Red Land Boys Basketball look to make school history in State Playoffs

Posted on March 31, 2011 by moharen
PIAA Class AAAA Boys Basketball State Championships - First-Round - Bartram vs. Red Land

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I had the opportunity over the last few weeks to cover my alma mater, Red Land High School, as they played their way through District III and PIAA Class AAAA State Playoffs. During the regular season, I was able to … Continue reading →

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The Spartans break the Beaver Stadium curse to defeat the Nittany Lions

Posted on November 30, 2010 by moharen

I finally had a chance to cover a Penn State Nittany Lions football game after schedule conflicts prevented me from doing so the entire season. Speculation leading up to the final game of the season was that this may potentially be Joe Paterno’s last home game as head coach for the Penn State Nittany Lions after holding that position for the last 44 seasons. Unfortunately, JoePa himself made it well known in a press conference earlier in the week that he will be back in 2011 to coach the Nittany Lions.
Leading up to the game, there was speculation that Michigan State might break the curse to finally defeat Penn State on their own turf and win for the first time at Beaver Stadium since 1965.
Below, the Penn State Nittany Lions run onto the field prior to the start of the game.
And head coach Joe Paterno
Michigan State would get the ball first after Penn State won the coin toss and deferred until the second half.
Below, Michigan State wide receiver Edwin Baker (4) is stopped by the Penn State defense.
Below, Penn State punter Alex Butterworth (45) punts the ball away.
Below, Penn State linebacker Nate Stupar (34) attempts to tackle Michigan State wide receiver Keith Nichol (7).
Below, Penn State linebacker Nate Stupar (34) tackles Michigan State wide receiver B.J. Cunningham (3)
After shooting a lot of the Penn State defense, I was hoping that Penn State would get the ball back so I could finally shoot some offense. A short time later, I did get my wish.
Penn State quarterback Matt McGloin (11) talks with the offensive line during a TV timeout.
Below, Penn State tailback Evan Royster (22) runs the ball yardage during the second quarter.
Unfortunately, the drive was short lived and the Penn State defense would come back onto the field.
Below, Penn State safety Malcolm Willis (10)
Below, Penn State defensive end Jack Crawford (81)
Below, Penn State linebacker Chris Colasanti (48) attempts to stop Michigan State running back Edwin Baker (4)
Sparty, the Michigan State mascot roars up the fairly large Michigan State fan section
Below, a Penn State fan holds a sign for head coach Joe Paterno to go for 500. (I hope not because that would surely put him over the age of 100.)
Penn State would again get the ball back late in the second quarter.
Below, Michigan State defender chases after a ball that was intended for Penn State wide receiver Justin Brown (19)
Penn State quarterback Matt McGloin (11) looks for an open receiver one last time in the second quarter.
The Penn State Nittany Lions would trail the Michigan State Spartans 14-3 heading into halftime.
Penn State tailback Stephfon Green (21) would catch the return to start the 3rd quarter
Green (21) would gain 24 yards on the return
But again, not such luck for the Penn State offense. Again, it was time to shoot more Penn State defense.
Below, Penn State defensive tackle Ollie Ogbu (85)  attempts to break through the Michigan State offensive line.
Penn State defensive end Pete Massaro (59)
Below, Penn State linebacker Chris Colasanti (48) tackles running back Edwin Baker (4)
Below, Penn State defensive tackle Ollie Ogbu (85) and linebacker Bani Gbadyu (15) calls out Michigan State tackle J’Michael Deane (77) for a false start during the 3rd quarter
Penn State defensive tackle Devon Still (71) attempts to break through the Michigan State offensive line
Penn State defensive tackle Ollie Ogbu (85) celebrates following a tackle
Penn State wide receiver Justin Brown (19) makes a catch late in the 3rd quarter
A lot of clients always ask for a shot of the center, but the downside to that is that the center is right in the middle of the field and is usually blocked by both offensive and defensive players. I did however manage to get a clean shot of Penn State center Doug Klopac (68) just before hiking the ball to quarterback Matt McGloin (11).
Below, Michigan State wide receiver Keshawn Martin (82) tries to run the ball as Penn State linebacker Chris Colasanti (48) closes in during the 4th quarter
Michigan State running back Edwin Baker (4) attempts to break a tackle from Penn State linebacker Bani Gbadyu (15)
A nice close-up shot of Penn State quarterback Matt McGloin (11)
The 4th quarter got exciting as Penn State started to close the gap on Michigan State.
Below, Penn State tailback Evan Royster (22) leaps into the endzone for a touchdown in the 4th quarter
Like I mentioned above, as the 4th quarter progressed, the intensity level rose.
Below, wide receivers coach Mike McQueary yells out a play from the sidelines during a timeout
Though the next play is what tops it all off! Penn State quarterback Matt McGloin threw a pass into the endzone that was intercepted by Michigan State safety Trenton Robinson. Robinson then ran the ball 4 yards where it was then stripped by Penn State wide receiver Derek Moye.
Below, Penn State offensive tackles/tight ends coach Bill Kenney (middle) and defense/cornerbacks coach Tom Bradley (right) talk with an official following the play
The Penn State was never able to capitalize on the fumble recovery and Michigan State ended up getting the ball back where they then ran out the clock.
Below, Penn State head coach Joe Paterno (right) congratulates Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio (left) at midfield after Michigan State defeated Penn State 28-22
That wraps up the sub-par season for Penn State football and a phenomenal season for Michigan State as they finished out the season with a win to extend their record to 11-1 and tied with Ohio State and Wisconsin for the Big Ten Championship. It was only two short years ago in November 2008 that Michigan State arrived in Happy Valley with a 9-3 record. On that cold snowy night, I photographed Penn State as they defeated Michigan State 49-18. After that win, Penn State players grabbed roses and ran around Beaver Stadium with them in their mouths as they locked up the 2008 Big Ten Championship with an 11-1 season. Congratulations to Michigan State on a great season and best of luck to Penn State next season.
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Honeymoon to Ireland

Posted on August 26, 2010 by moharen
Usually I wouldn’t write a blog on a personal trip, but I believe this one is an exception.  My wife Danielle and I got married on December 12, 2009, though because of her profession of being a teacher and having a limited amount of time to take off, we decided to take our honeymoon over the summer months. We wrote down places we both had in mind and both came up with Ireland. We both have Irish backgrounds, so why not go somewhere that you wouldn’t go to every year. With the help of a few people, we decided to book a guided tour since neither of us were ever abroad or to Ireland. We wanted to learn alot about the country, which I feel you wouldn’t learn if you did it yourself. We booked our guided tour through CIE International Tours.
The guided tour we chose was called the Legends Tour, which was a ten day tour that included travel days to and from Ireland. 
Now my goal on our honeymoon was not to indulge in taking too many photographs, because this in fact was our honeymoon and a brief break away from my work, but that changed very quickly once we started touring the Republic of Ireland.
Day One
A red-eye flight from JFK in New York to Dublin, Ireland.
Below, our Aer Lingus airliner sits at the gate prior to boarding.
Day Two
Upon arriving in Dublin, Ireland early in the morning with roughly about an hour and a half of sleep, it was time to collect our luggage and pickup our transportation to our hotel.
Upon our arrival to the hotel by our CIE tour guide Jim Lynch, we received the keys to our room and then took a much need nap!
Later in the afternoon, we took a guided tour through the city of Dublin. 
Below, the most photographed door in Dublin.
During the city tour, we stopped and toured the Kilmainham Gaol. Kilmainham Gaol played an important part in Irish history, as many leaders of Irish rebellions were imprisoned here and some were executed in the prison by the British and most recent in 1923 by the Irish Free State.

Below, are a few photos from the Kilmainham Gaol.

Below, the front of the prison where hangings were done for the towns people to witness.
Below are more photos from the inside and outside of the prison.
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Below, along this wall is where the Irish Free State executed multiple prisoners on November 22, 1917.

Below, a cross marks the location where the execution took place for the leaders of the 1916 rising in Ireland. 

After touring the Kilmainham Gaol, the tour ended back at our hotel where Danielle & I then went downtown into the city of Dublin.



Below, the River Liffey runs through the city of Dublin.

Below are a few different photos from downtown Dublin.















Day Three
Day three started off with a journey north of the city of Dublin to Newgrange, a 5000 year old megalithic tomb. 

Once leaving the visitors center, it was a bit of a walk to catch the bus to the megalithic tomb.


