaction was immediate frustration, which one would expect (and as a fan, you'd hope for, right?). He then grabbed a cup of water and threw it, but I was behind him and couldn't make a photo.

Here's Hasselbeck staring at the scoreboard:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec., f4.0)

This one almost was very storytelling, with Shaun Alexander in the foreground. It's very close to being an image I like:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1600 sec., f2.8)

After the game, I saw the sun falling behind the stadium, and found some nice light to shoot him walking off the field:
(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 16-35mm/f2.8 lens @ 16mm, ISO 200, 1/1000 sec., f5.0)

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1600 sec., f2.8)

Walking back to the photo workroom, I saw Shaun Alexander walking back to the locker room:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 120mm, ISO 1250, 1/40 sec., f4.0)

I decided to attend coach Holmgren's post-game press conference, to see if there might be any pictures. Would he be mad? Frustrated? Patient? I've seen all of those emotions in his post-games, and so I took a look. First of all, it was hot. But a picture of him sweating wouldn't be very revealing. After all, it was so hot and humid in the little room that everyone was sweating:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 200mm, ISO 1250, 1/250 sec., f4.0)

A wide-angle lens was a better choice, and showed a telling view of what it is like for the coach to have to answer questions after suffering a humiliating loss:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 16-35mm/f2.8 lens @ 16mm, ISO 1250, 1/200 sec., f3.5)

Some days you're the hammer, some days you're the nail.

Today, I felt like the nail.

After four weeks of games with lots of big plays in them, the Seahawks' shutout at the hands of Pittsburgh had very few, making it hard to make storytelling images.

Actually, I think there were two very important plays, and they both occurred in the second quarter.

And I didn't get very good frames of either play. Very frustrating.

Seattle was playing the Steelers very even in the first half, until Najeh Davenport broke three tackles on the way to a 45-yard gain that set up the first touchdown.

As Seattle defense was playing stout (two sacks, numerous pressures), I was shooting from behind the line of scrimmage. When the play started, it seemed that Davenport was bottled up by Lofa Tatupu at the line of scrimmage:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec., f3.2)

After escaping Tatupu, Seattle's Patrick Kerney takes the next shot and misses:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec., f3.2)

Seahawks' cornerback Kelly Jennings is then left on the ground as Davenport cuts outside:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec., f3.2)

Leroy Hill then gets an angle but is stiff-armed and misses a tackle:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec., f3.2)

Davenport is now running up the Seahawks sideline with Chuck Darby as his closest pursuer:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1250 sec., f3.2)

I'm cursing because I think Davenport's going to score and I don't have a clean frame. Seattle safety Brian Russell makes a touchdown saving tackle, but it doesn't help me at all. All the frames still suck.

The teams had played 26 of the 30 minutes in the first half without a big play, and when it happened I was out of position (you'll notice there are some out-of-focus frames as well, which is something I'll address later this week).

With only seven seconds left in the half, the other big play happened when Pittsburgh's Ike Taylor picked off a Matt Hasselbeck pass at the goal intended for receiver Ben Obamanu. Obamanu appeared to be slow getting into his route, and then the ball was thrown short and Taylor got the pick. Of course, Taylor's back is to me. This one has all the elements of a terrible non-photo — lack of faces, lack of ball, lack of just about anything compelling. And yet it was one of the key plays of the game:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 125mm, ISO 200, 1/1000 sec., f4.5)

Bobby Engram comes into make the tackle, but really, is this a storytelling image? Looks like a tackle, not an interception:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 190mm, ISO 200, 1/1000 sec., f4.5)

Finally, after the play is over Taylor gets up and I get a semi-reaction shot. The play took so long that the half ran out and Seattle came away with no points, instead of at least a field goal:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 165mm, ISO 200, 1/1000 sec., f4.5)

That's how the game goes some days. There are games when everything seemingly appears right in front of my lens, and then there are games like this one, where hardly anything happens and when it does, I'm out of position.

Today, where the big plays were involved, I was the nail.

Next week I'll try to be the hammer.

Seahawks owner Paul Allen appeared down on the sidelines near the end of his team's victory at San Francisco last weekend, accompanied by a lovely female friend.

Is she recognizable to any of you sports fans?

NFL football coaches spends countless hours each week coming up with a game plan for Sunday's contest. Some sleep on cots in their offices, living off of pizza and coffee trying to come up with the perfect plan for the perfect result.

As a photographer covering games, I also try to have a game plan before heading to the stadium as well.

I will spend countless...minutes...on my game plan, but I sleep in my own bed. However, I do admit to the pizza and coffee.

Coaches create game plans that anticipate what will happen based on past performances while also being flexible enough to take into account the fluidity of the game.

