Newsport Photo is back!  Years ago I covered the Iditarod and Great Alaska Shootout for Newsport, but right before moving to Denver the owner of Newsport merged with Zuma Press.  So last season I shot the Colorado Rapids for Zuma Press.  I wanted to shoot more, but there were already a few Zuma photographers here in Denver.  Well, as this year started, Les Walker, the owner of Newsport and the photo assignment editor at Zuma decided to reopen Newsport and along with other photographers, he asked me to submit to him.  So, I was already locked into Cal Sport Media for the University of Colorado stuff for this season, but I went with Newsport for the 2013 Rapids MLS season.

Unfortunately for me, the first game of the season was a mess.  A week earlier I started coming down with a cold.  It was normal this time of year.  The Iditarod had started in Alaska so it was time for me to come down with a cold.  Even though I was not covering the Iditarod this year, my body was right on time with a cold.  I really got hit about mid week and was struggling on Thursday night during the Buffs basketball game against Oregon, and Friday I felt like death warmed over for the CHSAA Great 8 games.  Originally this game was set to be played on Saturday, but thanks to a huge snowfall, the game was pushed back to Sunday.

Thank goodness.  A day to recoup before heading out to the frozen pitch for some soccer.  When I got to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, I went in and grabbed my season credential, but the normal lot we used was full of snow, so they had us park on the other side of the field.  Because of the snow the day before and having a cold I had long underwear on, a tshirt, a sweatshirt, a jacket, took snow pants with me, had two pairs of socks on, and my winter boots.  After getting there I started burning up.  My head was under pressure from the cold I had, I was overheating with too much on (never put my snow pants on), and I just was not feeling it.

Getting down onto the field I found a lot of snow.  A LOT of snow.  And it was all piled up where the photographers normally set up.  I looked over at the area that would put the sun to my back, and it was pretty cramped, and the video/TV guys were really in the way on that side.  So, I set up facing the sun.  Oh, how the sun felt so good on my face.  Drawback was, shooting into the sun was giving me a heck of a harsh exposure, and was really screwing with my camera’s autofocus.  My head cold was not helping with my exposure and autofocus either….

I recently made a move software wise.  I have been a big supporter of Apple’s Aperture photo editing program.  I absolutely love it.  But recently, since moving up to the Mountain Lion OS, it has become dog slow, and crashes quite a bit.  So, I recently downloaded the trial of Adobe’s Lightroom 4.  It is awesome.  It is similar to Aperture, but quite a bit different too.  It is taking me a little while to relearn my editing techniques, but it will come.  However, when I am shooting for a wire, I do not use Aperture or Lightroom.  I use PhotoMechanic and Photoshop exclusively.  This is the fastest way to download, caption, quickly edit, and FTP off the photos.

However, once I get home, and I go through all the photos again and pick my blog photos, then I will edit them in Lightroom (previously Aperture).  All of these were edited exclusively in Lightroom.  Photoshop was never opened.

It was good seeing everyone involved with the Rapids, and even ran into a Ralston Valley hockey parent who is a Commerce City cop.  Saw many photographers I met last season, and met a new to me one, Hector, who also shoots for Zuma Press.

The Rapids were trailing in the game, 0-1 before they finally tied it up.  With about 10 minutes or so (scoreboard went out for a while), I was spent, so I headed up to the media room to send my second half photos and pack up.  By the time I got to the media room, Philly went up by a goal and that is how the game would end.  A 1-2 loss for the Rapids and a 0-2 start for the season.  I hope they turn it around quickly because I would love for my first full season to be a winning season.

All these photos are available for media use only.  Contact me directly for information on how do purchase them for your media needs.