Below, are a few pictures of the countryside on our walk to catch the bus.


















Once arriving to the tomb, we had to wait our turn to venture inside because only 24 visitors plus one tour guide are allowed inside in the tomb due to the limited amount of space. So we along with a few other people on our tour walked around the tomb where we came across fields of grazing sheep. 


Below, a panoramic (made up of 16 photographs stitched together using Adobe Photoshop CS4) of the sheep grazing in the fields around Newgrange.

Below, the entrance to Newgrange. Like I  mentioned before, it’s listed as a megalithic tomb, but there is still speculation as to what it was built for. It did in fact house remains inside from the dead, but it’s also been speculated that Newgrange was used for worshiping the sun in hopes of a good crop growth the following spring because once a year on the winter solstice (December 21st) the sun lines up with the opening of the tomb and shines a beam of light into the chamber for 17 minutes.

Upon completing the tour inside the tomb (where no photography was allowed), I ventured out to the field in front of the tomb to capture an overall shot of Newgrange with the beautiful sky.
After our tour was complete here at Newgrange, Jim, our tour guide with CIE Tours, dropped us off in the city of Dublin to do more touring on our own.
We toured Trinity College, the oldest university in Dublin, the Guinness Brewery and last we toured St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Below, the alter of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the burial site of famous author Jonathan Swift.
That evening, our agenda included dinner at Abby Tavern, just outside of Dublin. Following dinner, we were entertained by some irish music and irish dancers.
Day Four
We left the very populated capitol city of Dublin and started our journey west through the country of Ireland. On this day we would travel to Kildare to the Irish National Stud and Japanese Gardens. The Irish National Stud is a Thoroughbred horse breeding facility. 
Below, a trainer walks retired race horse Invincible Spirit. He was a very successful race horse in his prime, but is now used as a stud to produce more race horses. 

Below, the trainer shows off another stud to owners who may bring their horses to the facility to mate.
That pretty much wrapped up our touring of the facility because it started to rain (a.k.a “Liquid Sunshine” as it’s called by the locals).
We then ventured west to Kilkenny, a medieval city. While in the city, we toured the Kilkenny Castle, which was built in the 13th century.
Below, are a different perspectives of the castle.
The day wrapped up with all of us on the tour staying at multiple Bed and Breakfast’s just outside the city of Kilkenny.
Day Five
We started the day out with a stop for photos at the Rock of Cashel, which is a collection of ruins perched on a rocky hilltop.
Below, the ruins of the Rock of Cashel.
After the brief stop, we continued to Cobh, the main port of emigration in Ireland from the 18th to mid 20th centuries.
Below, John F. Kennedy Park along the Port of Cohb.
Below, a statue portraying Annie Moore and her two brothers. Annie Moore was the first immigrant to be processed at Ellis Island in New York City. 


The Titanic and the Lusitania are just two of the many ships that stopped at the port of Cohb. In fact, Cobh was the last port of call for the RMS Titanic on April 11, 1912 before it set sail for the Atlantic Ocean.
While in Cohb, we took the Titanic walking tour. 
Below, a memorial for the Lusitania which sank in off the shore of Cobh after it was struck by a German torpedo on May 7, 1915. It sank in just eighteen minutes killing 1,198 of the 1,959 on board.

Below, a memorial for the RMS Titanic. 

As the tour continued, we walked to the old White Star Line building that registered the passengers for the Titanic, which docked out in the harbor.

Below, a general view of the harbor.

If you were standing in this exact location on April 11, 1912, this is where the Titanic would have been as it entered the harbor to turn around before exiting for the Atlantic Ocean.
Below, I used Adobe Photoshop to illustrate this.
After completing our Titanic walking tour, we left Cobh to drive to Blarney, home of the Blarney Castle which holds the famous Blarney Stone. 
Below, a view of Blarney Castle. Currently they are restoring the wall of Blarney Castle, so that is why the green netting is in place on the entire wall. (It also ruined an awesome shot!)

The view from atop the Blarney Castle.
While on top, I did kiss the Blarney Stone. Danielle opted not too because of her fear of heights. 
After touring the castle, Danielle and I walked through the Rock Close. I found a nice waterfall and wanted to use a slow shutter speed to make the water look silky. In order to capture this, you need a tripod (which I didn’t have due to the amount of luggage allowed on the trip) to avoid camera shake. I positioned myself in a corner on the walkway to keep my arm steady. For not having a tripod, I believe the slow shutter speed worked for this image.
After touring the castle the Rock Close, everybody on the tour got back on the bus as we headed to our hotel in Killarney for dinner. After dinner, most everyone on the tour including ourselves attending the Liam O’Conner Live show at our hotel, the Killarney Avenue Hotel. Liam O’Conner is an Irish accordionist who has set the record in the Guinness Book of Record for the “Fastest Fingers in the World” by playing 11.64 notes a second on the accordion to his song “Tico Tico”. The show included himself along with his band and Irish tap dancers.
I was able to find a clip of this song on Youtube.com
Click here to view a clip of Liam O’Conner in action playing Tico Tico
Day Six
Many of us on the tour started out the morning on carriage rides through Killarney National Park. Along the way, we stopped at Ross Castle
Below, Ross Castle which was built in the 15th Century.
Below, are more photos of the surrounding area.
After our carriage ride, our tour guide, Jim Lynch picked us up and we ventured towards the Dingle Peninsula. 
Below, a general view of Inch Beach, part of the Dingle Peninsula.
And what we believe was a shark right off the coast.
Below, more of the Dingle Peninsula.
At the end of the Dingle Peninsula, we stopped at the Blasket Centre where we learned about the Blasket Islands where people used the land to farm and the waters to fish. The last person left the island in 1953.
From here we drove, we went into the small fishing town of Dingle.
Below, are a few photos of Dingle.
We then returned to Killarney for free time to tour the town on our own.
Day Seven
We left the city of Killarney and made our way north to the small town of Foynes. Foynes became the center of the aviation world from 1939 until 1945. It was in Foynes where the Yankee Clipper, a flying boat landed after completing the first commercial passenger flight from the USA to Europe.
Below, a few photos of Danielle and I inside the Yankee Clipper.
After the tour of the Flying Boat Museum, it was off to the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs rise almost 700 feet from the Atlantic Ocean in County Clare.
Below, are different perspectives of the Cliffs of Moher.
And of course a panoramic (made up of 24 photographs stitched together using Adobe Photoshop CS4)
Oh, and a photo of Danielle and I by the cliffs.
After a short visit at the Cliffs of Moher, we made our way along the shores of the Galway Bay. However, before reaching our destination of Galway, we made a quick stop at the Burren. The ground here is completely covered with large boulders.
Below, a wide view of the Burren.
Below, looking from the Burren into Galway Bay.
After leaving the shoreline of Galway Bay, we traveled inland before reaching Galway.
Below, some scenery of the inland on our way to Galway.
Once arriving to our hotel in Galway, we ate dinner and enjoyed the company of others on our tour.
Day Eight
We left for our cruise to the Inis Mor, the largest of the three Aran Islands. If you want to hear Irish while in Ireland, you have to go to the Aran Islands. Irish is their language here as English come next. Anyways, it was very foggy on the cruise over, so no photos.
Once docking, we left the boat and jumped in a couple of mini buses for a tour of the island. 
Below, the ruins of the Seven Churches on the island.
From here we went to Dun Aengus, a hugh pre-historic fort on high cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. This was a bit of a hike to the fort, but was well worth it. Once to the cliffs, you could literally walk right the cliff of the Atlantic Ocean because there were no barricades holding you back.
Below, the edge of Dun Aengus overlooking the Atlantic Ocean 300 feet below.
From here we spent an hour or two on the island before catching the ferry back to the mainland. Once back to Galway, again more free time to journey out and tour the town.
Day Nine
We left Galway and headed east back towards Dublin. Though along the way, we stopped in the town of Strokestown, home to the Strokestown Mansion and National Irish Famine Museum.
Below, a panoramic of the Strokestown Mansion (made up of 26 photographs stitched together using Adobe Photoshop CS4).