Heading into last week's game between the Seahawks and the 49ers, I knew of a couple of story lines that would be important and of which I wanted to be aware. Also, like covering any news or sports event, I needed to be open-minded enough to see new story lines develop and be able to react to them as well.

Here's a recap of some of the story lines from Seattle's 23-3 win at San Francisco.

This first story line to evolve was Seattle's defense recording six sacks, including one that knocked out San Francisco starter Alex Smith early in the game. I was lucky enough to be in good position to shoot Seattle's Rocky Bernard putting all 308 pounds of his on top of Smith, driving him to the ground and separating his shoulder:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1600 sec., f2.8)

Smith was replaced by former Seahawks quarterback Trent Dilfer, who didn't fare much better:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 400, 1/800 sec., f2.8)

Dilfer was later hit from his blind side by Seattle's Julian Peterson, who jarred the ball loose for a fumble. Peterson had three sacks in the first half:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 400, 1/800 sec., f2.8)

The scramble for the ball is nice because of the interplay of their hands:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 400, 1/800 sec., f2.8)

One of the story lines I was aware of heading into the game was about San Francisco running back Frank Gore, who was a one-man wrecking crew against Seattle during the 49er's two victories over the Seahawks last season.

Seattle players had expressed mulitple times during the week that containing Gore would be important if they were to have a chance to win. Shooting running backs is easy because they carry the ball 15-25 times per game, so I could some good opportunities to make a photo that would tell this story. Seattle's run defense was tough on Gore:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 400, 1/1000 sec., f2.8)

The photo above looks a lot like another one I shot of Darrell Jackson being tackled, but I think this photo shows more of the punishment Gore received:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 400, 1/1000 sec., f2.8)

Another of the story lines I knew about before the game involved popular wide receiver Darrell Jackson, who was traded by the Seahawks to the 49ers in the off-season. This would be Jackson's first meeting against his former team. The "former player plays against his old team" is a recurring theme in the world of sports because of all the player movement, but Jackson's popularity in Seattle made me want to be aware of the matchup.

During the game, I tried to be aware of where Jackson was lining up before the snap so I could be sure to make at least one solid photo of him for our coverage.

Early in the game, Jackson caught a pass in the flat and was immediately gang-tackled by a host of Seahawks (a flock?):

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1600 sec., f2.8)

Later, he caught a pass over the middle and was flipped in the air by Seattle's Lofa Tatupu:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/800 sec., f2.8)

Jackson only caught three passes, and I felt that either of the two photos above would represent his day, but I also wanted to shoot him greeting former teammate after the game, and caught a nice moment between him and Seattle's Shaun Alexander:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 16-35mm lens @ 16mm, ISO 200, 1/800 sec., f5.6)

Seattle cornerback Marcus Trufant intercepted two passes to help the Seahawks' defense. In this frame, I was blocked from getting a clean shot of Trufant as he returned the ball, and only got a photo as he was being tackled:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 400, 1/1000 sec., f5.6

On his second interception, I was able to grab the camera around my neck and squeeze of a frame with a wide-angle lens. It's not a perfect frame by any means, as when I grabbed it, the shutter speed got bounced down to 1/250th of a second. But I like the different look because of the lens and the angle. It gives a bit of visual relief from all the telephoto shots:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, EF 16-35mm lens @ 35mm, ISO 200, 1/250 sec. @ f5.6)

As the game progressed, San Francisco's fumbles (five in all) because part of the story. This very tight frame of the 49er's Kevin Hicks losing the ball is one of my favorites from the day. If only his chin were up just a little so we could see his face:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark III, EF 400mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 400, 1/1000 sec., f2.8)

Lastly, I knew that Julian Peterson would be a big part of our coverage. Peterson tallied three sacks, but also was one of the "players playing against his former team" as he used to play for San Francisco. He came over to a group of Seattle fans and shared his jubilation with them. The hands reaching out from left and his expression make the frame fun:

(Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, EF 16-35mm lens @ 35mm, ISO 200, 1/800 sec. @ f3.2)

Having thought about just a couple of story lines before the game helped me be prepared to catch some important moments in the game, and trying to think about evolving story lines as the game progressed helped me round out our coverage.

One of my goals when covering a game is not only to make exciting photos, but also to make ones that help tell the story of what happened.

By doing just a bit of pre-planning, I was able to give my editors multiple choices on how to visually share some of the things that happened in the game.

It's a delicate balance — it's easy to go overboard and try to simply match photos with stories, but that can sometimes evolve into using photos just to prove what the reporters write. On the other hand, pretty photos have to be more than that — it's not journalism if we're not communicating to the viewers what happened that day.

Here are the pages: