I spent last Friday and Saturday in Hershey at the Giant Center photographing PIAA Championship basketball games. On Friday for the Inquirer and Saturday for the Intelligencer. Lots of great action, joyful moments and also, sad moments. Overall fun time making the pictures though. I had a system in place, shoot the first half, transmit pictures then shoot a bit more in the fourth and then make pictures of the jubilation or dejection, depending upon how the teams I was covering fared. In three of the five games I photographed, the team from southeastern Pennsylvania won the state championship in their class.
It was a great photographic weekend. 🙂
See some of the images below.
From left, Archbishop Wood’s Claire Bassetti, Bailey Greenberg, Erin Morgan and Emma Stanfield celebrate after defeating Villa Maria to win the girls basketball PIAA Class AAA state championship Saturday March 19, 2016 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania (Photo By William Thomas Cain) (William Thomas Cain/Cain Images)
Archbishop Wood celebrates after defeating Villa Maria to win the girls basketball PIAA Class AAA state championship Saturday March 19, 2016 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania (Photo By William Thomas Cain) (William Thomas Cain/Cain Images)
From left, Archbishop Wood’s Meg Neher #34 and Claire Bassetti #44 carry the championship trophy off the court as they celebrate after defeating Villa Maria to win the girls basketball PIAA Class AAA state championship Saturday March 19, 2016 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania (Photo By William Thomas Cain) (William Thomas Cain/Cain Images)
SBNEUM19P Neumann-Goretti’s Vaughn Covington and Mike Milsip and their teammates celebrate after defeating Mars 99-66 to win the boys basketball PIAA Class AAA state championship Friday March 18, 2016 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. (WILLIAM THOMAS CAIN/For The Inquirer) (William Thomas Cain/Cain Images)
SBNEUM19P Neumann-Goretti’s Quade Green makes a layup as Mars Christian Schmitt #23 defends in the first quarter of the boys basketball PIAA Class AAA state championship game Friday March 18, 2016 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. (WILLIAM THOMAS CAIN/For The Inquirer) (William Thomas Cain/Cain Images)
SBNEUM19P Neumann-Goretti’s Vaughn Covington #0 dribbles up court after stealing the ball from Mars Sam Morrissey #13 in the second quarter of the boys basketball PIAA Class AAA state championship game Friday March 18, 2016 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. (WILLIAM THOMAS CAIN/For The Inquirer) (William Thomas Cain/Cain Images)
SGNEUM19P Neumann-Goretti team members hold the trophy in the air after defeating North Star to win the girls basketball PIAA Class AA state championship game Friday March 18, 2016 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. (WILLIAM THOMAS CAIN/For The Inquirer) (William Thomas Cain/Cain Images)
SGNEUM19P Neumann-Goretti’s Jada Russell #22 attempts to block a pass by North Star’s Courtney Schlock #5 in the fourth quarter of the girls basketball PIAA Class AA state championship game Friday March 18, 2016 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. (WILLIAM THOMAS CAIN/For The Inquirer) (William Thomas Cain/Cain Images)
SMATH19P Kennedy Catholic’s Sagaba Konate #50 lands on top of Math, Civics and Sciences Malik Archer #3 in the first quarter of the boys basketball PIAA Class A state championship game Friday March 18, 2016 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. (WILLIAM THOMAS CAIN/For The Inquirer) (William Thomas Cain/Cain Images)
SMATH19P Math, Civics and Sciences players dejectedly sit on the bench in the last seconds of the fourth quarter against Kennedy Catholic in the boys basketball PIAA Class A state championship game Friday March 18, 2016 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Kennedy Catholic defeated Math, Civics and Sciences 71-60 to win the PIAA Class A championship. (WILLIAM THOMAS CAIN/For The Inquirer) (William Thomas Cain/Cain Images)
SOHARA19P Cumberland Valley’s Morgan Baughman #24 grabs a rebound as Cardinal O’Hara’s Mary Sheehan #13 and Mackenzie Gardler #14 defend in the second quarter of the girls basketball PIAA Class AAAA state championship game Friday March 18, 2016 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. (WILLIAM THOMAS CAIN/For The Inquirer) (William Thomas Cain/Cain Images)
SOHARA19P From left, Cardinal O’Hara’s Lauren Leicht, Bridgette Hoy, Kristen Denoncour and Maura Hendrixson sit on the bench in the last seconds of the fourth quarter as they lose to Cumberland Valley in the girls basketball PIAA Class AAAA state championship game Friday March 18, 2016 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Cumberland Valley defeated Cardinal O’Hara to win the PIAA Class AAAA state championship. (WILLIAM THOMAS CAIN/For The Inquirer) (William Thomas Cain/Cain Images)
Some clips:
Well, I finally did it. A1 of todays newspaper featured one of my images. That’s happened before, many times over, but never from a video that I had photographed. One of the problems with shooting video and stills is that eventually, you come upon a situation where you’ll have to decide on video or stills. Inevitably, you’ll be shooting video and a moment pops that makes great video as well as stills. Last night I was shooting video as well as stills as patrons at the Iron Abbey in Horsham, Pennsylvania watched the USA vs. Ghana World Cup soccer (or football if you feel that way) match. One minute into the match the USA teams scored. The crowd in the bar went wild. At the time, I was shooting video. I’m thinking, this is some great video. I’ll get some stills next time something interesting happens. And…..nothing. For a while. As the clock ticks, I worry about meeting my deadline since I still had another assignment and video to edit from earlier in the day. After about 45 minutes waiting for something to happen, I though that I’d better go edit the pix and get them in. In essence, I gave up due to deadline restrictions. Previously, I had a conversation with one of the editors about the necessity of doing video first and if I had to I could pull a frame from the video and use it as a still image. If you shoot fast enough, it is possible to do. Once that thought entered my head, I had a plan. Pull the best moment from video and use that as a still image to go along with the other still images from the event. Those were mostly of people waiting with baited breath for another goal that the USA team scored about 80 minutes into the game. 
