Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Tentative Schedule - 1/29/07 - 2/4/07

Monday - day off
Tuesday - Boy's Paddling
Wednesday through Saturday - I am covering the HHSAA State Championships in softball this week. If it turns out that I am free to cover an Iolani event, I will. But, it will be a last minute decision.

The Iolani Varsity Softball team's first game is Wednesday night (8pm) at the UH softball stadium. Please come to support this wonderful, fun to watch, team!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

(Very) Tentative Schedule 1/22/07-1/28/07

Monday - Boys Int Red Soccer vs Pac-5
Tuesday - JV Softball vs Kamehameha
Wednesday - Varsity Softball vs Sacred Hearts (last game of regular season)
Thursday - Int Girls Tennis vs Punahou (last match for ILH championship)
Friday - Boys Varsity Soccer vs Pac-5
Saturday -
Girls Varsity Soccer vs Kamehameha
Boys Int I Basketball vs Punahou (maybe a half, depends on soccer game)
Boys Varsity II Basketball vs WOL

Friday, January 19, 2007

Friday, Jan. 18, 2007 Update

On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of seeing one of the best young softball pitchers in the ILH, if not the state. Keiki Carlos is a 7th grader on the Mid-Pacific Intermediate softball time. Wow! I was looking forward to a good, competitive game with our Intermediate Black team. Our Black team is solid. They played well all season and have a lot of talent. I was truly shocked to see them shut down the way they were. Keiki Carlos, a name to remember for all you softball fans. The final score, 8-1 for Mid-Pacific. The Owls truly deserve the Intermediate ILH Championship this year.

On Wednesday, it was the highly anticipated match up between the Iolani Varsity softball team and St. Francis. St. Francis was in first place with 2 losses, while Iolani was in second with 3 losses. A week ago, after Iolani had been dominated by Punahou, the prospects for a state berth looked bleak. But, after a rebound win over Kamehameha and an upset win by Punahou over St. Francis, Iolani was still hanging around. If the Raiders could somehow beat St. Francis, they would be in a tie for first. This was a huge game!

Raider pitcher, Kelly Imada, was on and kept the St. Francis batters off balance all day. And when they did connect (which they did a few times) for a good hit, the Raider outfield was able to run it down. And the Raider bats sizzled on this day, led by Jana Tokuhama who was 4-4. Final score was 7-0. This game certainly put me in a good mood! Thank you, girls.:)

By the way, this team will play Maryknoll on Saturday at CORP if you'd like to see them in person. If you can't make it out to CORP, the game will be televised with Bob Hogue behind the mike!

On Thursday, I moved over to Punahou to cover the Iolani JV Softball team as they played Punahou. The Raiders are having a superb season, only losing once, and currently atop the ILH JV ranks. The Puns are struggling, but Iolani-Punahou matches in any sport are almost always worth the price of admission, so I tend to give them priority when making my schedule.

The Raiders weren't totally sharp, as there were a few uncharacteristic errors, but they were up to the task, led by the superb hitting of Keli Umeda who hit with power and timeliness. Final score, 8-5, Raiders.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Monday 1/15/07 Update

It was an up and down, busy time in Iolani photo land this past week.

On Monday, it was the always fun Intermediate Black vs Red Boys Soccer game. The weather was iffy at best. Off and on rain. Dark. I took photos from the comfort of the stands. The photos weren't too bad considering the conditions. The game, 1-1. Good game between two even teams. I was glad it ended in a tie.

On Tuesday, I revisited the Intermediate Black Softball team as they took on the stronger of the two Punahou teams, Punahou Blue. The Blacks earned an 8-6 win over a good team, setting up the biggest game of the season on Tuesday against Mid-Pac for the intermediate championship. Big game folks! I'll be there!

On Wednesday, the Varsity Softball team ran into a hot pitcher and fell to Punahou, 4-0. BUT, the Raiders bounced back to beat Kamehameha on Saturday to stay in the STATES race with St. Francis, who also lost to Punahou, who has become the hot team of late. This Wednesday the Lady Raiders get their chance against St. Francis at Kamamalu Park. Another huge game for the Lady Raiders!

On Thursday, I saw the Varsity Girls Soccer team fall to Punahou, 1-0 in a VERY physical game on a penalty shot. How physical? In my opinion, the Punahou team pushed past the limit of the rules. It seemed to these old eyes that at least some of the Punahou players were playing the body too much and not the ball. The violence in this game really took away from the beauty of the game. Tough loss.

On Friday, it was the Varsity Boys Soccer team's turn to take on Punahou. Both teams played well and within the rules. This was good soccer and fun to watch, but was marred by an injury (concussion) to goalie Scott Kawakami with a few minutes to go in the game. Punahou came away with the win, 2-1.

It was another marathon Saturday as it was back to Punahou to see the JV Boys Soccer team take on Punahou Gold. The Raiders had many chances in this one, especially in the first half, but had trouble finding the back of the net. Loss, 2-1.

Then it was back to Iolani to catch 3 basketball games in a row.

First, it was the Boys Intermediate Basketball team dominate Damien - 64-43. A really fun game to watch.

The Boys JV Basketball vs Punahou Gold was a great game, marred by a double technical and then a very scary injury (concussion) to Kainoa Chu. This team showed great character and grew a lot in this challenging game, winning 57-44, to break my personal losing streak vs Punahou. Thank you guys!

I had decided to see the Boys Varsity II Basketball vs Kamehameha game, rather than the one the previous night, as I expected Kamehameha to be a better team and capable of producing a great game with our Raiders. I was so right on this one! It went to overtime with the Raiders making clutch play after clutch play to win 44-40 in the first overtime period. I have to tell you, I was so exhausted by this point and then to face overtime! But, this was one great game and a big win for the Raiders!

