Touching base

I often bemoan the lack of hours in a day, or more recently the number of days in a week.

Yet I'm truly blessed to be as busy as I am and I've put aside my typical blogging and Facebooking habit over the past week to concentrate on taking photos for my highly-valued leagues and processing these photos.

However, as the clock approaches midnight I'm going to give a quick update before putting the wraps on another long, but personally and professionally satisfying day.

For those looking for photos from games: I haven't been able to photograph any high school games this week, and next week doesn't look much better, I'm afraid.

My schedule clears up a bit the following week and will try to get to some of those teams whose parents/players have contacted me over the last seven days. It's never a bad idea to email me schedules and requests. My email is shawn@coldhollowphoto.com.

These are the games that have been photographed, but not edited or posted (I've decided that posting unedited galleries is just not my style and I'd rather keep you waiting a little bit for the trade-off of posting more visually appealing galleries - I appreciate your indulgence and if you would like, I'd be happy to email you when a specific gallery is posted. Just email me to ask for that service.)

Here's the list:

May 4: Track and Field at BFA-St. Albans

May 5: Enosburg at Winooski baseball

May 5: FFW Little League - Indians vs. Padres Farm Baseball

May 8: Peoples at BFA-Fairfax softball

May 8: FFW Little League - Red Sox vs. Braves Minor Baseball

May 15: Miilton Little League - Red Sox vs. A's Major Baseball

Finally, I am also doing some PR work for the Vermont Voltage soccer team and they won their first game of the season on Saturday night. Here's a brief story on that game.

The Voltage have a very promising team this season and could be primed for an impressive run in the Premier Development League. They open their home portion of their season next Saturday night. If you email me, I can get you free admission to that game - if you haven't seen the team play, it's a very family-friendly event and the soccer is pretty impressive - most of the players are current or former Division I college players and several have Vermont roots.

Thanks again for visiting my blog - the hits this week amazed me when I checked them out - especially when you consider I've been pretty quiet this week.

Finally, thanks to all of the Milton Little League players, parents and coaches for making this week of league photos so much fun! I appreciate you allowing me to take your photos!

And for my friends in the FFW Little League, I look forwarding to our league shoot next Sunday - if you have any questions or concerns leading up to that event, please let me know.

All the best --- Shawn Corrow

Little League action photo upload update

UPDATED - May 18, 2010

I will begin taking photos of Milton Little League games as well and will post the links to the photos here.

I'd encourage my Miton Little League parents to please read the following post to find out more about my Little League photos. (On an unrelated note, thanks so much for being such a great league to work with - I had a blast taking your posed team and invididual photos!)

The original post on this blog follows below ...

I have finally finished editing the action photos taken on Opening Day and will begin to upload them tomorrow (Friday, May 7).

I photographed seven games on Opening Day and photographed two more on Thursday, May 6.

To see the list of the photos we have taken so far, click on this link.

A couple of things to bear in mind as you look at the photos ...

I tried to get photos of as many kids in as flattering (at times downright cute) a way as possible. That said, these are small children and if for any reason you would not like the photo on my website, please tell what the offending image(s) is/are and they will taken down with no questions asked. My goal with taking these photos is to add something of value to my role as league photographer and I want this to be a positive contribution. If something I do does not meet that criteria, please let me know and I'll adjust.

Also, I have not had the chance to photograph each team. I hope to do so in the near future. If for some reason I do take photos of your team and I don't take photos of your child and you want me to return to try again, please send me an email shawn@coldhollowphoto.com and we can make arrangement to hopefully make that hapen.

Finally, this Saturday, May 8, we will be doing team and individual photos at Fletcher Elementary. The weather may not cooperate, but I will be bringing studio lights and a backdrop so we can do the photos inside, if the rain begins to fall. My first preference is to take as many photos outside as possible, but if we are forced to take photos inside, they will be done very professionally.

My wife Sandra - who does most of the processing - and I are very thankful for the opportunity we have been given to work with the FFW Little League and we promise we will do all we can to make the experience enjoyable for the kids, quick for the coaches and families and to deliver you all photos of your children you will be proud to share.

If we fail in this mission in any way - before, during or after the league photo session - please contact us and we will do out best to resolve any problems and/or take steps to improve the experience in the future.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog.

