Local Hero

Another busy week here in and out of the cozy mountain retreat- with Spring finally arriving, we are seeing the end of the last of the winter sports, and a start to the very busy warm weather seasons.  Not all of what goes on at FotoFink makes it to the galleries on the website, so its here on the blog where you can get a look behind the curtain, in case you really are wondering....

In no particular order- some random ramblings-

First- something I need to get off my chest.  For a number of years, FotoFink and the Red Sea/Argent nation have enjoyed something of a symbiotic relationship- Photos on my site, and facebook, have furthered the legend of the most devoted fans in the local leagues.  Likewise- Chants of "FotoFink, FotoFink..." ringing through the gyms have made me feel like something of a local hero. So what's the problem?  The warm fuzzy feeling that I get when you cheer "FotoFink" is cheapened when you clearly use your cheers to further your own fame.  Imagine how I felt, watching the boys basketball game,  and hearing cheers of "Service Electric" to get the attention of the video camera.  Or worse still-  "Camera Guy"  Camera Guy?  If you are going to solicit the charms of another, at least learn their name.  Service Electric?  The evil cable empire?  As the godfather once said- "True love is hard to find, sometimes you think you have true love and then you catch the early flight home from San Diego and a couple of nude people jump out of your bathroom blindfolded like a goddamn magic show ready to double team your girlfriend..."  I know just how you felt, Mitch.

In happier news, Wilkes baseball and lacrosse started their home seasons this past week and FotoFink was there to capture the highlights.  Although those photos all went to Wilkes, we may try to get out and shoot a game or 2 for the FotoFink site before the season ends.  Leave a comment if that is something you'd like to see.  In he meantime, you can see some of the shots on the Wilkes Atheletics site.

Crestwood Volleyball asked for the FotoFink magic for their Team and individual photos for this season, and of course, we are happy to oblige.  A note to other teams- Some attractive pricing and packages are available for this kind of shoot- Contact me if you'd like to set anything like this up.  Leave a comment, use the contact button on the website, or just send an email to sfinkernagel@hotmail.com.

Not to be outdone, Holy Redeemer volleyball set up a tri-scrimmage on Saturday, inviting teams from Lackawanna Trail and Blue Ridge for some pre-season fun.  The Royals look to have some size and experience this year- and should be hopeful for a great season.  We also took some headshots for the long-awaited boysvb.com site- which, I am told, may actually go live this season.

The volleyball season is young, and it will take a bit for me to get my timing down.  Usually, if I miss the ball in the frame, I delete the shot.  Something about this photo struck me as funny though...

While the event was over a week ago, the shots from the Hoops for Hope 3v3 basketball tournament are finally  posted. A full gym of basketball players, all having fun, all for a good cause- Make a Wish..... FotoFink was happy to be there.  Some highlights-

I know there are a few photographers (parent/photographers- nothing wrong with that at all) shooting the Dallas teams.  My hear goes out to you if you shoot a lot in that gym.  No gym has really good lighting, but that one was especially funky- Blue/green coming in one side, daylight in the other, gym lights over head.... Thanks for the challenge-  Its rare that the colors are so bad in a photos that I resort to B&W, but this was a time....

I've noted before, as I edit a large batch of photos, my mind wanders.  After this shot, I couldn't help but think about the last part of this scene.  Thankfully, that didn't happen- in front of the camera, anyway.

Looking ahead, this would appear to be another busy week- Wilkes Softball today (Monday), Wilkes/Kings Baseball on Friday, then a triple-play Saturday of Holy Redeemer baseball, Holy Redeemer soccer, and Wilkes Tennis.  Warm weather would be nice....

Some links-

Crestwood volleyball team and individual shots

Redeemer volleyball headshots

Redeemer volleyball action shots

Hoops for Hope

FotoFink.net

Enjoy!

Drink The Night Away

Longtime fans may be aware that parades are not really my "thing"  I may have to change that opinion though.  Its a little hard not to enjoy the atmosphere with so many people there to drink the night away, even if I am focused (get it?  focused? ....  sorry...) elsewhere. This past week, the Emerald Isle Irish Step Dancers brought me first to their studio, then to the Scranton parade, for a day of celebration and a surprisingly good time.

