_DSC1841_web

Hi All,

Since I get a ton of requests to know what I'm shooting with for wildlife photography I'll give you a little information here.

I have two Nikon D500 bodies, of which I will normally have a Nikon 200-400mm F4 on one body (sometimes with a 1.4 teleconverter attached too) and either a 300mm F4 or 70-200mm 2.8 zoom depending on the subject matter mounted on the other. This is my basic go to set up for birds.

Now for those who often request information about what the best "starter" camera and lens combos are...!

For this I tell everyone that they are going to get way better and more up to date info and advice from either a camera store or someone who is into camera gear sales. I say this because a lot of us that have been doing this for awhile may not be in the market for new gear. The best place to start is to pick a brand like Nikon, Canon, or Sony and get with a sales person and let them know what features you think you want/need in a DSLR or mirrorless camera. They are experts because they see the latest gear and gadgets on a daily basis. Tell them your current budget and see where you fall in getting started. I always recommend buying at the high end of what you can afford so that you don't outgrow your gear too quickly!

Good luck,

James

_DSC2597

The Folsom Bulldogs had a repeat performance over the Wolfpack of Cosumnes Oaks (Elk Grove) beating them 68-51 to take the D2 NorCal Regional Championship at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento on Saturday. The Bulldogs dispatched the Wolfpack two weeks earlier to claim the Sac-Joaquin Section title. Folsom takes on SoCal champions, St. John Bosco Saturday at Sleep Train Arena.

Folsom's Colin Russell #43 defends Cosumnes Oak's Alex Van Dyke #45  in their playoff win over the Wolfpack on Saturday.

_DSC3523

Tears of Joy...!

Congratulations to the Pleasant Grove Eagles (Elk Grove) girls varsity basketball team for their 51-42 upset victory over Berkeley in the D1 NorCal Regional Championships at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento on Saturday. They play for the state championship on Friday against SoCal regional champions, Canyon Springs.

Pictured: Samantha Huddleston (C) flanked by her teammates  Zaya Van Someren (L) and Michelle Gorski (R)

_DSC9653

_DSC1661

Little-leaguers representing 42 teams and 500 strong from T-ball to majors trotted in, they slapped hands with players and coaches from other teams and then took their place where the infield dirt meets the outfield grass on the major diamond at Memorial Park in West Sacramento on Saturday morning. It was another "Opening Day", but this one was extra special for West Sacramento Little League, established in 1954, the organization with the tight-knit family feel was celebrating for the 60th time.

_DSC1640

_DSC1641

_DSC16732014 West Sacramento Little League Board

The 2014 West Sacramento Little League Board Members

Ceremonial first pitches were tossed out by two former early-days West Sac Little League players Daryl Fisher and Russell Dunsmore. Yolo County Supervisor Oscar Villegas, Mayor Pro Tem Mark Johannessen and Council Member Christopher Ledesma also received the honor.

_DSC9712

Daryl Fisher Throws out a first pitch

_DSC9732

Oscar Villegas throws out a first pitch

The Sacramento River Cats mascot, Dinger made an appearance to offer hugs and high-fives and to help celebrate the community milestone.

_DSC1634

One of the highlights of the day was the presence of Lindsay Williams back at the ballpark. Lindsay runs the snack bar at Memorial Park amongst many other tasks that she either has assigned to herself because she has a huge heart, or frankly nobody else is quite as capable or willing, and in many cases all of the above. What makes Lindsay so special is her love of life and of people. Only a week removed from her last round of Chemo in her second battle with Cancer nobody was happier for the start of a new baseball season than her. She is a walking inspiration to all, has the warmest smile, and her cute laugh, let's just say it carries...In a wonderful way!

_DSC9701

 Snack Bar Coordinator Lindsay Williams

The major Giants, led by manager Adam Williams captured the District 6 Tournament of Champions banner. Williams, along with his coaches and players also took home the 11-12 Allstars District 6 and Section 4 flags. The Section is extremely hard to win, especially for such a small little league like West Sacramento. It was just the fourth time in the league's first 60 years. The boys were introduced and then raced out to hang their winning flags on the outfield fence.

_DSC1675

Manager Adam Williams

_DSC1684 The Tournament of Champions Major Giants

_DSC1701

The District 6 and Section 4 11-12 All-Stars

The day was capped off by each team taking to their respective fields for scheduled one inning exhibition games. Official league games begin on Tuesday, March 18. You can see the complete gallery of photos from Saturday's Opening Day Ceremonies here.

