In Touch: The Shooting Star Diaries

Shooting Star's client streak to end after 10-plus years

2009-09-23T23:42:00.000-07:00

A special streak will sadly come to a close for Shooting Star Sports Photography on Friday night. For the first time since the launch of our one-of-a-kind, groundbreaking service more than 10 years ago, we will not have a high school football client to photograph. The streak, which began with us photographing Gary Friedman of the Garces High Rams in September 1999, ends after more than 100 consecutive weeks.

Garces High's Gary Freidman was our first high school football
client in 1999, and launched a streak of more than 100
consecutive Friday nights with at least one client. We were
shooting film back then.

Utilizing nearly 60 combined years of daily photojournalism experience, unparalleled ability to make photographs in the most difficult lighting conditions and customer service resulting in a nearly 100 percent repeat customer rate, Shooting Star photographers have produced more than 1,000 custom portfolios for more than 400 clients during the past decade. Our portfolios are deeply personal stories documenting a special time in an athlete's life, far more evolved than just a collection of routine action photographs. Until this season, we've averaged 15 to 20 football clients, and had to turn away at least that many more because we could not keep up with the demand. This season we are photographing just five football players and do not anticipate adding any others.

While it would be easy to point a finger at the economy as the reason for the dramatic decline, we don't think that is the case. We are losing customers to amateur photographers. Virtually every local high school field is now saturated with amateur photographers each Friday night. These folks, often with cameras not equipped to handle the difficult shooting conditions presented by the poorly-lit fields the games are played on, are giving away pictures for free because they think it's cool. The pictures are awful, but "free" is a powerful phenomenon for even savvy and discerning parents to overcome. Others are purchasing pro-level equipment and with no experience are setting up photo businesses. They look the part, they have the gear, they have the vests (amateur photographers just love the photo vest!) but they can't shoot. One such photographer is offering his services at a "too-good-to-be-true" rate, and has lured several dozen clients to his service. The packages he is offering would be impossible for us to produce even with our years of experience; he has no experience and there are going to be some very disappointed parents pretty soon.

So it looks like our decade of word of mouth business, with little need to advertise or market, will have to make some adjustments. We'll be out there agressively marketing, and will soon regain our position as not a choice for sports photography in Bakersfield, but as the "only choice" for quality sports photography in Bakersfield. And despite the loss of football clients, we are still very close to our fall season projections; we have just moved on to other areas, including auto racing, tennis and water polo, where we have new clients making up for the lost football clients.

Our streak ended on one of the the fields that powered us the past 10 years, at Centennial High, where our clients were Garrett Hayslett (our third portfolio on Garrett and fourth overall for the Haysletts) and Cole Hallum (our second portfolio for Cole and fourth overall for the Hallum family.) We'll be back at Centennial on October 2 for the Hawks vs. Stockdale and hopefully the start of another 10-year streak.

Garrett Hayslett (above) and Cole Hallum were our athletes
last week. The lure of free or extremely low-cost photographs,
despite their poor quality, has affected us after 10 consecutive
sold out football seasons.

Please click on photos to view larger versions

Shooting Star's Hallum comes up huge against Liberty

2009-09-18T23:50:00.000-07:00

Cole Hallum lines up his 46-yard field goal attempt, which
would be a career best for the junior kicker-receiver.

There were three big offensive plays in the Centennial Golden Hawks 10-6 victory over Liberty High Friday night, and Shooting Star client Cole Hallum made two of them. Hallum, who is having his second portfolio shot by us, delivered a career-best 46-yard field goal in the first quarter to put the Hawks up 3-0 in a tight defensive game.

Cole follows through on the kick, which split the
uprights and gave Centennial an early lead.

But Hallum saved his biggest play for the end of the game. With Centennial holding on to a 10-6 lead and just over a minute to play, the Patriots had the Hawks pinned deep in their own territory and looked like they would get the ball back with decent field position to mount a last drive. That's when quarterback Cody Kessler found Hallum with a sideline toss in front of the Liberty bench, and Hallum romped down the sideline for a 38-yard gain that sealed the game. Hallum's field goal and game-saving reception were sandwiched around a touchdown run by Kessler, and that was all the offense the Hawks needed as the defense stifled Liberty before the Patriots mounted a drive well into the fourth quarter.

The Liberty players and coaches could only watch as
Hallum sealed the game with this 38-yard catch and run.

Cody Kessler scores the only touchdown of the game
for the Hawks in the third quarter. We generally only
photograph our clients, but since Cody ran right at us,
we went ahead and tripped the shutter.