So first things first- how does a club-footed, overweight,  non-dancing (seriously non-dancing- there was no music even at my wedding) German photographer get involved with a Irish step dancing school?  Photography has taken me to some strange places, I have pretty much learned to enjoy the ride.  I connected to Emerald Isle through a cheer family, and found a few friends of FotoFink there already.  For all the evils that the internet is supposed to bring, I have to say it is a tremendous way to network and market.  Remember this?  Social media is like that on steroids.  Anyway, after a brief meet-and-greet at the studio, it was go time on parade day in Scranton.  The float girls were strapped in, the dancers stayed loose with some sort of slappy, cardinal puff type of circle elimination game, and the fun began.  My prior parade experience was a few years back for Bishop Hoban's last stand.  I recall not really having any trouble keeping up- I was able to easily walk circles around the float, and shoot it for the whole parade route.  This one felt more like a race to me.  Keeping up was no easy feat.  A day of running never hurt anyone though, and the photos were worth the effort.  How about the background in that shot?  Sometimes even I get lucky.

The parade, of course, is filled with other stuff too, and the floats are maybe 1/2 of the attraction-

Didn't Tom Petty wear that hat in a video?

Cast your vote-  Leprechaun #1?  or #2?  I am going with #2- blending his own mustache into the outfit pushes it over for me.

Nice hat- let me get a shot of that....  mmm  not a great face-  I'll try again...  Alright- time to move on.  Some things just aren't going to happen.

Hey!  HEY!  Take my picture!  OK- you are famous now.  And drunk.

Scranton is the greatest city in the world, and this is the BEST day of my life!  Lord I hope not.  I do like your hat though.

Getting back to our connected world- I love how it takes no time for Charlie Sheen to be part of the T-Shirt pop culture.

Step dancers, FotoFink... STEP DANCERS!  Oh yeah... sorry.......

There uni-suit guys look odd enough no matter where you put them, but for some reason, waiting in the port-o-pottie line struck me as funny.  Is there a zipper in that suit?

Next stop was the Scranton Cultural Center, which will now be known as SCC to save me typing.  Cramped quarters, but some very cool lighting led to some of my favorite photos from the day.  Tastes vary, of course, but I like photos where you can still see what the light of the room looks like, still sense the atmosphere.  Green stage lights and yellow house lights are a little tricky to mix with camera flash, but I was happy with most of the results.  Here's an example of what I mean-  This photo is clear, and the colors are basically true to life.  The flash is too much there though- and it has over powered the house lighting that gave the show atmosphere.  Compare that to this shot, where the ambient light took a bigger role.  For me, I love the second.

The cultural center also brought some new friends to the FotoFink world- Kilrush.  The show alternated between dancers, pipers, and the band, so I was able to capture a few shots of the band while I enjoyed their music.  This proved to be another pleasant surprise-  The live show was full of energy, fiddles and fun, and I am now a Celtic Fusion/Kilrush fan.  Again- thanks to our amazingly connected world, a quick google search, some facebook friend requests, and a day later I am chatting with the band.  They seem to love the photos, and the link at the top of the post is a clip of theirs from another show.  That clip seems to have been pre-Marissa, who has since joined as the fiddle player, and has been my source of info for the band.  They are playing in Wellsboro on Friday night, and if Mrs FotoFink were not already sick of me playing their music, I would consider the roadtrip.

Long week, long post.  Here are the goods-

Emerald Isle Step Dancers

Kilrush

FotoFink

Enjoy!

Tempted

Fans of the blog (haha- both of us....) may have noted a drop in frequency of posts in the last several months.  The truth is, there is just not the time that I would like to compose something witty to post after every shoot.  At times, I have been tempted to give it up entirely- but every once in a while I am reminded that some of you read and enjoy this.  Something, however has to give.  As I look ahead to the spring, there are as many as 14 teams that have interest in FotoFink attention this spring, plus a few weddings, parties, etc. thrown in to the mix... It should take very little time for me to fall well behind.  Hopefully to no one's surprise, I have an idea though- a compromise.  I am going to try to commit to a weekly blog post, where I will summarize the most recent shoots on the site, look ahead to what is coming up, and try to embarrass and insult a few folks as we've become accustomed to.  Use the RSS to subscribe, or check back on Sunday/Monday every week if you have some interest.