_DSC9661

_DSC0497

#19, Jesuit senior striker Kyle Clark celebrates after scoring the first goal of the match in the first half.

_DSC0584_web

I had a great time shooting with Haley, Class of 2014, in Old Sacramento this week. We spent a couple of hours walking and looking for great lighting. We stopped and posed with the trains parked outside the California State Railroad Museum, and found other unique and rustic areas while Haley made a few wardrobe changes. We eventually made our way to the overlook near Joe's Crab Shack to take in the setting sun with the Tower Bridge as our backdrop. See her complete photo shoot gallery.

_DSC0858

We need a player, let’s see, how about senior Alex Van Dyke 6’ 4’’ 210 lb wide receiver from Cosumnes Oaks High School in Elk Grove? He’ll work, big kid with big hands and expected to tear up the gridiron this season for the Wolfpack.

_DSC0739

Meanwhile, at SportStars Magazine Headquarters in Concord, CA Wheels are a turning. Laying out a concept for the cover. Wouldn’t it be cool to have Van Dyke look like he’s diving over the Tower Bridge in Sacramento?

Need to get fresh photos of the bridge, but let’s not make it look too big. That’s right let’s make Van Dyke bigger than life. Click…click from this angle and a little over there. Click…click…click and we should be good.

_DSC9555

Time for the writer to call the coach, text coach, where’s the coach? Email the coach, finally there’s coach! “We’d like to interview and photograph your player for the upcoming Sac-Joaquin Section Edition of SportStars Magazine.” When is he available for a photo shoot? Not tomorrow, how about Tuesday? Only between 1 and 3 pm, how does Friday look? Okay then Thursday it is.

Day of the photo shoot…Let’s drag this high jump pit over here so you have something soft to land on Alex while we get you diving with the ball. Oh darn that pit is full of dirt, let’s clean you up. Just missed that shot, need another and another and another and….One more, we should be good. Brush him off, I promise last one!

_DSC0749

_DSC0934

Back at SportStars…I did what? You shot Alex diving from the wrong direction. Oh I need to re-shoot the bridge from the other side you say? Do you think they will really notice that the bridge is backwards?

Back at the bridge…Darn I can’t seem to get the same angle from this side. All these trees are in the way and these poles. Hmm how deep is the river here next to the bank, and how fast is the water moving? Shoes off, socks off and shorts rolled up let’s find out first without the camera.

_DSC1844

Okay all is clear. Wade out, click…click…click. Note to self, I’m not doing this a third time. Click…click…click. Out a little further, watch out for the wake from that boat. Click…click and done. Now pray like crazy!

And I just got word…You like the new bridge images and we are golden? Awesome! Was there ever any doubt? Heck no!
Alex_Van Dyke_Cover

_DSC6849

At 220-pounds and a low center of gravity, he has a menacing power. The current two-time Division III and Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Champion is eyeing his first California state title. The championships are Friday and Saturday March, 1-2 at the Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield. 

_DSC0883

_DSC6809

His varsity jacket is like a road map of his young life. Patches, medals and embroidered stitchings are surely chapters that Sepeda could talk about for hours. 

_DSC6819

Pre-match readiness and rituals.

_DSC6845

There is a special closeness between Jordan and his father Joseph, who has also been the wrestler's coach his whole life. 

_DSC0942

Sepeda pins his opponent to win the 2013 220-pound Sac-Joaquin Section Division III crown.

_DSC6967

The 6'-4" 305 lb. defensive tackle, and highly touted top-10 prospect kept a short list of five colleges on the edge of their seats for the past few weeks. Ultimately after much consideration, it was the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame that landed one of the countries top picks.

_DSC0070

Early on it looked like a lock for USC. Vanderdoes committed to the Trojans back in July, but just weeks before signing day he pulled back and explored his options. He visited both USC and Notre Dame in late January and Alabama the first week of February. UCLA and Washington rounded out the top-five. 

_DSC0079

A large community crowd, along with news and other media, gathered at the high school auditorium to listen to Vanderdoes pay his respects to all those that have supported him while he hashed over his decision. 

_DSC0096

In the end it was the navy and gold hat that he reached for, to much the delight of many, and possibly the despair for others who looked on.

