l’ll admit here that I know OF the sport of cross country, but really have not shot it until coming up here to PPC. I shot one quick race for the first time a few weeks ago that was a little hairy as I did not know how everything was set up. Its also pretty tough for PPC in that we publish 20 different papers in a HUGE coverage area so you have to know every school and all of the all-stars to really get what the editors are looking for. Cross-country meets are always huge deals with several different high schools so it’s always a challenge. I have a cousin out in California who is all about it, but running to a point where you’re almost near-death is pretty ridiculous to me, but props to these kids.

I had an assignment to cover the Maryland State Cross Country Championships on Saturday and it was a challenge, but I think I came out pretty good. I pushed myself, shot a lot of variety, and even tried out some odd remotes that I would usually not have the time to set up. I was getting pretty close to some of the racers after they ran and a few high school kids pleaded for me to “give them privacy” etc, but I knew I was doing my job and that was confirmed when I felt a pat on my back and a “don’t worry about those kids, you’re just doing your job” from an older, wiser shooter. Besides having to park on a sketchy flattened corn field, it was a good day.

**UPDATE**

The series of images shot at the cross-country meet won 1st place in the multiple category during Region 8′s National Press Photographer’s Association monthly clip contest. Click HERE for details.

I’m actually listening to The Get Up Kids song named “Hannah Hold On” right now. I thought it was fitting as I was very excited to have Hanna’s might serve as a gateway to some nice moments, images, and maybe more, but alas she was but a fake as I suspected. Last night in the wake of a scurrying about by fellow photographers I thought to myself, “worrying about a hurricane…in New England?!” Everyone was prepared for the worst, but got the least, which in most terms is an acceptable outcome, but a bit disappointing on my end. My day was prepped to be pretty busy with 5 assignments starting with a 10am field hockey game in Columbia. I heard its hard to shoot, but I was up for the challenge since I have never shot it before. Rained out. My next assignment was a studio shoot with a cross-country runner. It went as decently as can be expected. cross-country is a hard sport to squeeze a portrait out of. My next two assignments; a car show and a parade, two events which could have yielded some nice images were of course rained out. With a record of 1/4 I was set up for my last assignment which was to capture the fury of tropical storm Hanna. I was prepared and posted up in the lowest lying areas in Maryland, and after a few hours of mild rain and mild snapping the rain gave way to the sun and I called it a bust. I got a few newspaper safe images and then there are these. I was excited to put together a short multimedia piece on the storm, but since it never materialized, neither did my piece. I did still put it together based on my earlier vision, but it’s incomplete since I only had a limited amount of small video clips. I dug the idea though, but curse Hanna for killing the follow-through. The short (what would have been) video and a small gallery of images I made while waiting the storm out in my car are below.