Below, a few photos from inside the mansion during the tour.
While touring the outside of the Strokestown Mansion, I noticed a few nice bushes of Hanging Fushsia. This is native to Ireland and is very colorful flower.
Below, the Hanging Fushsia
After completing the tour of the famine museum, we all got back on the bus as we continued our drive east to the small village of Dunboyne, just northwest of Dublin. Here is where we had our farewell dinner. Following Dinner, we tracked down our tour guide Jim Lynch and sang to him the limerick that all of us on the tour made. After that, we enjoyed each others company in the pub before heading to bed for an early rise to catch our planes in the morning.
Day Ten
The last day was finally upon us. Our tour guide, Jim Lych would transport us the Dublin Airport where we all caught our different flights back to the states. Our trip and honeymoon was over.
We loved Ireland and all of the beauty that came with it. Though it rained everyday for a short period of time, the weather was nice and not too hot. Our plan is to go back to Ireland in a few years and tour some more of this beautiful country.


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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series tackles the Tricky Triangle in Long Pond

Posted on June 19, 2010 by moharen

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve done a post, but graduations and some other assignments have kept me from an updated blog post.  Anyways, enjoy the post.

For those of you that have never been to Pocono Raceway, it’s a 2.5 mile race track that sits in the middle of the Pocono Mountains. It’s a three turn racetrack with completely different banking in each turn, which makes it tough for drivers and crew chiefs to set the car up to handle and drive well in all three turns.

Below, is an arial diagram of Pocono Raceway courteous of Pocono Raceway.

First up for the Sprint Cup Series drivers on Friday morning was an hour and forty minute practice session, followed by another hour and thirty minute practice.I hung around the garage area for both to get some nice portraits of the drivers.

Below, Denny Hamlin sits in his car prior to hitting the race track for practice.

Carl Edwards

Kurt Busch

Below, Martin Truex Jr. scratches his head after climbing out of his race car during practice.
Below, teammates Jeff Burton, left, and Clint Bowyer, right, chat during practice.
While walking through the garage, I spotted something different on Jamie McMurray’s car. Since McMurray was running the McDonald’s paint scheme this weekend, instead of his name above the window, it was “Big Mac”.
Below, Scott Speed, center, chats with crew chief Ryan Pemberton, left and a crew member during practice.
Below, Kevin Harvick sits in the garage area, then takes a look under the hood of his Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet Impala during practice.
Below, Jeff Gordon pulls his Dupont Chevrolet Impala into the garage.
After moving some images in the media room following practice, it was time for pole qualifying. I headed to the end of pit road to get some photos of the drivers before they climbed into their cars, but bailed out because of the massive amount of media. I then walked back up pit road to the area where the drivers pull their race cars once completing their qualifying runs. I was able to get some low perspective shots as they climbed from their cars.
Below, a dejected Jimmie Johnson climbs from his Lowe’s Chevrolet Impala following a disappointing qualifying run.
Below, Kurt Busch climbs from his Miller Lite Dodge Charger following his qualifying run.

Below, Dale Earnhardt Jr. climbs from his National Guard/Amp Energy Drink Chevrolet Impala.
Then signs autographs for some eager fans.
Below, Kyle Busch climbs from his car after putting his M&M’s Pretzel Toyota Camry on the pole. 
Then chats with his brother Kurt Busch about their qualifying runs.
Saturday morning started with another practice session. For this practice, I headed out to the front straightaway and climbed a few sets of stairs to the top of the Victory Circle Club building to get photos of the cars coming down the long front straightaway.
Below, Tony Stewart leaves the garage area to begin practice.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Jimmie Johnson

I then headed back to the garage to get more photos in the garage area the last few minutes of practice.
Below, Denny Hamlin looks on during practice.
Below, Greg Biffle looks over his car during practice.
After hunting around the garage area for some feature photos, I recognized crew chief Greg Zipadelli on top of the teams transporter watching his driver Joey Logano during practice.
Below, Tony Stewart sits in his car prior to the final practice session (Happy Hour).
Below, Kyle Busch looks over his race car prior to the final practice session.
I then jumped into the car and drove out to turn two to get the Sprint Cup cars racing off of turn two during the final practice session. It was in this area last year that Tony Stewart wrecked his primary car. I was hoping for something like that to happen or a car to get sideways, but it never happened.
Below, Kurt Busch exits turn two during final practice.
I was listening to the scanner when I heard Dale Earnhardt Jr. come over his radio with a few choice words to crew chief Lance McGrew. McGrew fired back telling Earnhardt Jr. to feel the car out. Again, is this combination between Earnhardt Jr. and McGrew really working?
Below, Dale Earnhardt Jr. exits turn two during final practice.
After getting a bunch of stock photos, I headed back to the media center to transmit before getting ready for the demolition derby, oh I mean the ARCA Re/Max Series race.
A lot of photographers chose not to photograph this race, but I usually hang around and shoot it for two reasons. One, because of the potential wrecks and second, some NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams use the ARCA Re/Max Series for their development drivers to hone their skills prior to entering into NASCAR competition.
Below, Penske Racing development driver Dakota Armstrong (22) races through turn one.

Below, the other Penske Racing development driver Tom Hessert (77) races through turn one.
Below, Nick Igdalsky (14) with right front fender damage after making contact with another car early in the race.

Below, Tim George Jr. (31), Bryan Silas (11), Joey Coulter (16) and Steve Arpin (55) battle for position. 

Below, veteran Bobby Gerhart of nearby Lebanon, PA races through turn one.

Below,  Mikey Kile (25) and Craig Goess (81) battle for the lead.

After many continuous green flag laps, the cars clinging to the lead lap started to dwindle. I was waiting for a car to blow a right front tire and slam into the turn one wall, but again, no such luck. I headed back towards the front straightaway to prepare for the finish.

For the finish and the possible burnout, I contemplated where I was going to shoot from. A lot of the photographers stand along the pit wall at the start/finish line, but the inside wall tends to block the car during a burnout, so I climbed the stairs again to the top of the Victory Lane Club building, which overlooks victory lane and gave me a clear shot for possible burnouts.

Below, I fire off a few test shots prior to the victory lane celebration (Photo courteous of Icon SMI photographer William Guerro)

After Venturini Motorsports driver Mikey Kile lead most of the race, a late race pitstop before the caution came out played into the hands of Eddie Sharps Racing’s Craig Goess. Goess, a car salesman for Greensville Toyota and racer on the weekends took the lead after Mikey Kile pitted with only a handful of laps left. On the restart, Craig Goess was able to hold off a challenge from Mikey Kile to collect his first career ARCA Re/Max Series win.

Below, Craig Goess celebrates by doing a burnout.

Below, Craig Goess climbs out of his car in victory lane.

Myself and Bill Guerro arrived at the track around 7am to beat all the traffic into the race track. The chance of rain was extremely high and the forecasted time for the rain to begin was at the start of the race. Everyone was keeping an eye on the radar and crossing our fingers that we’d get this race in or at least until half way, making it an official race. 
After transmitting a few images, I walked the garage looking for some feature images.
Below, crew members make last minute adjustments on Kyle Busch’s M&M Pretzel Toyota.
Kevin Harvick’s Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet is pushed through technical inspection.

Instead of the cars being pushed out to pit road, they were pushed back into their respectable garage stalls and covered because of the potential rain.
The weather held off and I headed out to cover driver introductions.
Below, Carl Edwards during driver introductions.

Below, Jimmie Johnson during driver introductions.

During this time the clouds started to roll in, but so far, so good….no rain. I started the walk to turn one. Though, before exiting pit road, I captured a few images of the drivers prior to climbing into their cars.
Below, Matt Kenseth plays with his daughter, Kaylin Kenseth.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Pole sitter Kyle Busch climbs into his car prior to the start of the race.

Below, race fans anticipate the start as storm clouds roll in.

With a few big raindrops, I started to head back to pit road and just then, I heard over the scanner for the drivers to return to pit road and take cover. I rushed back and just as I got to pit road, all hell broke loose. Myself and a bunch of other photographers were able to take cover under the tailgate of a Sprint Cup hauler. In about fifteen minutes, the rain stopped and instantly, the sun came out. I right away started looking for feature weather images.

Below, Brad Keselowski, fresh off his Nationwide Series win in Nashville the night before sleeps in his race car during the rain delay.

