Amador Basketball Classic

Dodge Ball, a photo by Wayne-K on Flickr.

Amador Valley High School sponsors the Amador Basketball Classic (AKA, ABC Tournament). This year is the 51st annual tournament. It takes a lot of dedicated volunteers to put on a tournament like this. I don't understand basketball enough to be a timekeeper, shot clock operator, or scorekeeper. I'm also not qualified for the hard jobs, like snack bar operator or door ticket puncher, so I decided to volunteer to take pictures.

Today, Amador played Irvington High School. The Dons played a great all-around game and dominated, winning by a large margin.

I shot the first half primarily with the bazooka....the massive 70-200mm f/2.8. I definitely like the reach it gives me. It's really the only way to capture the guards in action. However, guards are pretty boring...all they do is dribble and shoot. All of the action is down low, at the baseline and under the basket. I switched to the 50mm f/1.8 for the second half and captured more of the interesting stuff. I love the beating and banging that occurs under the basket.

I think my strategy moving forward will be to shoot the games with both lenses. The 50mm will allow me to capture the great action and the bazooka will ensure I don't neglect the poor guards.

Here are a few more shots from today's game.