Last week saw the playoffs begin for basketball, and Holy Redeemer sent both the boys and girls all the way to the district finals.  First, the ladies-

A big thank you for scheduling these games at Wyoming Area.  Although the roof may have issues, the lighting in there is better than any high school (and many college) gym that I've shot in. In what we would soon find to be the norm, the Trojanettes pushed your Lady Royals to overtime, causing lots of stress all through the gym.  In spite of their attempt at divine intervention, Nanticoke would come up short in the extra period, moving HR to the next round.

Game 2 saw the girls face off against Scranton Prep- again at Wyoming Area, again a great effort, again overtime, and again- jubilation as Redeemer moves on.

So there is no need to worry when the district final game goes to OT, right?  We've been here before.  Besides, Gumby and Pokey are on our side. We even had Fallyn doing the three-headed finger wiggle hex...this is a lock....  Sadly, the third time was not the charm, and Redeemer settled for district silver before heading into the state tournament next week.

The boys had their own ride through districts, of course.  After winning a FotoFinkless opening round, we were able to catch up with the boys at Wyoming Area (yay!) for the second round game with Abington Heights.  Plenty of bad history here, as AbHeHi won the district from HoReHi last year, and handled them again back in December.  None of that mattered for this game though, as HR managed to power past AH to the district finals.  As a side note- Opinions will vary, but here since you are reading my blog, you get my opinion.  This  >  This.

The district final game brought the Royals to Kings College (perhaps the only better gym in the area than WA-  good choice!) for a matchup with West Scranton.  1,000 career points and Ivan Putski's belt (look it up yourself....) were still not enough for West Scranton to stop Holy Redeemer from finally reaching the top of the district.  Whether this was 1,000 or not, points like these help you win.  Santa knows this, cows know this, John Mendola knows this-  West Scranton now knows this too.

So on to states for both teams- As far as I can tell, PIAA has yet to work its voodoo to tell us the times and places yet, but both teams will likely see action this Friday or Saturday.  Depending on down and distance, FotoFink may or may not be able to be there, but best wishes go out to both teams.

We also had some fun with a photobooth shoot this past weekend-  There needs to be more of this going on.

In other FF news, we will be branching out this week to include some Irish Step Dancers on the site.  We have a Tuesday visit planned to their studio, then will catch some live performances at the Scranton Parade and then Cultural Center on Saturday.  Busy times....

Here, as always, are some links-

Girls Basketball

Boys Basketball

Mike Clark's Birthday and photobooth

All the FotoFink goodness

Enjoy!

I Never Dreamed

Quite a game at Wyoming Area to open up the HR girls' run into the district tournament.  After arriving a few minutes late,it looked to me as if your Royals were well on the way to coasting to victory- keeping a double digit lead through most of the play.  This seemed to be as is should- the number one seed coasting through their first game. After all, low seeds never make a long run, right?  Plus, no one ever comes back from a big deficit like that- just ask the Bruins.   I never dreamed  that this would get close, much less end in the nail biting thriller that it did.  Congrats to both teams on their efforts, and thanks for providing an enjoyable afternoon of competitive basketball!

Some thoughts- because I know you are dying to hear what I think....

Wyoming Area's gym is one of the best in the area as far as lighting goes.  If you are looking for better quality photos (as far as color and lighting at least) this is the set where they will be.

While the lighting is good, apparently the roofing is slightly below average.  Congrats to the maintenance crew for their on-the-spot solution.

Note to fans- When you vehemently protest this foul being called, your judgment comes into question.

Speaking of fans, I am not sure what they were trying to accomplish with this-  I somehow doubt that it is a show of respect for the team from the catholic school... perhaps its that start of a joke?  (Jesus, a priest and three catholic schoolgirls walk into a bar....  you fill in the rest!)

Look familiar?

Some of the best photos were of the bench as the game got closer and closer.  Here's Mary doing her Curt Schilling imitation.

Sara resorted to the "death grip" on Fallyn and Shaina.

In case you are curious, this is what it looks like when your game is forced into OT.

The second free throw could have ended it in regulation.  Do you think this girl will forget this very quickly?

Shannon, with her dodgeball face....

Look Jesus- I don't care if you are the saviour, you are going to have to stay in your seat during the game.

