The first class is “Photojournalism for Kids”, Grades 9-12 and runs from 9AM to Noon, June 25-29. This is going to introduce kids to the super cool world of photojournalism and we will cover a bit of everything from history and ethics to capturing decisive moments with your camera to how to caption an image. We will have a few mini assignments/field trips during the class (within walking distance of the classroom) and I’ll also discuss possible career and education paths after high school. You will need a digital camera (a DSLR would be best, point and shoots are OK, and film is a no-no) to participate, and if that’s a big issue I can probably help out with a loaner. Best $99 you’ll spend on your kid this summer  CLICK HERE for more info on the Photojournalism for Kids class.

The second class is “Introduction to Photoshop”, Grades 8-12 and runs from 1PM to 4PM, June 25-29. Photoshop is one of those programs that you can spend years mastering and still not know half of it, but after I go through some basic techniques we are going to learn how to enhance images (including those bad cell phone images), do some cool/funky effects, and how to use and apply different styles to photographs. It’s going to be AWESOME!!! Students will need a decent sized USB drive so we can shuttle images around. CLICK HERE for more info on the Introduction to Photoshop class.

Both classes are being held at the UT Conference Center Computer Lab on the 4th floor, run 3 hours per day for 5 consecutive days, and feel free to call/text/email me if you have any questions. Please share this post (just click on the “Share the knowledge” tabs directly below this line to share it on Facebook, Twitter, etc.) with your friends, but I do expect these both to fill up quickly (class sizes are limited), so register EARLY!

But as always, It’s Bristol Baby!, and although it’s still the most strenuous thing I typically cover, it’s still one of the coolest. Where else can you photograph Trevor Bayne, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger, and Sarah Palin all in the same day?

Here’s my two favorites from the week…

Mar 18, 2012; Bristol, TN, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Jimmie Johnson (48) and his wife Chandra Johnson and their daughter Genevieve Johnson during the national anthem prior to the start of Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-US PRESSWIRE

Mar 18, 2012; Bristol, TN, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) leads the pack during the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-US PRESSWIRE

And I finally had something run in color in USA Today

Mar 19, 2012 USA Today

The end of the regular basketball season is a busy time, with big games and conference championships everywhere, and my plan for March 3rd was to shoot the Big South Conference Championship featuring VMI at UNC Asheville then drive like hell quickly make my way back to Knoxville for the Vandy at UT game. UNC Asheville had the game well in hand with 5 minutes or so to go, and I was sitting directly in front of their student section, so I came up with this swell idea of putting almost everything I owned in my Think Tank Airport Security bag (which was with me on the floor), stashing it in the media room, and then get some images of the students rushing the floor when they won the Championship. Awesome idea, heck it even sort of worked…

Mar 3, 2012; Asheville, NC, USA; Students rush the court after the North Carolina-Asheville Bulldogs defeated the Virginia Military Keydets in the finals of the 2012 Big South Tournament at Kimmel Arena. UNC Asheville won 80 to 64. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-US PRESSWIRE

So after shooting the awards and trophy presentation, it was time to head back to the media room to do the whole ingest/crop/caption/transmit thing…only thing was, someone else decided they really liked my camera bag. So I contacted security (to start looking for the bag) and my photo editor (to let her know I was going to be a  while getting images sent up, and that I was probably going to miss the Vandy at UT game). It sure is hard to move images when you just had over $15,000 worth of gear stolen, but I mangled my through it. Here is one of my favorites, JP had a heck of a game…

Mar 3, 2012; Asheville, NC, USA; North Carolina-Asheville Bulldogs guard J.P. Primm (3) brings the ball up court against the Virginia Military Keydets during the finals of the 2012 Big South Tournament at Kimmel Arena. UNC Asheville won 80 to 64. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-US PRESSWIRE

So after all the dust settled, my gear was gone, the police reports were filed and I started back across the mountain listening to the radio broadcast of what may have been UT’s best basketball game of the season (and the only regular season game I missed). That was not a fun trip.

So fast forward to the middle of March, and my buddy Jeremy Brevard sends me a Facebook message along the lines of, “You have at least one picture on the cover of SI this week” which did manage to grab my attention. Last time Jeremy said something like this was when he was standing in a Kroger’s or somewhere telling me I had an image of Tauren Poole on the cover of SI, so I tend to listen to him (although I was certain he was on drugs, or it was April 1st, or something like that the first time he pulled the “You, Cover, Sports Illustrated line).

So here’s the awesome March 19th two-page foldout Sports Illustrated cover, along with J.P. Primm, and my second SI cover (that just cost $15,000)

March 19th Sports Illustrated Cover

In case you missed it, I circled the image of JP in red. This cover has an image from every team (Men’s and Women’s) that made it into the NCAA Championships this year, and I do think it’s cooler than you know what. I think I may have one or two more of my images on here, but it takes quite a bit of time to know for certain. Of course I’m sharing the cover with 100 or so other photographers, and claiming my “second SI cover” is iffy at best…but if I’m going to spend that kind of money to get on a cover I want everyone to know about it.

That’s it for now, but I do want to quickly mention something about insurance for photographers. If you are a photographer using your gear to make $$$, I can not stress how important it is to have good insurance. As in call your agent and ask very specific questions along the lines of, “So what happens if ALL of my gear is stolen from a media room?” or “What if my gear is stolen from my SUV?” (not locked in a trunk). Other things to look out for are the differences in actual cash value and replacement cost value and whether borrowed or rented equipment is covered. I can not say enough good things about Hill & Usher’s Package Choice for photographers, those folks came through for me like you would not believe!

