This was my first year covering a wide range of summer league games and I was amazed with not only the teams but the umpires as well. Most of them are or were Varsity Softball & Baseball Players for Athens & Union City High Schools. I love the fact that they were given the chance to learn what it is like to be behind the plate and show their knowledge of the rules of the game but to also be a role model for the younger players.
Kudos to all of you…
As some of you may have seen on my Facebook page, I have started to put quotes on some of my images. Some of you are thinking that you saw me do this last summer and you are correct! My plans are to do this more regularly and I would love to use some of your favorite quotes.
You can comment on this blog post, send me an email (photographybychar@gmail.com) or post your favorite quotes on my Facebook page. We do need to give credit to who said the quote, so please include the name of the author or speaker for your quote. If you don’t know it, I will do some research and see what I can find.
Here are some that I have created and they will be posted through out this next week on Facebook…
Comment and leave your favorite thoughts and quotes. Maybe yours will be used next with one of my favorite photographs and featured on Facebook!
You will also find this post on my business blog for Photography by Char.
As some of you may have seen on my Facebook page, I have started to put quotes on some of my images. Some of you are thinking that you saw me do this last summer and you are correct! My plans are to do this more regularly and I would love to use some of your favorite quotes.
You can comment on this blog post, send me an email (photographybychar@gmail.com) or post your favorite quotes on my Facebook page. We do need to give credit to who said the quote, so please include the name of the author or speaker for your quote. If you don’t know it, I will do some research and see what I can find.
Here are some that I have created and they will be posted through out this next week on Facebook…
Comment and leave your favorite thoughts and quotes. Maybe yours will be used next with one of my favorite photographs and featured on Facebook!
You will also find this post in my blog PHOTOGRAPHS & WORDS.
This is my new office and I love it! I has been a pretty big change for me and our house hold, but it sure beats working in the living room!
I now have plenty of storage instead finding places here and there throughout my house to store things! I have found that garment bags are perfect for backdrops. Now I just need a table or cabinet for packaging prints.
I fixed up this old corner cabinet from my father for my camera collection. I will have to take a little better picture sometime so that you can see all my camera’s! In the process of taking these pictures I discovered that there has to be a trick to interior photography so that you do not get distorted pictures. Something that will bug me till I figure it out.
I didn’t think to take pictures of the room before I started painting but this was my daughter’s bedroom with lime green walls, lavender trim and a pastel sea green/blue closet (she picked the colors out).
I have an open door policy to which everyone loves especially my supervisor. He loves sleeping in my office and sometimes is takes his job a bit too serious!
For some of you who kept up on my progress on Facebook, you know that I had a terrible time getting this office finished! I’m just glad that I made the decision to do this!
One last thing… I ordered some of my first enlarged prints of my macro nature art. I can’t wait to get them from the printers and have them framed to hang in my office!
The crowd is roaring and you can feel the excitement in the air! The game has ended its 4th quarter but the score is tied… everyone prepares for OVERTIME!
There is a buzz in throughout the gymnasium… “Who is going to win?” Someone shoots… misses then a rebound… Now someone is at the free throw line. The crowd comes to a low roar but then as the shot is about to be made there is a frantic cry for a miss!
The score goes up for one team and then the score goes up for the other team. There is a break away and a block… the clock is counting down the seconds… and then buzzer goes off. The score is still tied. OVERTIME once again!
There is finally a break through and one team takes a lead. With the sound of this final and third buzzer Athens wins with a final score of Athens 77 Union City 71.
It was once again another game for the record books! It was about 4 – 5 years ago that the boys Varsity Basketball Game between Athens and Union City went into multiple overtimes. The ironic thing is… the game was played at Athens and Union City won the game. This year the game was played at Union City and Athens won.
But I remember that game at Athens all too well. I was not photographing it but instead I was a parent of a Union City Junior Varsity basketball player. We were watching the Varsity game to support his school team and fellow athletes. However, a part of me was also supporting the Athens team… you see, I am an Athens Graduate (1986).