Shawn Corrow

Caution - Delays ahead

I'm turning the corner from simply busy to insanely overscheduled for the next few days - don't get me wrong, LOVE being this busy - but it means some things are going to slip more than normal.

The main thing to pay the price for my busy schedule may be photo uploading from games.

I shot the BFA-Fairfax-Richford softball and baseball games on Friday and Saturday I'm planning on photographing over a dozen Little League games.

On average, it takes a couple hours to edit each game and those are hours that I will not have (because I'll be photographing games, seniors, teams and leagues galore) in the days to come.

I have two choices - neither of which appeal to me.

1. Upload the photos without editing them.

2. Waiting until late next week to upload photos.

The downside of uploading without editing is that the photos don't present as well. They can be cropped by anyone who wants to buy them to make them look great, but most people don't buy my photos, they want to look. And looking at unedited photos isn't as fun as looked at the finished product.

The downside of waiting is ... well, uh ... the wait.

Right now, I'm inclined to upload unedited photos and hope people understand that they click on a larger view of the photo to see it better and they can crop it to their liking if they choose to order.

As always, if you want to see if a game has been uploaded yet, just click on this link and I'll indicate if it has not been edited.

Happy weekend!

Make mine a triple

Originally, I planned on getting to four games today, but the best laid plans ...

I did, however, get to three games today.

First, I saw the first half of the BHS-BFA-St. Albans boys lacrosse game.

A couple of observations: 1. Every school needs artificial turf. Sure, not all can afford it, but sports on turf are better than sports on grass. It's not an opinion, it's a fact. Especially in the spring where grass is sketchy at best. Burlington's facility is a great place to play, to watch and to photograph.

2. I don't know enough about lacrosse to say who's good and who isn't, but I've seen BFA play twice this year and they can possess the heck out of the ball. Not sure if that translates into wins, but they had the ball for huge huge chunks of time in both games. Of course, this might mean they are terrible. My knowledge of lacrosse is only slightly worse than my knowledge of field hockey. Although lacrosse is rapidly becoming my favorite spring sport to photograph.

A quick check of the Free Press website reveals the Bobwhites won 6-5, second one-goal win in three games this season. They lost their first game by two goals, but it was tied into the fourth quarter. They won their second game of the season in double overtime. Guess they are determined to put some grey hairs on coach Scott Cooledge this season.

After my trip to B-Town, I made a not-so-quick rush-hour trip to Milton to catch the Yellowjackets against South Burlington in softball and baseball.

How about those Rebel softballers! They beat Milton 2-1 to match their win total from the previous decade. (OK, that's a slight exaggeration - I think.) Milton coach Steph Hurley was gracious - as usual - in defeat, remarking that SBHS has some kids who can put the ball in play with authority. They also have a decent pitcher. Sure, they aren't going to knock off a BFA or an Essex anything soon (right?), they seemed headed in the right direction.

Same, too, for the Rebel baseball team. They opened with a 6-0 win over the 'Jackets. Ben Jenkins was dominant on the mound for SBHS, besting Milton ace Matt Goulet. The 'Jackets made a lot of mistakes, but they are young and coach John Geary will use this game as a teaching tool, I'm sure.

With rain in the forecast tomorrow, I'm planning on a day away from games Friday before resuming my schedule with a game at Enosburg on Saturday, weather permitting.

Shooting some birdies

OK, my golf days are long behind me - and given the way I play that's probably a good thing.

Nowadays I'm lucky to get in one round of golf a year in a five-some playing in the Luc Gates Foundation Tournament.

Someday, I hope to resume my playing career, but for now I'll settle for shooting real birdies.

And not with a gun - not that there's anything wrong with shooting things with guns, mind you. Just not my cuppa tea.

Instead, I use a Canon, not a cannon, to shoot my birds - like these in the backyard today.

A chickadee, of course.

A chipping sparrow.

A Junco

Thanks goes for No. 1 daughter Molly for the ID-ing help and for suggesting we start feeding the little critters in the first place.

We had a ball watching them today - nice sometimes to take a break, listen to the small sounds around us and smell the roses, if you catch my meaning.

Take care.