We still have room and time to add Golden Hawk and Patriots clients. Sadly for unsuspecting parents, the market has been flooded with amateur photographers working the sidelines of high school events, and some of these photographers, with virtually no experience shooting in the most challenging conditions, are charging almost as much for their services as we do. Only Shooting Star can consistently deliver photographs of this caliber; we were the pioneers of the custom portfolio and multimedia format, and continue to be the best, not only in Kern County but in the United States. Nobody else even comes close. Don't be fooled by all the posers, because you'll be heartbroken when you see what you end up with compared to what we do for our clients.

Please click on photos to view larger versions.

Up close and personal with the guys you love to hate

2009-09-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

Official Matt Collier worked the games with a pink whistle
to show is support for the fight against breast cancer.

They're the guys you love to hate. If your team wins on a Friday night in autumn, you forget they were even there. If you lose, then of course it was their fault! They're the officials tasked with the job of calling the biggest game in town - high school football. These guys are regular members of the community, dads and husbands, business professionals and laborers. On Friday night, they enter the belly of the beast, Kern County's hallowed fields where high school football is as big as life itself. And over the course of more than six hours, they work the night's junior varsity and varsity games with a singular mission: call a good game and make sure it is the players, and not them, who are remembered when the night is done.

Nick Ellis and his crew worked the Canyon at Bakersfield games
Friday night, which featured two of California's best programs.
The guys from left are Ken Lopez, Bob Hartshorn, Bob Williams,
John Hallum, Nick Ellis and Matt Collier before the JV game.

We were commissioned by veteran referee Nick Ellis to photograph his crew Friday night as they worked the biggest game in town, the Week 1 matchup between perennial Division 1 powers Canyon and Bakersfield High. What struck me most about the crew was the seriousness they apply to their responsibilities. These are not a bunch of guys who show up a few minutes before game time, get dressed and take to the field. They arrived at the fabled Griffith Field early, more than an hour before the junior varsity kickoff, and immediately went to work discussing assignments, talking about what went right and what went wrong during their practices and Week Zero game the prior Friday. They are tough on themselves and tough on each other. This is serious business to them, and it should be. Each of them was well aware that a call made in early September, especially involving these two titan programs, could have implications well into December. Canyon was the Division 1 state champion in 2006; Bakersfield is the winningest program in state history and makes no bones that it not only wants a section championship, it wants to play for the state title. Like Peyton Manning wanting the ball in his hands with the game on the line, these were the games the crew wanted on this night.

For us, a shoot like this reaffirms the power and validity of our business model; producing top notch photojournalism and delivering it directly to the consumer. We assigned two photographers to document the crew at work - we believe it is the first time the work of a local high school crew has been documented - with Felix Adamo shooting the varsity game and me shooting the junior varsity game. Officiating crews have been after us to shoot for them for a few years now, but with individual athletes filling our entire fall schedule, it was hard to fit them in. But we are down significantly in clients for the first time, so this would be a great opportunity for any of the other crews to have themselves documented. Our fee is beyond reasonable: $600 for the night and the production. That's $100 per crew member. So if you like the show, give your crew a go!

This show is posted in high definition and we recommend you click the You Tube tab in the lower right corner to view it on our You Tube page in high def. It's a large show and will take a few minutes to load, but it's worth it to see the quality of our work. Enjoy.

We're off and shooting with BC's Tyrone Crawford

2009-09-09T22:26:00.000-07:00

We're off to an exciting start this season - the beginning of our 11th year - with a shoot on Bakersfield College defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford. Tyrone was easily one of the best players on the field Saturday as the Renegades scored a 33-14 season-opening victory against Fresno City. As good as Tyrone is on the field, we think it's his effusive personality that is going to make this one of our best portfolios ever, and can't wait to train our cameras on him a few more times before his portfolio is completed. Tyrone, a big-time high school star from Catholic Central High in Windsor, Ontario, has verbally committed to play for the Boise State University Broncos next season.

Note that this is a large show and if viewing the images in full-screen mode, which I recommend, it may take a few minutes to load. If you leave full-screen mode and wish to return, click the icon in the lower right corner.

Welcome back! A new client's guide to our product

2009-08-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are again. It's fall sports season! And it's the start of our 11th year offering our specialty product, the Shooting Star custom sports portfolio, to our clients. Hopefully you are about to join the more than 400 Kern County families who have used our service. Here's what you need to know, along with a sampling of the photos we did for our clients the past couple of seasons.

Charlie Devers played safety and even shed a little blood

for his East High Blades last season.

Entering our client pool: We handle our fall sports load by establishing our client pool, then setting our shooting schedule so that we get as many opportunities as possible to photograph your athlete. Our service is limited to 20 athletes, for all sports combined, during the fall, winter and spring seasons. Once we reach 20 clients, the pool is closed and we do not accept any other athletes. The schedule is set based on the clients who are in our pool at the start of the season. Once the season starts, we only add clients from schools in which we already have clients. Thus it is critical that you are in our client pool at the start of the season, or shortly after the season starts.