Roughly two hours later, the track was dry and racing was about to begin. I made my way back to turn one for the start of the race (Take Two!!)
 Due to the rain, NASCAR made an announcement that a caution would come at at lap 15 so teams could check tire wear, since all the rubber that was put into the track from the practice sessions was wiped away after the heavy rains.
Below, leader Denny Hamlin leads the field down pit road.
Kyle Busch makes his pit stop.
After the brief caution, teammates Kyle Busch (18) and Denny Hamlin (11) battled for the lead as they drove their cars into turn one.
Since Denny Hamlin was shooting for his fourth win at Pocono Raceway, I wanted to incorporate something Pocono related into the photo. Below, I used the letters on the wall as Denny Hamlin drove into turn one.
Then it was Clint Bowyer who took his Cheerios Chevrolet into the lead.
After no cautions for a long period of time, the field was starting to get strung out, I started hunting for something different. I found a hole on the inside of the turn one guard rail and shot through it with the cars driving past the Pocono logo on the wall.
Below, Kyle Busch drive through turn one during the race.

After a few photos like this, I started to walk towards turn three to get a different view. 
Below, Kurt Busch exits turn three during the race.

Below, Denny Hamlin leads a pack of cars through turn three.
Below, drivers Juan Pablo Montoya (42) and Jeff Gordon (24) bang fenders as they drive through turn three.
After about a half an hour or so in turn three, I walked back to the media center to transmit some photos before the end of the race. With about 25 laps to go, I headed to the frontstretch in anticipation on the finish. The entire race was pretty boring, but with leader Denny Hamlin coming to the white flag, Kevin Harvick got into Joey Logano, resulting in Logono spinning. I had my camera settings set to manual and the proper exposure set for the finish line, but when I heard of the spin, I starting firing off pictures of the spin. It wasn’t until after the incident that I had overexposed the photo of Logono spinning, but in the end, I like the sun rays bouncing off the hood of the car. It’s something that grew on me and something that was different. Below is the photo of Joey Logono doing a 360.

Due to the caution, we would have a green-white-checkered finish. Below, leader Denny Hamlin (11) leads Tony Stewart (14) on the restart.
With one lap to go, all hell broke loose on the Long Pond straightaway when Kasey Kahne attempted to pass his Richard Petty teammate AJ Allmendinger, but was blocked and pushed into the grass, resulting in a major crash that eliminated almost half the field. Instantly, the field was frozen and Denny Hamlin was declared the winner.
Here is a link on Youtube of the major wreck - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmQoBkNA0f0
Below, Denny Hamlin takes the checkered flag, his fourth win at Pocono Raceway.

Then one by one, damaged cars that were involved in the wreck made their way down to the finish line to avoid a DNF.
Ryan Newman

David Ragan

After the win, Denny Hamlin did one hell of a burnout, almost a quarter of a mile long, then hit the wall with the left front of the car.

Oh, and remember that wreck between Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano? Yes, that resulted in a major bawl in the pits following the race. Here is the video of that on Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8hCwG6x4pQ&feature=related

While all this was going on, Denny Hamlin drove his damaged FedEx Toyota into victory lane.

Denny Hamlin, winner of the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 celebrates in victory lane.
Well, that wraps up my weekend of racing from Pocono Raceway. Overall, a boring race except for the major wrecks on the final lap and the fight between Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano, both which I missed, which had me peeved, but you can’t be everywhere. Next up, Hershey Bears win their 11th Calder Cup over the Texas Stars.
Posted in NASCAR | 1 Comment

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visits the First State

Posted on May 26, 2010 by moharen

The NASCAR Sprint Cup series made their first of two stops at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. The buzz over the weekend was that Brian Vickers, driver of the Red Bull Toyota was not in Dover due to being in a Washington DC hospital because of blood clots in both lungs and left leg. Casey Mears was tagged as the relief driver for the Red Bull Toyota. Upon writing this blog, Brian Vickers along with Red Bull general manager Jay Frye held a press conference at Charlotte Motor Speedway stating that Vickers would miss the rest of the season due to being on blood thinners.

Upon arriving at the race track on Sunday, I attended a brief photograph’s meeting with both NASCAR and track personnel to tell us what was and wasn’t allowed before, during and following the race.

I knew coming into the race, I wanted to set up a remote camera. I thought of putting it at the end of pit road facing towards the start/finish line, but scratched that idea because when renovations were done to the racetrack two years ago, the speedway installed a new and high pit road wall, so I felt this would have blocked some of my images. I then decided to put the remote camera on the outside of the turn one wall. This area is off limits to fans, so I didn’t have to worry about the camera being stolen, but I still keep my eye on it throughout the race.

Below, the remote camera is all set up and ready for race action.

After killing some time, it was time to get all my gear ready for the race. I wanted to get out onto pit prad to get a couple of pictures of the drivers arriving for driver introductions.

Below, replacement driver Casey Mears prior to driver introductions. I was hoping for a Red Bull drivers suit, but that didn’t happen.

Below, four time Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson prior to driver introductions. I wanted to keep my eye on Johnson due to him sweeping both Dover races last season, and this was the second time in his short career he would be shooting for the three-peat at Dover.

I then made my way to the turn one media building for the start of the race.

It was ironic that Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch were paired together during a parade lap around the speedway prior to the race. These two would battle each other for the lead throughout the entire race.

Below, drivers and crew members line up during the singing of the national anthem.

Below, four F-16 fighter jets perform a flyover.
Martin Truex Jr. leads the field to the green flag to start the Autism Speaks 400. As the race started, I shot with my camera with my pocket wizard attached that fired my remote camera below. Below are the same shots, but from different perspectives:
Hand-held camera
Remote Camera
Kasey Kahne would take his Budweiser Ford Fusion to the lead early in the race.

Though it didn’t take long for defending race winner Jimmie Johnson to take the lead.
Sam Hornish Jr.’s Mobil 1 Dodge would blow a tire and hit the wall between turns one and two.

With the first caution of the day for debris from Sam Hornish Jr.’s car, the leaders hit pit road for service.
Below, Jimmie Johnson (48) and Kyle Busch (18) battle for the lead as AJ Allmendinger (43) closes in.
Below, Jamie McMurray (1) leads a pack of cars into turn one.
Below, Kurt Busch (2) drives low through turns one and two……

….and Elliott Sadler (19) drives high through turns one and two.
Below, David Ragan (6) lets off the accelerator into turn one as Jeff Gordon (24) follows.
As I was scanning through the teams two-way radios before green flag pit stops, I heard Kasey Kahne talking with his crew chief Kenny Francis about having a shifter problem. Once Kahne made his stop, I noticed that he needed help from his crew members to get going. This cost him a lot of time on pit road. Below, Kasey Kahne’s team members push the car on pit road as Clint Bowyer (33) drives by.
A few laps later, the caution flag would come out for debris, trapping Kahne a few laps down. 
Below, Jimmie Johnson (48) leads the field back to the green flag.
Then Kyle Busch (18) takes the lead from Jimmie Johnson (48).
At this point, the action started to get a bit boring, so I thought I’d get some other shots I needed.
Since Dupont is up the road a bit in Wilmington, Delaware, I thought I’d get some shots of Jeff Gordon leading some cars in his Dupont Chevrolet Impala.
Oh, and we can’t forget Kevin Harvick, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship points leader.
Junior nation didn’t have a good reason to cheer on their driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. on this day. Junior came over his radio to his crew chief Lance McGrew saying he felt like the rear axle was busted, so instead of asking McGrew what to do, he brought the car to pit road instantly. 
I wanted to get something different instead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. sitting on pit road with the hood up, so I zoomed out so I could capture the leader and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson (48) as he drove by putting Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) more laps down. This I feel just adds to the Johnson domination compared to Earnhardt’s mediocre results with Hendrick Motorsports.

After getting more stock images, I decided to pan as the cars drove into turn one at full speed. 
Below, are a few examples of what I was trying to achieve.

This pretty much wrapped up what I needed from the turn one roof. Though before leaving, I fired off a shot of the half capacity filled grandstands between turns one and two. A year ago, these seats were filled, but not this year. Again, shows how the decline in the economy has hurt race fans too!
I then moved my way over to the turn two pedestrian bridge that crosses over the racetrack. I like this area due to the nice tight isolated shots I can achieve along with the nice light too.
Below, are a few examples.
Kyle Busch (18)
Tony Stewart (14)

  ”Concrete” Carl Edwards (99)
Kurt Busch (2) leads Martin Truex Jr. (1) and AJ Allmendiger (43)
Fill-in driver Casey Mears (83) leads Ryan Newman (39)
I then moved to the other side of the bridge for more action. Another caution for debris brought the field together and again, anpther round of pit stops. Though Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch elected not to pit, placing them first and second ahead of the leaders who pitted for tires and fuel. Jimmie Johnson would line up fourth for the restart, but wasted little time going after Matt Kenseth on the restart.

