Dakota Valley’s Cameron Carter leaps over Wagner’s Mitch Breen to recover a Wagner fumble during football action at Dakota Valley Tuesday, October 28, 2008. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)

PHOTO GALLERY

Heelan’s Kelsey Tweet, 5, and Leisa McClintock, 6, defend against Sgt. Bluff-Luton’s Erin Goff during volleyball action at Heelan High School Monday, October 27, 2008. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)

I’ll admit that lately I have splurged a bit, well, OK, a lot on new camera equipment. But tonight I was shooting volleyball at Heelan High School where they have one of the worse lit gyms in town. In the past I had a choice of using flash or settling for grainy, noisy digital photos.

Tonight I was shooting available light with my Canon 50D and 200/2 lens. The exposue was ASA 3200, 1/500 second at f/2.  I was happy with the results.

PHOTO GALLERY

Sioux City’s Jarrod Mermis collides with Indiana’s Stanislav Galiev during hockey action at the Tyson Events Center Sunday, October 26, 2008. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)

PHOTO GALLERY

Someone asked me why I don’t shoot more hockey photos from ground level through the glass. Shooting from ground level does make for nice angles, and it’s easier to get good expressions. But the glass at the Tyson Events Center is rather funky, worse than most hockey arenas I’ve shot in. The image gets easily distorted if I try to shot at too much of an angle through the glass and the percentage of keepers drops dramatically. I will shoot from floor level occasionally to mix up the variety of shots. But I’ve found I’ll get more good photos when I shoot with a long lens from the concourse area. The hockey photos were taken with a Canon 50D and a 200/2 lens with a 1.4 extender, shooting at ASA 800, 1/640 second at f/2.8.

Sarah Palin arrives for a rally at West High School in Sioux City, Iowa, Saturday, October 25, 2008.  (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)

PHOTO GALLERY

The Sioux City Musketeers take the ice against  Chicago during “Pink in the Rink,” at the Tyson Events Center Friday, October 17, 2008.  (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)

No real story behind this shot, I just kinda like it. Taken with a Canon 50D and a 70-200/2.8 lens.

Oh, yeah, the 50D. I know what you’re thinking,  didn’t I just buy a pair of 40D’s earlier this summer? Well, yeah, but I was down in Omaha yesterday shopping for a wedding present and since I was down there I had to pop into a camera store just to look around. It turns out they had a 50D in stock and I had a credit card in my pocket and, well, now I have a 50D. I know, I’m worse than a kid in a candy store.

Speaking of weddings, I’ll be on vacation starting tomorrow so I can go to the wedding of one of my closest and dearest friends, Jenny Welp.  You may remember that name because Jenny used to be the education reporter here at the Journal.

Of course the wedding will only be on one day, but then I’ll also visit some friends, family, mostly be a bum, and then end my vacation by going to the Sioux City Roller Dames bout against Sioux Falls at the Long Lines Family Rec Center next Friday. I’ll be back to work on Saturday, October 27.

East’s #31 (not listed on roster) digs for the ball against West during volleyball action at East High Tuesday, October 14, 2008. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)

This photo did not get turned in for the print edition of the newspaper. Why? Because #31 is not listed on the roster. It always frustrates me when I get back to the office, only have a few minutes before deadline, find a photo I like, then find out the player is not listed on the roster. So what happens? I go to the next best photo and hope that player is listed.

VOLLEYBALL PHOTO GALLERY

Jeff Donaldson tees off on the 12th hole during the Jividen Cup Match Play Tournament.

I owe a big thank-you to golfer Jeff Donaldson. Today I got a last minute assignment to shoot the Jividen Cup Match Play Tournament at Whispering Creek. It seems like most of the golf tournaments we photograph are at Green Valley Golf Course where I’ve been spoiled by Assistant Golf Pro Nick Wanderscheid. Every time I show up Nick will tell me who is in the lead, who the top contenders are, and he can usually tell me where they are on the golf course to within about a whole. And if Nick is not around then there is always someone in the club house who can help me.

We don’t shoot a lot at Whispering Creek, and they don’t seem used to having media around. When I arrived I had a hard time finding anyone who could tell me anything about the tournament. I finally found one gal who was able to tell me who the leaders were and she thought they were near 7th hole. So decided I would go to 9 and wait for them to come my way and hope I could get a couple of shoots before I had to leave for my next assignment.

One of the leaders was Jeff Donaldson (who ending up winning the tournament.) Luckily Jeff happened to by going past the clubhouse on his way to the 10th hole when he overheard them telling me to go to 7. Jeff caught me as I was walking out the door and told me they were on their way to the 10th hole and he offered me a ride in his golf cart.

If it wasn’t for Jeff, I would’ve ended up waiting at 9 as long as I could and then leaving for my next assignment without any photos. So thank you, Jeff, and congratulations on your win!

Jeff Donaldson puts on the 12th green.

Morningside’s Blake Anderson is tackled by Hastings’ Mike Cardenas during football action at Morningside College Saturday, October 11, 2008. (Jim Lee/Sioux City Journal)

Had to shoot and scoot at the Morningside football game today. The game started at 2:00, I shot for less than a quarter, then I had to speed down to… um, I mean drive responsibly down to the Little Sioux Scout Ranch for another assignment, then drive back to Sioux City, crank out some pics, then get over to the Tyson Events Center for hockey. Oh, and did I mention that I started the day with a food page assignment. Yep it’s Saturday.

FOOTBALL PHOTO GALLERY

In addition to my four photo assignments today, I get an e-mail from our City Editor asking if we could find a stand-alone photo for tomorrow’s paper. I made the usual rounds to some of the parks and the riverfront, not finding much of anything, so I decided I’d just park my kiester at the Anderson Dance Pavilion for a bit and see if anything happens to come my way.

After a few minutes the only thing that came my way was a bee. I was desperate for a photo, so why not. The photo was taken with my 70-200/2.8 lens with a 1.4X Extender attached.