Tentative Schedule 1/15/07-1/21/07

Monday - Day Off
Tuesday - Intermediate Black Softball vs Mid-Pac - Intermediate Championship Game
Wednesday - Varsity Softball vs St. Francis - 2nd place vs 1st place - Biggest game of the season
Thursday - JV Softball vs Punahou (need I say more)
Friday - Boys Varsity Soccer vs St. Louis
Saturday - undecided at this time as I want to see what happens in a few events during the week, but I will shoot for at least the Girls Varsity soccer game vs Punahou and the Boys Varsity Basketball game vs Punahou

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Iolani Intermediate Black Softball

Last Thursday, the Intermediate Black Softball team beat the Punahou Gold team, 32-0. Yes, 32-0, that's not a typo. Punahou divides their intermediate softball teams by ability. I understand the thinking, I guess, but these blowouts are not very good for either team.

Anyway, yesterday at Punahou School, the Black team faced the Punahou Blue team, the stronger Punahou team. I expected a much better game and it was, with the Iolani team winning 9-6. Iolani Black now has one tie and one loss. Mid-Pacific has one tie and has been the class of the league this year. I hear they have some superb pitching.

On Tuesday, 1/16, the Blacks will take on MPI for the championship at Ala Wai field. Should be an excellent game.


Which brings me to Kimberly Souza. Kimberly is the catcher on the Black team. She has a real cannon for an arm and is having an astoundingly good season with the bat. I don't know what her stats are, but in the games I've seen, she has come through in the clutch so many times that I really hope there is someone on base when she's up. And, there has been. I wonder if anyone keeps records for RBI's at the intermediate level. Kimberly's got to be in the running!

Monday, January 08, 2007

Tentative Schedule - 1/8/07 through 1/14/07

Monday - Boys Int Soccer - Black vs Red
Tuesday - Int Black Softball vs Punahou Blue
Wednesday - Varsity Softball vs Punahou
Thursday - Girls Varsity Soccer vs Punahou
Friday - Boys Varsity Soccer vs Punahou
Saturday - Boys Basketball - Int1, JV, VarII

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Saturday, Jan. 6, 2007 Update

I will not be making the girls varsity softball game today or the varsity II boys basketball game. There are just too many things on my plate this weekend. I will try to do both intermediate boys basketball games and possibly part of the JV basketball game. I will be attending the advanced theatre performance tonight. I wish I could cover everything but there just is no way.

There is also diving, swimming, wrestling and a big JV boys soccer game that isn't even on my list. I'm sorry.

I did want to show you a photo I took yesterday at the Iolani girls varsity soccer game. This is from about 50 yards away!


I was able to get the compressed ball in a few volleyball shots this year. I "sort of" got one in softball. This is the first time I've been able to do it with soccer. Soccer is particularly difficult because your subject is usually pretty far away. To get the timing and focus just right is particularly satisfying.

Monday, January 01, 2007

New Year's Update!

Last Wednesday, I caught the varsity boys basketball team at the Merv Lopes Basketball tournament at King Armory. The Raiders played El Toro who went out to a big lead, but the Raiders never gave up and took the lead going into the last few minutes. Unfortunately, the last few minutes didn't go our way which resulted in a 55-52 loss. King Armory has a nice basketball court but the lights, ugh... definitely not designed with non-flash photography in mind.

On Thursday, it was over to Kapiolani Park to see our Intermediate Red Boys Soccer team face Punahou Gold. This was a good game between 2 evenly matched teams. One defensive breakdown cost us the game as Punahou took it, 1-0.

On Friday and Saturday, it was time for boys wrestling at the Iolani Invitational Wrestling Tournament. There were 20 teams involved, some from the mainland, some from the ILH, and a bunch from the OIA. Ponderosa beat Rim of the World in the finals. Punahou beat Iolani for 3rd place. Our Raiders showed, though, that they could compete with the mainland teams, losing to Rim of the World in a very close match. I took 3000 photos of this tournament! Please take a look.

Since it's the new year, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about some business issues since I'm adding new clients all the time.

1. When I put up a new gallery, I set the prices lower for the first 2 weeks.
2. In addition to offering all size photos, I also offer digital downloads, collages, premium collages, team collages, posters, magazine covers and photo cards. If you are interested or have any questions about these products, just email me.
3. If you know you are going to want a collage (individual or team), please let me know as early as possible so I can be sure to collect the photos that I need before the season ends.
4. My schedule: this subject probably evokes the most questions of anything. Right now I am trying to get to every Iolani winter season team at least once. After that first time, I try to gauge the interest shown by the team. I can do this by visits to the gallery, actual sales, emails and product orders. If the interest is high, that team will get extra consideration when I need to choose between multiple events.
5. If you are interested in having me cover your child, let me know before it happens so I can look for him/her. If I have no previous instructions, I just try to cover the action plus get one or two photos of everyone. Having previous instructions definitely makes a difference. Although I mostly cover athletic events, I also have covered other Iolani events (also some not having anything to do with Iolani), especially in performing arts, but I am open to anything where photography is possible.

Tentative Schedule - 1/1/07 through 1/7/07

Wednesday - Boys Varsity Soccer
Thursday - Int Black Softball
Friday - Girls Varsity Soccer
Saturday - This day is loaded. My priorities will be:

boys int 2 basketball, boys int 1 basketball, boys varsity II basketball

events that would be nice to do would be varsity softball before everything else starts - depends how much energy I have! Looks like I'll have to pass on boys jv soccer and diving. I might be able to do some of the boys JV basketball game, but since I've done 2 games for them already, that's where I will take a break if I need one.