Randall Chafin had an outstanding season as a two-way

starter for the Garces Rams.

Our fee and what we deliver: Our fee for the 2009-10 school year is $500. This is a flat-rate fee, there are no packages. We do not shot on speculation and do not sell pictures on the web. We guarantee two complete games of coverage, and deliver a multimedia slide show on DVD and a set of images for you to use as you choose. The fee is per athlete. All portfolios are completed and delivered before Christmas. Sorry, but we do not shoot multiple athletes and allow the fee to be split. We only shoot the athletes we are commissioned to photograph. When we are at the game, we are working for you, our attention is 100 percent on your athlete, and we do not do "piecemeal" shooting for other parents who want a few pictures but have not commissioned our services. In other words, we only do portfolios of individual athletes and nothing else.

Our product is more about telling a story and capturing a special time in your athlete's life, which is what we did for Bakersfield Christian volleyball stars Janie Atkinson and Tori Hoffmann.

Payment and billing: We require a 50 percent deposit or payment in full before we begin photographing your athlete. We are no longer willing to begin the shooting and production process without first receiving the deposit. We offer online credit card payments using any credit card. We simply e-mail you a link and this takes you to PayPal, where you can easily make your payment. This has proven to be very popular with our clients. You also have the option of paying by check.

Centennial's Brock Bivens will be able to look back on his

outstanding senior season thanks to the portfolio we shot for him.

Click photos for larger versions.

An inspirational tale of two high school wrestlers

2009-08-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

As we draw closer to the start of another year of high school sports, I thought the Shooting Star community would enjoy this incredibly powerful story by ESPN's Outside the Lines that tells the story of the bond between two disabled high school wrestlers from Cleveland, Ohio. It's 12 minutes that you won't soon forget.

Jarret Martin signs contract with Orioles

2009-07-31T10:05:00.000-07:00

Congrats to our client Jarret Martin, who has signed with the Baltimore Orioles. Jarret was selected by the Orioles in this spring's draft. Signed as a pitcher, the lefty is a prolific hitter who set the all-time central section home run record for the Centennial High Golden Hawks last year and tied the Bakersfield College Renegades home run record this year. Jarret is our fifth Centennial High client to play professional baseball. Brandon Roberts is currently playing AA ball in the Minnesota Twins organization; Brent Morel is playing high A ball in the Chicago White Sox organization; Zach Aakhus is playing in Crestwood, Illinois in the independent Frontier League and Jamie Arneson was with the Cincinnati Reds organization but is not currently active.

Read the very nice Bakersfield Californian article about Jarret's signing by my friend Zach Ewing.

We're also going to take the liberty of assuming that Jarret's proud parents and grandparents are very happy that he worked continuing college education into his contract. Great move, Jarret!

Honors galore for spring Shooting Star kids!

2009-06-24T23:35:00.000-07:00

In what is easily the most successful season for Shooting Star clients, we are happy to report that nine of our spring high school athletes earned either first or second team all-league honors. All league selections are made by the coaches in the athletes' respective leagues. Here are the athletes, along with their very proud parents. We always make mom and dad a part of each athlete's portfolio! Congratulations to all on your outstanding season.
Click photos for larger versions

Riley Showers of Bakersfield Christian with his parents
Jeff and Kym. Riley was named South Sequoia League
Player of the Year.

Pitcher Bryan Maxwell of Centennial High with his parents
Jeanne and Marty. Bryan was named first team all South-
west Yosemite League.

Nathan Ketelhut of North High with his parents Tammy
and Brian. Nathan is the first team SWYL catcher.

Centennial's Alana Alexander with her parents Treena
and Pat. Alana was named first team all SWYL in track.

Bakersfield Christian's Tori Hoffmann was named first
team SSL in softball. Her parents are Beth and Tom.

Garces sophomore Grant Campbell made the first team
all Southeast Yosemite League outfield. His mom and
dad are Jack and Bonnie.

Garces' Kelly Hosey and her mom, Sandy. Kelly made
the SWYL second team in track.

Josh Dickey of Centennial with his parents Darrin and
Mandi. Josh is the SWYL second team catcher.

Bakersfield Christian shortstop Dwight Mashburn was
named to the South Sequoia League second team. His
parents are Denise and Mike.

Orioles take Martin again

2009-06-10T12:21:00.000-07:00

It seems the Baltimore Orioles like Jarret Martin. For the second straight year, Jarret was chosen by Baltimore in the Major League Baseball draft. Martin, who set a central section home run record at Centennial High last year and tied the Bakersfield College home run record this year, was chosen in the 18th round, a one-round improvement over last year, when he was chosen in the 19th round. Despite his prolific batting numbers, major league teams are interested in him as a pitcher.

