Giants Fans Celebrate the World Series Win

After 56 years, and never in San Francisco, Giants fans have waited to celebrate winning the World Series. All those years of pent up frustration burst out last night on the streets of San Francisco. It was insane...
Earlier fans by the thousands watched the game at the Civic Center
Fans were hoping for a celebration...
And when Edgar Renteria scored a 3-run home run it looked like the party was about to start.
At the end people were streaming around honking horns and hi-fiving..
Samba bands appeared out of nowhere...
And the party began..
Some San Francisans had to work and couldn't join the party...

A group of around 1000 fans marched from 5th and Market...

And celebrated on the steps of the old Mint at 5th and Mission.

Making their way to AT&T Park jumping on any car in the way...

Even if it was a police car.
And lit and jumped through bonfires at 3rd and King St.

Firefighters doused some of the bonfires.
And the party just kept going and going. Congrats Giants for an amazing run and bringing the party back to SF. Can't wait for the celebration parade on Wednesday!

Marin County Triathlon

One of my favorite yearly events to photograph for the Marin IJ is the Marin County Triathlon...
I am always amazed what people go through to compete in the race...
After the brutal 1.5 km swim there is a 22 mile bike ride...
22 miles...
At least it always helps to have a supporters section cheering you on.
Then at the end an "easy" 6.2 mile run...
Up...
and down hills to the finish line...
Where you raise your hands in triumph.
And celebrate with your loved ones. To see all my photos from the day click on the slideshow in the Marin IJ article .

Giants Fans Celebrate Game 1 Win in Marin

I was on assignment for the Marin IJ shooting fans reactions for Game 1 of the World Series.At the beginning of the game it looked like I was going to be taking a lot of photos of unhappy and worried Giants fans...
And I was also taking photos of how well sports bars were doing cause of the Giant's run...
But in the end after a wild and crazy game the Giants fans were able to celebrate a game 1 win. A good start, but only a start.

First rain of the season

I was covering the Tiburon Mile for the Marin IJ on Sunday (will post that tomorrow) when the first significant rainfall of the wet season happened on Sunday. So I went into weather feature mode.
Trying to stay dry I walked around downtown Sausalito snapping shots.
And got to take in the view of the bay as well. It was nice to have rain here but I do hope there is one more warm spell before the rain sets in for good!

Mill Valley Film Festival and Giants Game in One Night

Thursday nights was one of those nights that makes me love being a photojournalist: mixing up photographing film stars and than catching the end of the Giants vs. Braves opening playoff game.

I was assigned by the Marin IJ to photograph the opening night of the Mill Valley Film Festival. The opening night was sponsored by Wells Fargo so the director of the festival and the mayor of Mill Valley were given a ride by stagecoach to the Sequoia theater for the opening.
Sam Rockwell was the featured Hollywood star at the opening night of the film festival. Here he poses with Pamela Gray, the screenwriter for "Conviction," which Rockwell stars in. The Marin IJ story is here.

After talking to the media I took photos of Rockwell talking with Bob Weir, from Greatful Dead fame, and his daughter talking about acting and baseball. Weir was excited about the Giants game, as was I...
(and no its not Weir at the film festival and the game) ...so after filing my photos into the paper for the deadline, I took advantage of my media credential to get to AT&T Park for the last inning of Tim Lincecum's amazing performance in game 1 of the NLDS playoffs. I love photographing fans of all sports, in case you didn't know.
Fans of all generations were waving their orange rally towels, and I camped out in the left-field bleachers were some of the most hardcore Giants fans are.
The fans celebrated Lincecum's celebration.
And the fans texted all their friends after the game to tell them about their experiences. A fun night of shooting!!!

Fire vs. Earthquakes

Made my way down to San Jose on Wednesday night for the Earthquakes vs. Fire match. It was a tense encounter.
Chicago scored first with a well struck header by Steven Kinney.

And with Freddie Ljungberg playing well it ended up being a tough night for the Earthquakes.
The highlight of the night for the Quakes fans was the induction of Ronald Cerritos into the San Jose Hall of Fame during halftime.
Cerritos was always a great pro and probably was underrated during his playing days so it was great to see him get the respect he deserved for his great career.
Hope to be able to make it to another MLS game this season, and I 'm really looking forward to the playoffs!

My First Time Photographing the "Other" Football AKA Gridiron

After photographing the World Cup lots of people ask me if I take photos of other professional sports. I have shot baseball before but I usually only shoot soccer, or football as it is know all around the world. Well that is, of course, except in America where football is, well, football (or Gridiron for you other folks everywhere else).
So I got my chance to photograph my first NFL Gridiron game as the San Francisco 49ers played the defending Super Bowl champions New Orleans Saints.
I was on assignment for the Marin IJ which was doing a feature on Travis LaBoy, the Marin Catholic standout who just got signed by the 49ers a few weeks ago.
In between shooting LaBoy I was able to grab some other shots. Of course there cannot be Gridiron without the cheerleaders...
... and there was a ton of fireworks before the start of the match, er, game.
The Saints kicker had to work on his practice through the smoke of the fireworks.

And a bunch of Air Force soldiers brought out a huge American flag and held it during the national anthem. It was funny because the whole time they have soldiers running around below the flag to make sure it did not touch the ground and so it looked like it was "waving."
And with the crowd waiting, the game started.
The first half started out with the Saints looking like they were going to run away with it, but the 49ers defense tightened up.
Alex Smith threw to Frank Gore for a touchdown.
At the half it was a close game, 9-7.

During half-time the 49ers honored Jerry Rice and retired his jersey. The photographers were herded into a pen to take photos of the presentation.
And on his way out Jerry Rice got to shake hands with some fans.
In the second half the 49ers took the lead during a drive that had a big reception from Michael Crabtree.
And the 49ers coach Mike Singletary was barking at the refs all half.
And at the end the 49ers drove down the field late to score.

With Gore scoring the touchdown.
But with the score tied, the 49ers game up some easy yards, much to the dismay of the faithful fans at Candlestick Park. The Saints kicked a field goal in the dying seconds to win the game.

So all in all it was a fun experience photographing my first NFL Gridiron, er I mean, football game. Soccer is still my first love but it was a great time and I hope to shoot another NFL game soon!