This was 2nd time I photographed this event. It’s great because it’s so diverse. Indoors, outdoors, daytime, night, young and old athletes, vets, and some people with amazing physiques and talent. This year there were athletes from both Canada and Mexico.
If you have 4 minutes, there is a better flash folio at www.AccessingArizona.com. As always, if you are one of the athletes or sponsors, I am happy to provide you with photos for free.
If you ever want to experience what it means to be passionate about something, come meet Pia Douglass at a fencing event. She heads up the Grand Canyon State Fencing Foundation (www.gcsff.org) and with the assistance of her two sons and others, knows how to put on a nice program.
The venue was a conference room with low ceilings, fluorescent lights and nothing too exciting for backgrounds. Not really the makings for a great photo expose. Fortunately I had a softbox with me and decided to shoot some portraits as well.
To see all the photos, click the link below each frame.
It was finally nice to shoot a tournament where all of the teams showed up. The event featured the TIRR Hotwheels (Houston, TX), the Hammer (San Diego, CA), the Suns (Phoenix, AZ), and BORP Bay Area Cruisers (San Francisco, CA)
The Hotwheels won all 3 games on Saturday, and beat the Hammer again on Sunday to win the tournament. On Sunday, the Phoenix Suns beat the Bay Cruisers for 3rd place.
I only shot the two game on Sunday. Here is a link to the photos;
#24 - Dusty Ferreira or the Phoenix Suns, and #12 - Gerard Ah-Fook, of the UoA Wildcats cover one another during the tournement held in Mesa, Arizona.
This was billed as a tournament including 6 teams. On Friday there were only 3 teams. So I focused on getting some solo shots of the players. Once the sun goes down and there’s no ambient light, the Broadway Rec Center goes fom crappy to virtually unusable. Even with a few strobes, it’s pretty dismal.
I didnt return for the games on Saturday due to prior commitment. Addition Photos are here.
The Phoenix Outcasts hosted a 2 day tourneyment in Mesa over the weekend. Because one team was a no-show, a 4th team consisting of a few players from Phoenix was added, and they then borrowed a player here and there to add some competition to the event.
When this happens it becomes difficult to photograph and keep track of who’s who. As well, the teams dont always follow the schedule and that further reduces my ability to photograph the entire event. That said, the team from U of A went undefeated and looked impressive.
The Desert Challenge is the biggie for adaptive sports in Arizona. The annual event, sponsored by Arizona Disabled Sports features swimming, weight lifting, archery and various events in track & field. The 3-day event is held in Mesa and is sanctioned by the various governing bodies for the respective sports. Basically it’s fun event for local athletes of all ages and a tune-up for a few of our national athletes with 2012 London Paralympic ambitions.
A special thanks to Jodi of Jodi Davis Photography for letting me come shoot with her. She’s the ADS team’s official photographer. Any participant wanting event photos should visit her site. She does great kid photos too.
Click the jump for some photos of Track & Field, Swimming, Weightlifting and Archery.
The Wildcats of Tucson went 5-0 and handed the Phoenix Outcasts their only defeat on Friday in a narrow 48-46 victory. The Phoenix Outcasts staged a great comeback with a final minute goal and strong goal line defense to beat the Texans on Sunday to finish the tournement 4-1.
Jump to the 2nd page to review two batches of photos. One from Friday, and one from Sunday. If any of the teams are interested in getting copies, please contact me. If anyone has photos from Saturday, please contact me.