The paper talked about the one she missed, but I seem to recall Olivia sinking a few late free throws to put this one away.

It never felt over for me though until this moment- Sydney's decisive rejection of Nanticoke's last shot.

There is a long story about why these shots are not what you expect.  It has to do with a full memory card, and a lens that was long enough to take pictures at the far end of the court.  For now, enjoy what we got, and hopefully we'll have the chance for more!

Off we go-

Game shots

FotoFink

Enjoy!

Skating Away

If you are a member of the FotoFink facebook page, you may have seen some samples of this latest "pet project"- night skiing photos.  Over the last two weeks, hardy members of the Holy Redeemer ski club have gathered on the cold slopes of Sno Mountain, skating away over the icy conditions to help make some cool action shots for all of us to share.  Before getting into the details of our fun, there are a few thank yous that need to be relayed....

This was not a simple project.  Every shot took 4-5 people "working" in some capacity to produce the results.  Lots of ski clubbers pitched in, and in case I missed thanking you in person, please accept this blanket "Thank You" as a small token of my appreciation.  If you made it into some photos, then hopefully that will be an additional reward... on the other hand, if none of your photos came out.... Then my lame thank you will be all you get.

Onto the business at hand then.   Occasionally, I am asked about the photos here on FotoFink-  Things like "How do you take those?" or "How come mine don't look like that?" or even "How come I look gross in this one?"  Blame the lighting for that, and the rub-on tan that never made it to your face. This shoot was actually a little interesting, so here's a few words on how this was done....

Usually, taking photos at night, on the ski slopes, is dicey at best.  Photos need light, and there is very little of that on the slopes.  Add in to the mix that cameras don't handle scenes very well that are almost all white, or all black- and the results can be .. average.  So how did these work?  At the most basic level, we brought our own light in.  There were two highly trained assistants carrying flashes on poles for each of these shots, which, in theory were fired with a radio transmitter attached to everything.  The effect is like a strobe in a disco that makes everything look stop-motion-  without the flash, the camera is set to "see" nothing- the burst of flash reveals the subject for a split second (about 1/800 actually) and freezes the motion on the frame.  Another quality of light is that it "falls off" very quickly (google "inverse square law" if you are as much of a geek as I am and want to know more about that).  The result is a well lit subject, and then a completely dark background.  Cool stuff, if that's the look you are going for.

So what can go wrong?  Having been out there twice now, I can answer that with some authority.  First off, batteries don't do well in the cold, and spares are completely useless if you leave them at home.  This was the harsh lesson of week one.  The cold has some other negative impacts as well- the radio flash triggers, which are supposed to work from a distance of 3 football fields away, struggled to work at anything more than 10 yards or so (I will blame the cold for this, as they have been very reliable indoors).  Auto focus in low light is another struggle, and focusing manually is no walk in the park either.  (Hats off to the old-timers who did this before the days of auto-focus.  And electricity)  As a result of the short range on the flashes, the camera needed to be closer to the skier than I would have liked, resulting in some "over-zooming"  Throw in some operator error on my part- bad timing, bad aim, etc. and this was really a minefield of possible disasters.  Thankfully- there were a few instances where the stars lined up just right, and we got some very good shots as a result.

Enough technical stuff- let's see the photos, Fink!

Ted's photo came out well- but for some reason, his skis look tiny.....

Another good one.  Maria was one of several who spent a lot of time holding the lights.

Casey was a bit help too, which makes it especially disappointing that her shot came out all blurry.  See the autofocus explanation above.

David's photo is one where only one flash triggered.  While its not the effect I wanted, its still pretty cool...

Nice finish...

Artie with some nice air...

This shot of part of Bernie is an example of the "operator error" I was noting earlier.  I missed, and I was too close.  Still....  This is kind of cool....

Melissa was another huge help.  Pretty gutsy too.

Something has to be said about David's jacket.  The last time I saw these colors, I was at the Flock of Seagulls/Go-Go's concert.  Which was a great show, btw.  The muffler falling off my car on the way home kind of spoiled that evening though.  No lie- I tied it back on with my sock.

I have no idea who this is.  I hope they have a better side.  My bad on this one.

I know for a fact that Courtney has a better side.  She was another major help to the project.

See?