Below, Jimmie Johnson (48) splits the Busch brothers in turn two.

Due to older tries, Kurt Busch started sliding back into the clutches of those who elected on the last pit stop to come in and pt on four tires. Below, Clint Bowyer (33) slides past Kurt Busch (2) to pick up a position.
I then heard over the radio that Kurt Busch (2) had a tire go down and hit the turn four wall. I right away started firing the remote camera, but it wasn’t until later that I realized I was out of range because I had nothing on the remote camera. Another reason why when setting up a remote camera you don’t rely heavily on it because sometimes it doesn’t fire, like in this situation.
Below, Kurt Busch (2) drives through turn two with damage to the right front fender.

After the restart, Jimmie Johnson went to work on leader Matt Kenseth. 
Below, Jimmie Johnson (48) passes leader Matt Kenseth (17) on the outside to recapture the lead.

After shooting a few more stock photos from this location, I headed back to the front straightaway to prepare for the last round of pit stops and the end of the race.
Below, Kurt Busch (2) drives his injured Miller Lite Dodge into turn one.

In honor of the King Richard Petty’s induction into the brand new NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, AJ Allmendinger drove a retro paint scheme paying tribute to The King.
Below, Jimmie Johnson (48) and Kyle Busch battle for the lead on the front straightaway.
After watching Johnson and Busch swap the lead back in forth what seemed to be every other lap, I looked around for some way to be more creative. I was standing just in front of Jimmie Johnson’s pit, so I decided to incorporate his pit sign in the photo as he lead Kyle Busch down the front straightaway.

Below, Jimmie Johnson (48) and Kyle Busch (18) race off pit road. While they raced side-by-side down pit road, unfortunately Jimmie Johnson was hit with a penalty for exiting pit road too fast. With the penalty, it basically eliminated his chance for the three-peat at Dover and handed the race over to Kyle Busch.
Below, Jimmie Johnson serves his pass through penalty.

No one was able to mount a challenge to leader Kyle Busch as he easily won the Autism Speaks 400, his 2nd victory of 2010 and 18th career win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Here are different perspectives of the celebratory burnout. 
Remote Camera:

Hand-held Camera

Below, Kyle Busch celebrates in victory lane with tons of confetti.
After running back to the media room to move a few photos, it was back to victory lane to get a few photos of Kyle Busch posing with the Monster trophy.

That wraps up NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing from the Monster Mile in Dover, Delaware. Next up…..Pocono Raceway.

Posted in Dover International Speedway | 1 Comment

Smokin’ rookie ace Stephen Strasburg pitches for the Harrisburg Senators

Posted on April 25, 2010 by moharen

Stephen Strasburg, the right-handed pitcher from San Diego State who was the overall number one draft pick in the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft by the Washington Nationals organization made his first home start for the clubs AA organization, the Harrisburg Senators on Friday, April 16th in front of a record crowd of 7,895. The start was delayed over two hours due to severe weather and a complete power outage that left everyone in the stadium in complete darkness. Though after a two plus hour delay, Strasburg took the mound.

Below, Strasburg walks to the bullpen to warm up prior to the start of the game.

Once done warming up, Stephen Strasburg (37) and catcher Jhonatan Solano (20) walk to the dugout in anticipation of the start of the game. Little did they know the start would be more than two plus hours away.
During the rain delay, myself and a few other photographs ran for cover behind the Senators dugouts that was shielded by the bleachers above us. It was raining so hard at times that the water founds its way through the steel bleachers and into our area, so we continuously had to move our gear in order to keep it dry. During this time Strasburg would pop his head out of the clubhouse, but once one of us would bring our cameras up, he’d dart back inside.
Anyways, once the storm finally moved out and the power came back on, Stephen Strasburg took to the mound.
Below, Strasburg fires a pitch to the plate.
After firing off a few shots of him pitching, I through on a special effects filter to incorporate the stadium lights.

After shooting the first inning from the third base photo well, I moved above to get a different perspective.
In the third inning, the rain intensified and the umpire delayed the game sending both teams to their designated dugouts. This was the end of the night for Strasburg. The stadium cleared out very quickly and only a few returned when playing resumed hours later.
Stephen Strasburg made his second home start for the organization on Wednesday, April 21st against the Reading Phillies. Again, rain was in the forecast. 
My goal on this day was to get as many shots at many different angles of him as he pitched. I knew it was going to be a bit repetitive just focusing on one player, but I just went with it.
Below, Strasburg warms up in the outfield prior to the game.

Upon media starting to gather, he headed off to the bullpen to continue warming up.

As Strasburg and the crew headed towards the dugout, I fired off the shot below.
Upon the completion of the national anthem, I stood behind home plate as he warmed up. Below, are a few of Strasburg warming up.
I then moved over the the third base well to get a few shots from this angle. Below are a few of these images.
After one inning, I moved since I spent most of the other evening shooting from the third base well, so I needed some other angles of Strasburg. I headed over to the first base photo well where I was able to get a few of him resting in the dugout with teammates.
Below, Strasburg chats with catcher Sean Rooney between innings.

Below, are a few more shots of Strasburg from the first base photo well has he pitches in the second inning.

I then headed behind the Senators dugout as Strasburg was due up to bat. Below, Strasburg steps up to the plate to bat. 
Unfortunately, he was going to bunt in order to advance the runner on first.
Below, Senators manager Randy Knorr, left, chats with pitcher Stephen Strasburg after being stranded on base.
For the third inning, I stayed in the same location. Below are a few of those images.
For the fourth inning, I moved behind home plate to incorporate Strasburg firing his 98 MPH fastball to the Reading Phillies batters.

For the fifth inning, I went just below the suite level in the ball park to get a nice clean shot of just Stephen Strasburg and the green infield green framing the pitchers mound.
Overall, I was very impressed with Stephen Strasburg’s pitching abilities. I’ve been to a lot of baseball games over the years, but have never heard the catchers mitt pop as much as it did with Stephen Strasburg on the mound. This game against the Reading Phillies, Strasburg allowed only one hit and one walk in five innings with six strikeouts. Strasburg is scheduled to start again on Monday, April 26th in Reading, PA against the Reading Phillies and his next home game appearance should be Sunday, May 2nd. 
Posted in Harrisburg Senators | 2 Comments

Trinity Boys’ Basketball road to the District III & PIAA State Championship

Posted on March 20, 2010 by moharen
Over the past few weeks, I had the opportunity to follow the Trinity boys’ basketball team as they attempted to capture their third consecutive District III, Class AA title.

Trinity entered District III playoffs with a number two seed. We start off with the District III, Class AA Quarterfinal game against seventh seeded York Catholic played at Chambersburg High School. Let make just make it known that the new Chambersburg High School gymnasium is amazing! First off, the lighting inside this gym is amazing! I didn’t have to use the strobes, but did just to fill any shadows. Second, the gym has a second tier where there is an indoor track as well as additional seating, so I was able to attach my strobes to the railings on the upper tier instead of on the court side bleachers. Anyways, onto the game action.


Below, York Catholic’s Adam Sentz (5) is knocked down as Trinity’s Jack Osborne (24) attempts a lay-up.

York Catholic’s Nicholas Full (24) and Michael Sperring (20) attempt to block Trinity’s Eric Kindler (31).

Trinity’s Kevin Agnew (10) moves the ball up court

Trinity’s Eric Kindler (31) makes a move towards the basket as York Catholic’s Michael Sperring (20) closes in from behind.

Trinity’s Jack Osborne (24) looks for a way around his York Catholic defender.
Trinity’s Michael Diminick (12) attempts to maintain possession of the ball.
Trinity’s Jack Osborne (24) looks for an open teammate as York Catholic’s Adam Sentz (5) attempts to block.
Trinity’s Michael Diminick (12) grabs the rebound over York Catholic’s Joseph Falci (3).
Trinity’s Kevin Agnew (10) moves around York Catholic’s Spencer Kubala (25) & Christopher Chesko (22).
Sweat flies from Trinity’s Eric Kindler (31) after contact with a York Catholic defender.
Trinity’s head coach Larry Kostelac Jr. calls a play from the bench late in the game.
As the game progressed into the fourth quarter and Trinity started pulling away from York Catholic, I decided to walk up onto the second tier as I mentioned earlier to get a different perspective.
Below, Trinity’s Michael Diminick (12) looks a way around York Catholic’s Gary Laucks (12) late in the fourth quarter.
Trinity’s Eric Kindler (31) looks to pass the ball as York Catholic’s Nicholas Full (24) blocks.
Trinity would go on to defeat York Catholic 63-48 and advanced to play third seeded Hanover in the semi-finals.
Trinity defeated Hanover 62-39 and advanced on to the District III, Class AA championship game where they faced number one seeded Lancaster Mennonite at the beautifully lit Giant Center in Hershey.
As I mentioned above, Trinity entered this game looking for their third consecutive District III title. We pick up the action from this game:
Below, Trinity’s Kevin Agnew (10) makes his way to the basket as Lancaster Mennonite’s Jon Lapp (15) closes in from behind.
Trinity’s Michael Diminick (12) attempts a lay-up as Lancaster Mennonite’s Zachary Zook (24) tries to block.
Trinity’s Kevin Agnew (10) shoots a jump shot as Lancaster Mennonite’s Corey Leonard (44) blocks.