It is amazing now going to these games and photographing them. I’m not rooting for one or the other teams any more… but instead I am thrilled to be a part of documenting such a great rivalry between schools. Click here to see more photos from last nights game between Athens and Union City.
During the month of February many of us would probably think of roses, hearts, Valentines Day… the cinnamon red hots I have sitting on my desk when asked “What do you think of when you think of the color Red?” Another thought might be red birds of sorts like this House Finch…
To be honest, I have been thinking about this post all day (we receive our daily prompts for WordPress in the morning) and I finally decided to write about something that I really do think of the majority of the time when I think of the colors Red & White.
Now mind you, I am suppose to “Show you Red” another words with these daily prompts for a photographer, I am suppose to show you something… so tonight I am going to show you Red & White, but I am also going to tell you a little bit about the Tekonsha Indians.
Last night I spent the evening at the Tekonsha Senior High School in Southern Michigan photographing the Indians during 3 basketball games. It was a fun night with the JV & Varsity Boys winning their games and the Varsity Girls really put up a good fight against the Will Carleton Academy Cougars.
At the end of an evening, when I am leaving any sporting event, I am always thinking about something that stood out as in a player’s outstanding athleticism, a spectator’s spectacle or an official’s call… but last night not only was I thinking of the wins that I had just photographed, I kept thinking back to 1985 when Tekonsha went all the way to the State Quarterfinals in basketball.
Now Tekonsha hasn’t been the only school in the area to go a long ways in a sporting season. 1985 was however the first time that I had followed a team when they had gone as far as Tekonsha did.
I never dreamed back then I would be a Sports Photographer now, but I remember the excitement and the thrill of the crowd as the team took the floor back in 1985. It wasn’t too long ago I was able to not only follow but photograph the Athens Indians Varsity Girls Basketball team go all the way to the State Finals in 2012 and the Semi Finals in 2013.
You see, I was actually an Athens Indian (purple and white) but I had some really good friends who were Tekonsha Indians. I knew quite a few of the 1984 – 1985 graduating classes and then some. I had spent quite a bit of time attending Tekonsha Senior High School events from the Cabaret, sporting events, dances… to attending school on an occasion as a guest student (something that most schools do not allow anymore). I was purple and white thru and thru but there was a bit of red and white in me too!
Now I am photographing for several schools all different colors including the Athens Indians, Tekonsha Indians… the school that my children graduated from, the Union City Chargers (maroon and grey) and schools in the surrounding area.
You can find more information and my photographs on Facebook and my Website.
Saturday I covered the Homer Wrestling Invitational located in Homer, Michigan. There were 10 teams at this event wrestling in 2 gyms. The excitement was running high as the wrestlers took the mat with Jackson Northwest going undefeated to win the invitational.
Upcoming wrestling events that I will be photographing this week are the Marshall Quad Meet on Wednesday 1/15 between Coldwater, Harper Creek, Marshall and Sturgis and the Quincy Invitational on Saturday 1/18. For more dates of events that I will be attending, check out my calendar and to see more of my work you can go to the sports section of my website.
Almost 1 year ago I made my first post to this blog dated February 25, 2013. I was extremely excited because I had hired someone to design me a Logo, Website and this Blog!
However, I did not follow thru with posting to this blog as I originally promised. Shoot, I didn’t even keep my website design for a year! The Logo was the only thing that I truly kept.
So now that I have admitted this to you, my readers and customers, this is what I plan on doing in the future…
At least 1 blog post a week… I PROMISE. A blog post may be about a session, sporting event or team, something that I am offering, or how to do something website, ordering or photography wise. You may even find more posts like my last one “Weekly Photo Challenge: Beginning“. Or I might just share someone else’s work that I found inspiring.
My goal for this blog is to draw more followers and customers. I would like to be able to entertain but also provide informative information and share my work with the world. When you read this blog, I want you to want to come back and read more or to at least gain you as a customer.
Okay… I will be honest… both would be extremely nice!