_DSC0104 _DSC5388

Vanderdoes displays his new colors and letter of intent to attend Notre Dame this fall.

_DSC5374

                                Danny Humphries shows his support of Eddie and the Irish.

I met up with Gabriella Palmeri at a park in Folsom that had sand volleyball courts to do our cover and Athlete of the Year (Fall) feature shoot for SportStars Magazine. Fitting location for the four-year varsity senior outside hitter from St. Francis High School in Sacramento, who will head to the beaches of Malibu and attend Pepperdine University this fall.

_DSC4305A _DSC4312A

Gabby downplayed the thought that she could pursue some modeling, but the ease I had working with her and the photos certainly proved otherwise. She claims that she is 5-11ish, but depending on where you get your stats she's as tall as 6-1. Speaking of stats, too many to list in a stellar career with the Troubadours, but here's a few from the 2012-13 season.447 kills, 403 digs, 36 blocksand 30 serving aces. Palmeri was selected Division 1 first-team All-State and MVP by MaxPreps.com.

_DSC9141A

Palmeri led her team to Division 1 Sac-Joaquin Section and CIF Northern Regional championships both times over the Granite Bay High School Grizzlies. St. Francis lost to Marymount-L.A. in the state championship finals 3-1. The Troubadours finished with an overall record of 38-3.

_DSC9332A _DSC9286A

_DSC7777

Working on such a steep incline kept us on our guard. I'm always concerned with the safety of the athletes that we work with first and foremost, even though we sometimes put them through crazy poses to try to get great images.

There was two locations that we chose to use for our indoor shots. First in the wrestling room, a small area with a red mat and dirty painted concrete walls. What stood out here was the quotation on the wall. "Wrestle like a champion today!" And for Tucker, who is currently ranked #1 in the State at the 152 lb. weight class, he hopes these words ring true till that last match at the state finals later this year. Tucker finished second at the state meet in 2012.

_DSC7850 _DSC7882

With school still out for winter break we had to pull a few strings, and the school janitor was kind enough to get us into the weight room for a few more relaxed shots before we called it a wrap. _DSC7901 _DSC7917

-8670

Cameron went through a number of clothing changes wearing shirts from American Eagle, Aeropostale and others.

-8698

We made our way down closer to the river to work some more poses next to old weathered walls. Just above us is Joe's Crab Shack Restaurant where views of the river are great especially at sunset. Just below is where the Delta King Paddlewheel Steamboat is moored.

-8779

We grabbed some cool shots using a full-length mirror and mirrored sunglasses to go for a hard direct light.

-8631

Then some more relaxed shots down on the railroad tracks.

-8753

We worked our way back to the vehicle, finding every last bit of good light as we went, even using a flashlight to add some direct light just to Cameron's face.

-8791

-8822

I decided to join 500px a few days ago. Another great place for photographers to showcase their best images. I'm amazed at the photographic talent on this website and in such a large variety of subject matter including animals, scenics, portraits, architecture and much, much more. They do claim to have the "World's Best Photos" and that isn't an overstatement in my opinion. 

The beauty is in the ability to get instant feedback from fellow photographers. There is the usual "Like" and the "Follow" and some other cool features to 500px. With "Flow" you can quickly check for all the new content that your friends have liked, commented on and added to their favorites. Checking your own "Activity" reminds you of all the places you've been on the website from last to first. The "Pulse" gives you a rating based on the activity an individual photo generates. Since I'm just getting started here I'm sure I will learn much more about the unique features of 500px in the coming weeks.

I signed up for the free membership just to get started, but I'm not liking the restriction to only uploading 10 images per week. I think that will really limit the interaction I have at least for several weeks so the upgrade to the "Plus Membership" at less than $20 a year looks like a given. I hope you'll take a look at 500px and follow me at 500px.com/JamesLeash. 

I've been working the last couple of days on my new "Lifestyles" gallery. That's what I'm calling it anyway. The gallery consists for now of more than 100 images that are found in a good share of my other galleries throughout my website. Some I consider to be my favorites and others just fit in for some reason or another. Mostly of people doing what they do with a few scenics and animals in the mix. I'm always looking for something new to shoot, that keeps it fun. I'm sure I'll be adding more to this collection in the near future. Until then...

-9497

SportStars Magazine Feature