Images

Photoshoot with Deputy Stevens

On Saturday afternoon I had a chance to ride along with Deputy Stevens from the Whitman County Sheriff’s Office.

We went to the WSU campus to do a couple photos of him with some of the campus in the background. We didn’t make it there until the sun was really setting. This causes some troubles with the backlighting and the lack of lighting for the foreground. I ended up shooting from a different angle so we didn’t get the campus as the backdrop as wanted.

I shot all the photos with my Canon 70D with a EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II.

High School Lacrosse – Newport vs Roosevelt – March 10, 2017

This evening I was in Bellevue and took some photos at the Newport Knights and Roosevelt Roughriders Lacrosse game. Newport had a lead of 5 to 2 at the half and ended up winning by a final score of 9 to 4.

The photos from the first half were taken while sitting on the bleachers. Then I went down to the track and next to the playing field. I got better closeup shots there, for obvious reason.

The whole shoot was done with my Canon 70D with my Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM. I don’t have a lot of descriptions included in the photos mainly because I did not have a roster so I did not know what names to place with the photos.

Lieutenant Fisher’s Last Shift and Flag Ceremony

On January 29th, 2017 at 0800 Lieutenant Rudy Fisher walked into Pullman Fire Station 32 (the Deuce) for his final time as a member of the Pullman Fire Department. 24-hours later Lt. Fisher would be given the flag that was flying over the station in a ceremony performed by the Pullman Fire Honor Guard. The flag was handed to Lt. Fisher by Chief Mike Heston.

Lt. Fisher along with Firefighters McPherson, Gibbons, and Krieger worked his final shift on the north side of Pullman answering calls for service.

During the day I had the opportunity to shoot some photos with Lt. Fisher and his wife, Lisa. We took the photoshoot to Station 31 to include the men working there. Captain Reiber, Firefighters Gollnick, Erickson, and Branson where covering the south part of Pullman.

All the members of both stations took part in the photoshoot. I have included a hand full of the photos.

At 0800 on January 30th, 2017 Lt. Fisher’s final shift came to an end. The Honor Guard marched to the flag pole, lowered the American Flag, folded it, and it was ultimately presented to Lt. Fisher.

Again I was on hand to take photos of the Flag Ceremony and the celebration that took place afterwards in the Deuce. This was a great opportunity for people to congratulate Lt. Fisher on his retirement. Several retired firefighters made their way to the celebration. I tried to get as many photos as I could with newly-retired Lt. Fisher and the people in attendance.

Nearly a quarter-century, on February 10, 1992, Rudy Fisher was hired as a city of Pullman Firefighter by the late Chief Pat Wilkins. When Rudy was hired the main fire station on South Grand was the career station. The Deuce was the reserve station. That all changed in 2005 when WSU stopped providing their own fire services and started to use the City of Pullman Fire Department. At that time the Deuce was made into a career and reserve fire station. At the same time Lieutenants were added to the rank of firefighters. Rudy was selected as one of the first three Lieutenants of Pullman Fire.

I had the opportunity ask Rudy some questions about his quarter-century run at being a city of Pullman Firefighter.

My first question is the typical question that many people ask. Why did you want to be a firefighter? He said “First of all I wanted to help others in a time of need. I wanted a challenge and I loved the problem solving aspect that this career choice offered every day.”

Of all the events, calls, and activities what one(s) sticks out in his mind? Rudy responded by saying “Infants and young children calls left the most lasting impressions on me. Creative activities by the student population are too numerous to list but did make me chuckle and / or scratch my head in amazement.”

Firefighters seem to have a favorite apparatus and Rudy was no different. I had a feeling that I already knew the answer before I asked, but I wanted to know what his favorite apparatus was. He said “The H & W (E32) was the first Red Engine in the fleet. It looked great and was very user friendly.” That was the engine we used to base the crew photos during the photoshoot. It also happens to be the engine Rudy requested for that purpose.

For anyone thinking about becoming a firefighter Rudy suggests “You need to have thick skin, roll with the punches, adapt and overcome, be patient, and have a passion to help others.”