Something about myself that you may not know… I am shy. Yes, a shy photographer who loves covering sporting events!
One might ask, “How does that work?” Well… it is like this… I really depend on word of mouth. When I am feeling courageous I might introduce myself to a new coach or parent and hand out business cards. Believe it or not… Facebook has been a tremendous help in this area!
As a photographer I am all about what I am photographing. By that I mean, “It is all about you, the client, the team, the athlete and the sport that I photographing.”
I am not about the perfect pose or studio settings… but instead, I love capturing what you or a team wants me to capture in the natural setting of being “on location”.
I love discovering the dedication of an athlete to the sport they love or the character a senior brings to their own life or the love between two people when they join lives forever in marriage.
Oh, and one more thing about myself…
I am also a mom. A mom who has lived with those not so nice sports portraits of my children. A mom who has coached little league soccer teams. A mom who is very proud of her children and her work…
A mom who has developed a photography business based on my experiences as a mom and the inspiration that has come along with that experience.
My name is Char and I hope to be “Your Sports & Portrait Photographer” in the future!
My 12″ x 12″ Memory Pages can be customized to your school, sport or event! One way to find out how to order a Memory Page from me is to go to my Website, scroll down to the Sports Folder, click on it and you will find the following information…
12″ x 12″ Memory Pages cost $25.00 each. Starting in September, 2014 – when you purchase 4 Memory Pages you will receive your fifth Memory Page for FREE.
Here are some examples of Memory Pages from Union City 2013 Homecoming…
and here are a couple examples of Memory Pages done for Harper Creek 8th Grade Football.
Memory Pages are 12″ x 12″ and perfect for Scrapbooks. You can also find frames for 12″ x 12″ prints at various stores. Memory Pages are an excellent way to display your Senior’s accomplishments and participation in various sports and events for their Graduation Open Houses! A Memory Page makes a great present and is a keepsake that will last forever with proper care as they are professionally printed.
To order your 12″ x 12″ Memory Page, contact me with the Athlete’s Name, Number and Sport/Game/Event they participated in by sending me an email, message on Facebook, filling out the contact form on my website or by calling me at (517) 767-3013.
I do offer the option to have a Memory Page mailed to you with a tracking number and in a cardboard sleeve for an additional $5.00. For more information on having your Memory Pages mailed, please contact me.
I have had a few people inquire about how to purchase Prints & Downloads from my website. Here is a quick break down on 2 ways to purchase Prints & Downloads from my website…
All galleries will have a button “Add to Cart” in the upper right hand corner.
When you click “This Photo” you will be taken to this screen. Select the size print you would like to purchase and then you can click “Back to Photos” to add more to your cart or “Checkout” to purchase the prints you have in your cart.
You can also click “Downloads” at the top of the shopping cart. This will take you to the screen shown above. Here is a break down on the different sized downloadable file that are offered
– Low Res (1Mpix) is about 1000 x 1000 megapixel file. This will work for 4″ x 6″, 5″ x 7″ and possibly 8″ x 10″ prints.
– High Res (4Mpix) is what you would purchase for good quality 8″ x 10″ or larger prints (reasonably sized).
– Original File is just that. It is my original file which is high quality and resolution. This would be purchased for printing large poster or larger prints.
All downloadable files come with a personal print release which basically states that you can print these photos for your personal use. You cannot resell any of my files or prints.
This screen viewed above is what you will see if you select “Photos from this Gallery” when you click on “Add to Cart”. This screen is actually pretty cool if you have several pictures in a gallery that you would like to purchase! You can select the Print Size or Download that you would like to purchase and then just click on each of the pictures that you would like to purchase. Once you click “Add Photos to Cart” you can continue on to another gallery and purchase more!
Prices shown here are for Sports and Event Galleries only. If you are interested in Portrait Session & Prints Prices, please contact me.
Thank you for your business and support but even more so… Thank you for allowing me to photograph your athletes!
MY PHOTOGRAPHS & WORDS 