Lancaster Mennonite’s Phillip Yoder (31) attempts to block Trinity’s Jack Osborne (24) from shooting a lay-up.

Trinity’s Marcus Holt (22) looks for an open teammate as Lancaster Mennonite’s Ryan Schloneger (11) closes in to block.
Below, Trinity’s Jack Osborne (24) maneuvers his way through the Lancaster Mennonite defense.

Trinity’s Michael Diminick (12) covers a Lancaster Mennonite player as he takes the ball down court.
Trinity’s Jack Osborne (24) attempts a shot as Lancaster Mennonite Ryan Schloneger (11) tries to block.

Trinity’s Kevin Agnew (10) attempts a three point shot with heavy coverage from the Lancaster Mennonite defense.
Trinity’s Michael Diminick (12) covers Lancaster Mennonite’s Dean Royal (52).
Trinity’s Jack Osborne (24) applies the defensive pressure to Lancaster Mennonite’s Jon Lapp (15) .

Trinity’s head coach Larry Kostelac Jr. chats with his players during a time out.

As Trinity started to distance themselves from Lancaster Mennonite, I headed up to the second level to get some overhead shots.
Below, Trinity’s Michael Rohm (15) shoots an easy lay-up.

Trinity’s Jack Osborne (24) looks for a way around his Lancaster Mennonite defender.

After getting a few shots from overhead, I hustled back down to the court in anticipation of any Trinity players celebrating.

Below, Trinity’s Michael Diminick (12) holds up three fingers signifying three consecutive District III, Class AA titles.

Trinity’s teammate Jack Osborne (24) and Eric Kindler (31) celebrate after capturing their third consecutive District III, Class AA Boys Basketball championship.
Trinity’s head coach Larry Kostelac Jr. congratulates Tom Gruschow (3) with his gold championship medal.

Trinity players celebrate with the trophy after defeating Lancaster Mennonite 77-65 for their third consecutive District III, Class AA Boys Basketball championship.
With their win over Lancaster Mennonite, Trinity would face Strawberry Mansion in the first round of PIAA Class AA Championship playoffs. The game was played at East Pennsboro in Enola. It was back to using the strobes and pocket wizards to light the inside of these low-lite high school gyms.
Below, Strawberry Mansion’s Marque Griffin (5) moves towards the basket as Trinity’s Mike Diminick (12) tries to block.
Trinity’s Mike Diminick (12) tries to maintain possession of the ball early in the game.
Strawberry Mansion’s Devonte’ DJ Newbill (25) looks for a path around Trinity’s Jack Osborne (24).
Strawberry Mansion’s Khyree Wooten (15) attempts to block Trinity’s Jack Osborne (24).
Trinity’s Kevin Agnew (10) moves the ball down court as a Strawberry Mansion defender tries to block.
Trinity’s Jack Osborne (24) attempts a shot as Strawberry Mansion’s Khalil Meadows (22) tries to block.
Trinity’s Mike Rohm (15) and Strawberry Mansion’s Khalil Meadows (22) chase after a loose ball.
Trinity’s Eric Kindler (31) makes a move towards the basket late in the game.
As the game came to a close, Trinity players sat on the bench as they watched their potential post-season come to a close.
It did in fact end here as Strawberry Mansion defeated Trinity 68-46. With the loss, Trinity’s season was over. Though, Trinity had no reason the hang their heads. Three consecutive District III titles is quite an accomplishment and we will have to wait until next season to find out if they can in fact grab number four.
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

NHL: Pittsburgh Penguins play rival Philadelphia Flyers

Posted on January 31, 2010 by moharen


I know it has been awhile since I’ve posted a blog about a photo shoot, so here it is! Last Sunday, January 24th, I made the trip to Philadelphia to shoot the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins as they took on the Philadelphia Flyers in an NHL hockey game at the Wachovia Center.

Whenever Pittsburgh comes to town, it’s always a big deal, so I requested through the Flyers PR staff for a photo hole at ice level, but I knew this was going to be a slim to none chance since these holes are usually reserved for team photographers, AP and SI when they come in to shoot a game. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a hole, but that was all right. I did however go to my normal spot, which is at the suite level right at the top of the 100 level, though this time I was behind the team bench instead of behind the penalty boxes.

Below, are some shots of the first period.

It didn’t take Philadelphia long to score their first goal. Center Jeff Carter would score the goal at 5:18 in the first period to put the Philadelphia Flyers up 1-0.

Below, teammates celebrate after the goal.

Below, more action from the first period.

The Philadelphia Flyers would score another goal by center Mike Richards (18) at 13:23 in the first period, but the goal was rescinded following a penalty for goaltending.

Below, the teams go at each other after the confrontational non-goal on the Philadelphia Flyers behalf.

Because of this confrontation, Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin (71) was sent to the penalty box for roughing.

As well as Philadelphia Flyers left wing Simon Gagne (12).

Ok, back to the rest of the action in the first period.

Shooting the second period was more like a chore because you could tell both teams were dogging it. No hits, not much checking, flat out….IT WAS BORING!

Below, are some shots from the BORING second period.

When the players arrived back on the ice for the third period, you could just sense that this was going to be that no-holds-bar period because the score was tied and the fans were on their feet.

Like I said, it didn’t take long for the players to start getting in each other’s face about something.

Then the big fight broke out between the Philadelphia Flyers left wing Scott Hartnell (19) and Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin (71).

Then the rest of the team got into it! Got to love it!!!

After the fighting was over, all the players went back to playing nice again….well sort of.

One thing I noticed throughout the entire game was that Philly fans hate Pittsburgh Penguins center Sydney Crosby. One of the phrases that comes to mind is “Die Crosby…Die” That’s the line that was chanted whenever he would get the puck. Can’t deny the guy is really good, so I tried to get some shots of him in action as well as some isolated stock shoots.

Below, more third period action.

Well, for the Philadelphia Flyers fans, it all went down hill when Pittsburgh Penguins left wing Matt Cooke (24) scored at 18:13 to put the Penguins up 2-1 in the third period.

When action resumed, the Philadelphia Flyers tried really hard to score that goal to tie up the game, but it just didn’t happen.

In the end, the Pittsburgh Penguins would celebrate their 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.

With that, another NHL game is in the books. I plan on shooting a few more game this year, so stay tuned.

Posted in NHL | Leave a comment

NHRA comes to Maple Grove Raceway in Reading!

Posted on September 12, 2009 by moharen

My buddy Mark Rebilas and I were chatting last fall about NHRA and how I should go shoot an event if I could. He said it was a different type of rush from shooting NASCAR and that you can walk away with some pretty cool images.

I checked out the NHRA website and realized they come to Maple Grove Raceway just outside of Reading, PA, which is a hop-skip-and-a-jump from my house here in Harrisburg. I sent in a request and crossed my fingers and hoped I would get credentials for this event. Friday came along and I didn’t find out until the afternoon that my credentials had been approved. I was extremely lucky because due to weather, the events at the track were delayed, which allowed me to get there just in time before the events got underway for the first time on Friday. As I was driving, I was hoping that the racetrack could finagle with the town to see if they could extend the ordinance that would prevent the drivers from racing past a certain time at night.

Well, after taking close to 2 hours to get there (it was only supposed to take one) due to construction on the highway into the track, I was able to pick up my credentials and enter the track to get started with the event. As I was hoping, the schedule was modified, but nothing was said about how long they would go into the night. I didn’t care, I was just happy that I would have an opportunity to shoot the cars at night and get some good shots with the flames.

First up on the track were the Pro Stock cars.

