TENNIS THROWBACK

10-04-07 GAZ- CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN TENNIS 0011

At the risk of throwing my blog off chronologically, I am postponing my baseball post until later tonite, so stay tuned…it will be good. Trust me. Today, however, I shot the 4A men’s tennis regionals held at Cheyenne Mountain High School. I arrived at the school around 9am and students were still piling into the school. As I got out of the car after finally finding a close spot near the courts, I was approached by a faculty member and was told that students were not allowed to park there and that I would have to move. When he turned around and saw I was with the newspaper he looked baffled and then apologized profusely. I guess I look like a high school kid. Go figure. I had never shot tennis before, either professional or prep, so it was a little disorienting to find that there were a handful of local schools participating and 8 courts running simultaneous games. The players also did not have any identifying numbers nor was there a roster. Before I knew who I was featuring in the event, I sought out the best balance between the court with the best lighting/background combination and the player with the tennis “look” What I found was Phil Long of Mesa Ridge High School. He resembled a 70’s/80’s era tennis pro with the long flowy hair held (partially) in position by a sweatband, and even gold shoes. While it was fairly easy to shoot (easy action) shooting through the fences wasn’t that easy. I liked this shot because not only does it have peak action, the ball and eyes in the frame, but Phil is fully airborne and his eyes are on the ball.

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