Friday night I covered game 2 of the Western Conference NHL quarterfinals between the Detroit Red Wings and the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. In full disclosure it was the first time I ever attended a NHL game, let alone try to photograph one. Thankfully, Laura (the super cool wife who knows more about pro sports than most men I know), was able to point out some basic things to me before the trip over, so I at least knew that they used these stick thingies to hit the puck whatchamacallits into the nets. I also received a ton of help from my editor and the other photographers at the arena, so I didn’t look any more like an idiot than usual.

Enough of that, off to the images! The full set is located here and all images are © 2012 Randy Sartin/US Presswire and are for Editorial Use Only!

The required pregame image from a rooftop bar across the street.

The big fight within 2 minutes of the game starting. I’m SO glad I shot the first period from up high.

The fan’s reaction is priceless.

Now, you really do not need to be doing that again…

Predators Score!

This shows the HUGE 4″ by 6″ hole you shoot through on the ice This was incredibly restrictive, dunno how “The Guys” do it as well as they do.

I love the dog!

One of my better images from ice level.

I helped another photographer last night setup some remote cameras and remove the lights he had installed in Thompson Boling Arena for the three games he covered this year, so I got to learn a bit plus spent some time on the catwalk in the ceiling of Thompson Boling, pretty neat stuff! Here’s a few of the more interesting images from last night, the full set from last night is here on the US Presswire site.

Jan 21, 2012; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers forward Jarnell Stokes (5) during the first half against the Connecticut Huskies at Thompson Boling Arena. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-US PRESSWIRE

Jan 21, 2012; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers forward Jarnell Stokes (right) has still not obtained team regulation size 20 orange shoes at Thompson Boling Arena. Tennessee won against the Connecticut Huskies 60 to 57. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-US PRESSWIRE

Jan 21, 2012; Knoxville, TN, USA; The Connecticut Huskies during the singing of the national anthem before the game against the Tennessee Volunteers at Thompson Boling Arena. Tennessee won 60 to 57. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-US PRESSWIRE

Jan 21, 2012; Knoxville, TN, USA; View of the catwalk above the floor at Thompson Boling Arena. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-US PRESSWIRE

Jan 21, 2012; Knoxville, TN, USA; View of the floor from the catwalk at Thompson Boling Arena. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-US PRESSWIRE

Luckily, I found out at halftime that he was at 399 wins, so with the victory pretty much in hand I decided to get a few images of Coach H doing his thing. Turned those into this nice 30″ by 20″ poster…

And sure enough, athletic director Jason Surlas had something in mind for Coach H  The next game, the poster and a signed game ball was presented to him…many, many thanks to Jamie Dahl for being there for that (and everything else he does with Catholic).

Again, the folks at Catholic put on a first class tournament, can’t wait for next year’s!

Here are a few of my favorites from Thursday’s Halls at Anderson County matchup (Lady Mavs won 55 to 52, Halls Men won 68 to 52). The complete galleries are at CBS MaxPreps and if you hurry, you can still have prints by Christmas

With all that said, what follows was definitely the most fantastic five days of sports photography on the planet. A few weeks ago I was able to attend SportsShooter Academy VIII in Irvine, CA and it certainly lived up to it’s billing as “The COOLEST Sports Photography Event of the YEAR!”

Let’s start with the staff and faculty, which instead of listing separately just take a look at this link  and think what it would be like to hang out with this “Whos-Who” list of photographers, let alone have them instruct you, shoot with you, and then critique your work, all on a daily basis. There’s just nothing like having your toes in the Pacific Ocean, photographing surfers, and being able to turn to John McDonough and ask, “How many focus points are you using, John?” In addition, we students were continually pushed to “See better, Shoot better”, which kinda sounds like standard workshop stuff, but they have really helped me with the ability to see things outside of the normal everyday grind of sports photography.

Just noticed that a few folks were not on the list I linked above, including Tim Mantoani, Shawn Cullen, and Jordan Murph. Three more awesome people that I learned a TON from. Also NPS (Nikon) was there with crates (yes, crates…well at least one great big crate) of equipment that was available for us to use every day. Need a D3s and a 500mm f/4.0 lens?…sure thing, here you go In addition Nikon, Samy’s Camera (also on site), and Think Tank were huge supporters of the workshop, so big thanks to them.

OK, enough atta-boys…if you want to further your education and networking in Sports Photography, you need to attend this workshop! On to the goods…

Here’s a short video showing the workshop in action.

SSA VIII: On Location, Cal State Fullerton from Sports Shooter Academy on Vimeo.

Here’s a gallery of some of my favorites from the workshop.

And one more video, from a Go Pro Camera that was mounted on a 70-200 lens hood (pointed back towards the photographer). Be sure and watch the crash at the end

Sports Shooter Academy VIII: Football POV from Sports Shooter Academy on Vimeo.

This Link will take you to all of the videos. I really can not stress what a great experience this was…to have the staff on the sidelines shooting with you and then having them critique the images (every day) was a remarkable learning experience. Huge thanks are due to Robert Hanashiro and Matt Brown (and everyone else), they have really got this one down right!

The pressure is intense, and of course we are running on little sleep and little food. I’m off to cover some lacrosse this afternoon, then another lighting class followed by edits, critiques, and slideshow. It’s a BLAST!

20 September 2011: Sarah Keene, AKA "Sonic the Sledgehog"", of the LA Derby Dolls jumps over some Think Tank camera bags during a portrait shoot in Irvine, CA.