After a few cars made their runs, I saw out of the corner of my eye, 14-Time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force driving around on his scooter. I noticed he stopped back behind the staging lanes. I threw on my 300mm lens and wanted to get a nice up close isolated shot since the lighting was really nice.

Ok, now back to the racing. So the pro stock cars were done with there qualifying and it was now onto the Funny cars.

On word describes these cars…WOW!! 7,000 horsepower cars that go from 0-320+ mph in 4 seconds should be enough. These cars haul the mail! The first time a set of these cars took off from the line, I almost hit the deck because I thought the world was coming to an end. The ground shook and the flames from these cars felt like they had burned the hair off of my head! It was crazy. Oh, and out of all the frames I shot (which was about 10) I didn’t get one car in the frame!!

Well, it got better as the next set of cars came up and went down the track. Below are some of the images from Funny Car qualifying.

Of all the action during qualifying on Friday, I believe the shot of Ron Capps blowing up off the starting line was my best.

Well, next up after the Nitro Cars were the Top Fuel Dragsters. These cars are just as powerfully and really push out the flames. An added bonus was that it was dusk and you’d really see how far the flames shoot out from the cars. I underexposed by about a stop and a half so when the cars took off from the starting line it would produce a decent flame that would light up the car. Below are a few of the shots from qualifying.

At the end of session one, it was announced that they would not continue onto session two because weather was in the area, so that wrapped up Friday evening’s events.

Sunday morning came with a 5:30am wake up call from my alarm and I head out the door for Maple Grove Raceway because I wanted to beat all the traffic into the racetrack. Well, you can sure say I did! I was the first one there!! I guess when it comes to motor sports, I’m used to NASCAR where you have to get there 6+ hours before anything starts to beat the traffic. NHRA, not so much! So with all this free time, I walked around getting a few ideas of what I was going to try later on during eliminations. I wanted to get up to top end, which is past the finish line where the driver’s parachutes deploy. Unfortunately, Maple Grove Raceway and the NHRA don’t allow anybody up there because of disturbing ESPN for their broadcasts of the event. After a few hours of waiting, racing was about to begin, so I headed out to the track. In the staging area, Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher was waiting for the Top Fuel eliminations to begin.

Below are a few images from the first round.





One thing I noticed was through out the weekend was the stress the Top Fuel Dragsters put on their Goodyear Eagle racing slicks. Below are two separate images, one of the rear slick as it sits still and the other one just as the driver hits the throttle and applying 7000 horsepower to these tires.

After Top Fuel were done, next up was Funny Cars. Ashley Force-Hood was the top seeded qualifier and was the one to beat. Though after an engine failure on Saturday afternoon at the top end that required a new body and her crew working early into Sunday morning to prepare the car to be competitive just like it was before the crash.

First up was point’s leader Tony Pedregon in his NitroFish Ultimate Gear Chevrolet.

Then it was time for Ashley Force-Hood’s run in her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang.

Though Ashley Force-Hood would go to defeat Jeff Arend in the first round, she would be disqualified because her car was too light on the scales. She was done for the day!

Below are a few other shots from funny car first round eliminations.

Below, Ron Capps in his Napa Dodge competes in first round eliminations. His day was done once Bob Tasca III eliminated him.

Once first round eliminations for Funny Cars were complete, the track started to seep water from the amount of rain we’ve had over the past week here outside of Reading. The Safety Safari jumped on this right away so we could get back to racing, though it would take over three hours for them to stop the weepers from coming up through the track….insane!!!!

Finally, we were back to racing with second round eliminations for top fuel.

Below, Top Fuel driver Cory McClenathan (near) races against Spencer Massey (far).

Below, Joe Hartley does a burnout prior to his run.

Next it was on to second round Funny Car eliminations. I started to think about being creative, so I pulled out my wide-angle lens to incorporate the nice puffy cumulus clouds. There is nothing better than a nice sunny day with cumulus clouds!

Funny Car driver Jeff Arend does a burnout prior to his run.

Funny Car drivers Jeff Arend (left) and John Force (right) race each other. Force would take the win to end Arend’s day.

Funny Car driver Robert Hight, (near) and Bob Tasco III (far) race each other.

Funny Car driver Del Worsham does a burnout prior to his run.

Funny Car driver Tony Pedregon (far) takes advantage of Del Worsham (near) misfortune of smoking the tires on the start to ruin his chances of advancing to semifinal eliminations.

Crew members push the car of Jerry Toliver after having problems during his run

Once second round eliminations for the funny cars were over, NHRA put the Pro Stock cars on the track for their first elimination round.

Below are a few shots from the pro stock cars first round eliminations.

Pro Stock driver Justin Humphreys

Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson

Pro Stock driver Ron Krisher does a burnout prior to his run.

After finishing up with pro stock cars, I thought I’d go into the media center to transmit, until I started to walk back into the staging area and liked the angle from behind the bikes. So, I stuck around and shot a few of first round eliminations for the pro stock motorcycles.

Pro Stock Motorcycle riders Andrew Hines (near) and Matt Guidera (far) wait for the green light to start their run.

Pro Stock Motorcycle riders Geoff Godfrey (near) gets a red light as Hector Arana (far) gets the win to advance into the second round.

After moving a few pictures, I walked into the staging lanes where I saw top fuel driver, Larry Dixon preparing to climb into his car prior to semi-final eliminations.

After unsuccessfully able to locate other drivers, I made the walk back to the track for top fuel semi-final eliminations.

Sean Langdon (near) and Larry Dixon (far) race each other. Dixon would defeat Langdon to advance to the finals.

While shooting, fellow friend Jeremy Drey, of the Reading Eagle shot a picture of me hard at work along the wall of the drag strip.

Photo by Jeremy Drey, The Reading Eagle

Below, Spencer Massey does a burnout prior to his run.

Antron Brown does a burnout prior to his run.

Spencer Massey (near) and Antron Brown (far) race each other. Massey would defeat Brown to advance to the finals to race Larry Dixon.

Now that the finals for Top Fuel has been set, it was time to find out who the two Funny Car drivers would be racing in the finals as well. Though semi-finals would be up first.

John Force does a burnout prior to his run.

Ashley Force-Hood watches as her father, John Force prepares to race.

Crew members look on as John Force makes his run. John Force would lose to Bob Tasca III due to jumping the start, which resulted in a red light.

Mike Neff (near) and Tony Pedregon (far) race each other. Neff would defeat Pedregon to advance to the finals to race Bob Tasca III.

Well, now that the field had been set for both Top Fuel and Funny Cars, it was time to for second round and semi-finals eliminations for the Pro Stock cars.

Jeg Coughlin competes in second round eliminations.

Johnny Gray (near) races against Kurt Johnson (far) during semi-final eliminations.

Jason Line (near) and Jeg Coughlin (far) do burnouts prior to semi-final eliminations.

Alright, now with Pro Stock cars done for a bit, the Pro Stock Motorcycles had their semi-final eliminations.

Below Eddie Krawiec (near) races against Hector Arana (far) during semi-final eliminations.


Finally, after racing all day, due up next were the Funny Car and Top Fuel final eliminations.

First up was Top Fuel final eliminations between Spencer Massey and Larry Dixon.

Below, Larry Dixon does a burnout prior to his run.

Spencer Massey (far) spins the tires and gives Larry Dixon (near) the victory.

After Larry Dixon took the win in Top Fuel, it was time for Bob Tasca III and Mike Neff to race for the Funny Car win.

Below, Bob Tasca III, (far) and Mike Neff (near) do a burnout prior to their runs.

I would love to show you Bob Tasca III pulling off the win on Mike Neff, but I had a gut feeling going into the finals that Mike Neff was going to pull off the win, so I focused on him and got a nice tight shot of him taking off at the start, but it wouldn’t matter because Bob Tasca III would take the win, making the image of Mike Neff worthless.

After this, I rushed up to victory lane to get reaction shots of both Larry Dixon and Bob Tasca III as they arrived into victory lane.

Though, before the drivers showed up, I noticed the Wally sitting in front of the NHRA logos on the backdrop of the victory lane wall and felt it would make a nice shot. (The official NHRA winner’s trophy named after NHRA’s founder Wally Parks.)

Finally the drivers showed up and got a few decent shots of them celebrating their wins in victory lane.

Below, Funny Car driver Bob Tasca III celebrates by hoisting the Wally in victory lane.

Top Fuel driver Larry Dixon (left) and Bob Tasca III (right) celebrate in victory lane.