There were a couple of guys who saw what we were up to and asked to get their photos taken too.  "C'mon" one said to the other, "we'll be on the internet!"  Wow.  First off, aren't we all anymore?  Secondly- Its a big internet.  Facebook has more users than most countries have people.  Maybe you should have asked for the website.  This may be one of them.  The photo didn't turn out too well anyway.

Photos from these excursions are all on the FotoFink site.

Week 1

Week 2

Enjoy!

Surrender

Sometimes, you just know there is something wrong.  This was the case in the house of FotoFink around the holidays.  There had been multiple shoots, on top of the ordinary holiday stress, and there was this undeniable feeling that the world was not spinning quite right.  Sure enough, it turned out that a set of pictures was mysteriously deleted- memory cards were re-read, hard drives were scanned, satellites were linking up... but still, there was a set of photos missing.  After lots of searching, it seemed the only thing to do was surrender- the first boy's basketball photos of the season looked to be gone for good.

Then....  While clearing some room on the hard drive, (it fills up pretty quickly here) a random folder on the desktop was one click away from deletion, when common sense took over and it was decided to check the contents first.....  and as they say in West Pittston....  Voila'!  The missing photos.  Some days it's good to be lucky.

As a result of that luck- we all get to relive the excitement of that pre-Christmas tilt, fan photos and all.....

As always, the games were exciting, but you know the party will start once Po arrives.

Some things just defy explanation.

When cheerleaders do their handspring thing, it is surprising hard to get the camera ready to catch the peak of that action.  Usually, the result is a late shot, that looks like this.  Or this.  Luckily,when the fans participated, the shot was a bit more timely.

Two questions-  Why would 4 opposing cheerleaders decide to sit in front of the entire Red Sea?  and what did AJ do there to make him flash that innocent, empty-hand look?

Soon guys...  Soon.

At Disney, a character would get fired for removing their head.  Here in the Red Sea, sharing your Po-head is actually considered a gesture of affection.

Laa-Laa seems more focused on the game than girls.  Wasn't Tinky-Winky the one there were questions about?

Speaking of questions...  Don't even get started here....

Game- oh yeah there was a game....

Nice face Pete.

Steve's no slouch-  check out the air.

John too.

Everyone is in on it.

Thanks go out to Austin for encouraging this shoot.  Thankfully, the photos are back from the dead.

Speaking of photos-

Game shots are here-

FotoFink is here-

Enjoy!

Green Christmas

Green Christmas (First time?  Install the plug-in, then right click and press play after you follow that link) took on a new meaning on Saturday, as not only was there no snow to speak of, but more importantly, the Rams celebrated the holiday with an end-of-season banquet.  The West Pittson Rams have quickly become a staple here at FotoFink, so we were thrilled to be invited to the affair. Although an attempt was made to provide Santa photos "on the spot", that didn't go as smoothly as originally planned....  As an alternative, the shots in this gallery are all right-clickable... so you can download, save, share and print as much as you'd like.

A few quick housekeeping items-  If you added the appropriate plug-in to see the Santa show, you can also clich here for a showing of the 40th anniversary DVD.  Copies will be available to all who order, contact Sherrie or myself for details.  Note that the DVD includes folders of original, Hi-res files for every photo in the show- but you'll have to open it up on a computer to see that.  Those alone are worth the cost of the show.

Speaking of which.... Many of you have asked me about buying a CD of the photos of your own player.  For the most part, I've never really sold the files like that- weddings have been the exception.  Since I had so many requests though, I've decided to offer them.  Here's the arrangement- pick any 40 pictures (of YOUR child or children only) and I will make up a disc for a $60 charge- that's $1.50 per photo.  They are then yours to have forever.  Note that this is not any 40 photos-  to discourage sharing,  the photos should be of players from the same family.

A few observations....

Kids are supposed to be in Santa's lap.  Its how things have been since the dawn of time. The best photos, of course, come when someone else gets in the act.

Tugging on Santa's beard probably won't result in better gifts.

Babies.....  they are like little photo machines....  I could have snapped all night.

Something about the lap-sitter outsizing Santa seems wrong.  It's probably a football thing.

Here's Chrismtas card material.

Why do you think that snowman is smiling?  Where is his hand anyway?

Enough of this- Here's why you are here-

Santa Photos

All of FotoFink

Enjoy!