I asked Rudy to look back at the Pullman Fire Department he joined 25 years ago compared to today. I then asked what he thought was the most important/best change that had taken place. Rudy said “Transitioning from a BLS (Basic Life Support) service to ALS (Advanced Life Support) [emergency medical] service.” Rudy was there for the transition and saw the difference that a paramedic can make in the positive outcome when someone is in dire straits.

Finally I asked Rudy if there was anything he would like to add, say as words or wisdom, or give a farewell statement. Rudy closed by saying “I believe a person should stand up for what’s right and true. Be accountable for your actions. Learn how to think and not what to think. Treasure your friends and family as time goes by really fast. Never regret a day in your life: good days give happiness, bad days give experience, worst days give lessons, and best days give memories.”

Thank you Lt. Rudy Fisher for your service to the City of Pullman and surrounding communities.

College Basketball – Jan 8, 2017 – WSU Cougars vs USC Trojans

Pullman, Washington — The Washington State University Cougars took on the University of Southern California Trojans at Field Court in Beasley Coliseum on the WSU Campus. The Trojans came to Pullman ranked number 7 in the nation.

The WSU Women played tight with the Trojans for the first half. The Cougs went to the locker room with a one point deficit but shortly after re-appearing after half time they Cougs worked to take the lead and expand their lead to a double-digit lead.

The Cougar Women went on to win with a score of 74 – 57. This is reported to be the biggest upset in Cougar Women’s basketball history!

After this victory the Cougs sit number five in the Pac-12 with a 3-2 conference record and 8-8 overall record.

The was my second basketball shoot with my new lens. I settled on a slightly slower shutter speed and a slightly lower ISO setting. But I still had them pretty high. I was sitting closer to the court and at a different angle then at the men’s game. I found I liked the angle I had at the men’s game better. I was in the corner rather than along the long edge of the court.

The corner gave me better angles to some of the action. That said my seat at the women’s game did not obscure any of the shots because of the backboard. So there were pros and cons.

I got a couple shots in this game that I really liked. I also missed one that would have been awesome. One of the players was falling down and grabbed a hold of the referee to keep herself from completely falling to the ground. I was I had gotten it. But that taught me to realize that just because the goes out of play doesn’t mean great shots are not available.

Congratulations to the Cougs in this great victory!

College Basketball – Jan 7, 2017 – WSU Cougars vs Oregon Ducks

Pullman, Washington — The Washington State University Cougars took on the University of Oregon Ducks at Field Court in Beasley Coliseum on the WSU Campus. The Ducks were 3-0 in the Pac 12 (14-2 overall) and ranked 15th in the nation. The Cougs came in with a 2-0 Pac 12 record (9-5 overall).

Through the first half and the first portion of the second half the Cougars and Ducks were neck and neck. The Cougs lead by several points throughout much of the period of time. But in the final 10 minutes of the game the Ducks started to build a commanding lead. For a while the Ducks could not do anything wrong and the Cougs struggled making shots, maintaining possession of the ball, and stopping the Ducks from scoring.

In the end the Cougs lost by 19 points in a game that did not appear that lopsided through the first three-quarters of play.

The was my first time shooting a basketball game. I tried to get a seat near the court and one that gave me an angle that didn’t place me directly behind the basket. I ended up getting the front row of Section 8. This game me some elevation over the court and a decent angle. But I was behind the basket enough that some of the shots were obscured by the board.

I was able to use my new Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens. I found that fast glass was nice. I still had to bump up the ISO setting in order to get the speed. I played around with different shutter speeds and ISO settings. I finally ended up using 1/1000th of a second at ISO-4000.

It was a pleasure to use my lens. I was able to get some great close ups of the action at both ends of the court. With this being my first time out doing such photos I have a lot to learn and a lot more experimenting with shutter speeds and ISO settings before I find myself at a happy place.

For fun I took some photos with my Canon Zoom Lens EF-S 18-135mm 1:3.5-5.6 IS STM and Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM. A couple of those are also in this post.