That would wrap up my weekend at Maple Grove Raceway. I look forward to covering next year’s race, but instead of it being in August, the race has been moved to the weekend of October 7-10. An added bonus to this will be that it’s a race within the 2010 Countdown to 1 playoffs to determine the 2010 championship. Should be a very exciting race!!

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Stars Shine at the Pennsylvania American Legion Baseball All-Star Game

Posted on August 5, 2009 by moharen

I was browsing the internet the other day and found out that the Pennsylvania American Legion Baseball Association was holding their All-Star game at Metro Bank Park, the field in which the Harrisburg Senators, the Washington Nationals double-A play. Later that day, my phone rang and it’s my buddy from the local newspaper asking me to cover the game for them. He explained to me that the paper had three particular players from the area they wanted me to focus on, so I made note of these particular players to make sure I got a good combination of candid and action shots on game day. 

Sunday arrived and I showed up to the ballpark roughly an hour before the start of the game. Once arriving, I noticed that identifying the players was going to be a little tougher than I had expected. The all-star players were going to be wearing their team jerseys with numbers pinned on the back instead of jerseys supplied by the American Legion for this game. 

So whenever I needed to identify a player, I had to remember not to identify them with the number on the front of their jersey, but by the number pinned on their back. 

Game time arrived and the players were introduced by Team East and Team West, so I tried to get shots of the teammates giving each other high fives as they were introduced to the crowd. My job of getting the teammates for Team East was easy, because their numbers were 1, 2, and 3. Easy enough, huh?!

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm, 400 ISO, 1/3200 sec, f/4

Canon EOS 1D Mark II, 70-200mm, 500 ISO, 1/3200 sec, f/4

I decided to shoot the first few innings from the first base dugout and then move around. The East Team was the visiting team, so they batted first. I was not aware, but both teams were allowed to bat their entire roster, even if they didn’t field. The first batter up was Joshua Eshleman from Red Land. He was the first player that I needed to get lots of shots of. He would go on to get a single.

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm, 400 ISO, 1/3200 sec, f/2.8

Next up was the second player I needed to photograph, Joe Tuschak, from Dillsburg. 

Below, he reacts after popping up for the first out in the first inning for the East Team.

 Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm, 250 ISO, 1/4000 sec, f/2.8

During the 1st inning, Eshleman would advance to second base, but would have to avoid the chances of being picked off second base.

 Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm, 250 ISO, 1/4000 sec, f/2.8

Though eventually Eshleman would avoid this and steal third base.

  Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm, 250 ISO, 1/4000 sec, f/2.8

And finally be batted in to score the first run for the East Team in the first inning.

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm, 250 ISO, 1/4000 sec, f/2.8

Below, West Team’s third baseman Jordan LaBue fields a ball and attempts to throw to first base.

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm, 250 ISO, 1/2500 sec, f/2.8

Now it was on to the bottom of the first inning. I noticed early in the game that a large amount of the hits were the left side to either the third baseman or the shortstop, so I focused more on these players since I didn’t have anybody I needed to focus on for the West Team while they were at bat. While doing this, I noticed that Metro Bank Park has a large amount of advertisements on the outfield wall and billboards above the wall. So, I adjusted my aperture to shoot wide open (f/2.8) to separate the players from the distracting outfield wall.

East Team shortstop Matthew Bahnick would go on to make another great play to tag out the West Team’s Conor Frazier (25) to end the 1st inning.

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm with 1.4 teleconverter (420mm), 250 ISO, 1/2500 sec, f/4

As the second inning started, the sun started to play peak-a-boo through the clouds, so I had to constantly be on top of my settings and adjusting my ISO and shutter speed, but continued to shoot wide open with an f-stop of f/2.8. 

For the top of the 2nd inning, the East Team was up to bat and was in the middle of their lineup, so I didn’t need to focus on any particular players, since my players bat 1-2-3. 

Below are a few shots from the 2nd inning from both the East Team and West Team.

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm with 1.4 teleconverter (420mm), 250 ISO, 1/1250 sec, f/4

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm with 1.4 teleconverter (420mm), 250 ISO, 1/1250 sec, f/4

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm with 1.4 teleconverter (420mm), 400 ISO, 1/1250 sec, f/4

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm with 1.4 teleconverter (420mm), 400 ISO, 1/2000 sec, f/4

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm with 1.4 teleconverter (420mm), 640 ISO, 1/2500 sec, f/4

After I felt I got a good combination of photos from the first base dugout, I ventured over to the away team (East Team) dugout on the third base side for a different perspective. I started out by getting a simple shot of the West Teams relief pitcher Robert Gummo as he threw a pitch to the plate.

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm with 1.4 teleconverter (420mm), 640 ISO, 1/1000 sec, f/4

Once getting a shot with a decent expression, I waited for a base runner. After saying this, the West Team’s Cody Dolan (34) got a base hit and now I just had to wait for him to get a good lead to distract the pitcher, making him throw to first base for the possible pick-off. 

Below, Cody Dolan slides safely back into first base avoiding the tag by East Team’s first baseman Kenneth Rosencrance (13).

 Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm with 1.4 teleconverter (420mm), 800 ISO, 1/1250 sec, f/4

Top of the fourth inning came and due up to bat was the top of the order for the East Team, so I wanted to get some isolated shots of the first three batters, since these were the players I needed. 

I happened to see Dillburg’s Joe Tuschak with a helmet while in the dugout chatting with his teammates.

  Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm with 1.4 teleconverter (420mm), 800 ISO, 1/500 sec, f/4

Below, East Team’s Joshua Eshleman swings the bat while on the on-deck circle prior to batting.

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm, 800 ISO, 1/1250 sec, f/2.8

Below, East Team’s Joe Tuscha steps up to the plate to bat.

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm with 1.4 teleconverter (420mm), 1000 ISO, 1/800 sec, f/4

At the end of the inning, it was time to move from the dugout and to a different location. Like I had mentioned before, Metro Bank Park has a lot of advertisement billboards in the outfield, that I found very distracting which would not help the background of my images.  I ventured up and onto the walkway on top of the first base dugout so I could shoot down on the players.

During this time, I noticed the East Team had a new relief pitch on the mound. I know these shots of the pitcher in his wind up are a dime a dozen, but I wanted something different. I was looking for a shot of the pitcher releasing the ball, but I found out that this pitcher drops his head and arm when going through the motions after releasing the ball. It took a few pitches until I nailed the shot with the ball just out of the pitchers fingers and the facial expression made it even better.

Below, East Team’s relief pitcher Tyler Reed (19) fires a pitch to the plate.

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm with 1.4 teleconverter (420mm), 1000 ISO, 1/1250 sec, f/4

Moving on, the East Team came up to bat and Max Miller (3) would get on base with a base hit. Though he wouldn’t stay at first for long. 

Below, Max Miller (3) steals and slides safely into second base.

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm, 640 ISO, 1/1600 sec, f/2.8

Max Miller would then go on to score another run for the East Team.

 Canon EOS 1D Mark II, 70-200mm, 640 ISO, 1/1600 sec, f/4

Later in the inning, East Team’s Cory Spangenberg (8) gets caught in a pick between West Team’s second baseman Ryan Fitzmaurice (33) and first baseman James Healy (35).

Canon EOS 1D Mark II, 70-200mm, 1250 ISO, 1/800 sec, f/4

As I mentioned earlier, in the second inning, the sun was playing peak-a-boo through the clouds, but after the second inning, the sun went behind the clouds for about an hour. Though just before sunset, the sun made one last appearance and cast a nice warm color onto the field. Below, East Team’s Mathew Bahnick steals third base. The light and the shadows help to make this image interesting; otherwise it would just be just another dime a dozen shot.

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 300mm with 1.4 teleconverter (420mm), 1250 ISO, 1/4000 sec, f/4

A few minutes later, I knew my night was almost over because it was starting to get dark and yet the stadium lights had not come on. It kept getting darker and darker by the minute and finally, the stadium lights were turned on (I thought they were trying to save money by not turning them on). I was holding out from leaving because I wanted to use my star filter to add an effect to an overall shot I wanted of the stadium with the players on it.

Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN, 16-35mm, 3200 ISO, 1/640 sec, f/6.3

After that, I headed out due to deadline for the newspaper. Though when I left up until the end of the game, the score never changed. The East Team would go on to defeat the West Team 8-2. Well, that’s all from my night at the ballpark!

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