As he did last year, Jarret will now consider his options before deciding to sign professionally or return to the Renegades for his sophomore year. K.C. Hobson, the dominant high school player who led the Stockdale High Mustangs to back-to-back section championships, was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the sixth round.

Whew!! Spring portfolios are done!!!

2009-05-30T17:41:00.001-07:00

I hope all our Shooting Star fans didn't think we abandoned them. The site hasn't been updated because the past two weeks were devoted exclusively to preparation of the spring portfolios, and I'm happy to announce that they are completed and ready for delivery! Preparation of a Shooting Star Sports Photography portfolio is no simple task - each one is a meticulous and painstaking endeavour, and a minimum of 12 hours goes into every portfolio. While I frequently use the word "we" in these posts because I do have some excellent contract photographers and even a great high school student to help with some tasks, I flew solo this spring and handled the whole workload myself. The total: 14 portfolio athletes, plus substantial contract work for Cal State Bakersfield athletics, Bakersfield College baseball, and my former employer, The Bakersfield Californian. In all, just over 10,000 images shot and 2,783 photos delivered to our clients in their portfolios! Above is our new client Dwight Mashburn of Bakersfield Christian High School.

Fittingly, one of our best moments of the spring happened on our final shoot, when client Bryan Maxwell of Centennial High launched this homer in the exciting playoff game last Friday against arch-rival Stockdale High. I love the reactions of all the people in the photographs. I'm sad Bryan's homer didn't hold up for the Hawks, but I'm also happy my pal Dan Lemon and his Stockdale Mustangs made good on the victory by winning a second straight section championship. Check out the sequence below, and please click the photos to view larger versions.

Cooper Thompson wins state JC javelin title!

2009-05-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

Cooper Thompson of the Bakersfield College Renegades, whom we profiled earlier this week, (see post from May 10 below) has won the state junior college javelin title at San Mateo College with a throw of 222 feet! You can read The Bakersfield Californian article about Cooper's big win here. Congratulations, Coop!

Going in style: Tori's Senior Day slam

2009-05-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

It was Senior Day on the Bakersfield Christian softball diamond Thursday, and Tori Hoffmann was likely playing her last home game for the Eagles (pending playoff seedings this weekend.) Tori's had an outstanding senior year. A hitter on the volleyball team, she helped lead the Eagles to an undefeated league season and the section championship. As a catcher and infielder for the softball squad, she was batting .403 with three home runs. But when Tori came to bat in the third inning against Taft with the bases loaded, she was looking at something she had not done in high school. A grand slam. Three homers is a nice number in prep softball, but in 80 plate appearances, it was not a given that Tori could launch one here. But it was Senior Day. Mom and dad in the stands. Maybe her final game at Bakersfield Christian. Could she do it? Uh, yes. This was a no-doubter, a rocket shot over the left field fence. The big hit in a big three-for-four, 5 RBI game that powered the Eagles to a 15-5 victory. But most importantly, a memory of a lifetime.

These are our images of Tori launching her grand slam and a thrilled Tori after the big hit.

Think about being able to tell that story. And being able to pull out the set of pictures that captured the moment. We were happy to be there, delighted to capture this moment for Tori and her mom and dad. Tori is headed to Abilene Christian University in Texas this fall and hopes to make the softball team as a walk on. She is the daughter of Tom and Beth Hoffmann.

Oh noooo! Here comes Black Friday

2009-05-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

Kelly Hosey of Garces High will not encounter any Black Fridays during her varsity career. Her mom has booked her portfolios for the next two years!

Shooting Star has three bad days every year. We call them Black Fridays. It's the day when parents, sometimes more than a dozen at a time, call us frantically trying to hire us to photograph their athlete on the last day of the season. Almost always, their athlete is a senior playing his or her last game. And we have to turn them all away, because we just are not an "on demand" business. When we meet prospective clients, we beg them - no make that we plead with them - that if they want our services they have to book us before the season begins or at worst, very early in the season. We painstakingly explain the incredible juggling act we must do with the schedules of as many as two dozen athletes competing in different leagues. We explain how the earlier they get us, the more opportunities we will have to photograph their athlete. We explain that we set our schedule months in advance, and once we schedule our clients, it's pretty much locked in granite. We stress it over and over. Yet on three Fridays every year, the last days of the fall, winter and spring seasons, the calls pour in. It's really sad.

Blake Campbell is also "Black Friday-proof" as his entire high school sports career has been booked four years in advance.

Tomorrow is Black Friday. The first call will come in around 7 am and continue throughout the day. We'll be at Garces High photographing our clients Blake and Grant Campbell and Nick Sakowski. The Campbells book us four years in advance, no Black Fridays for them! And the Sakowskis booked very early in the season. The moral of this little story is we don't sit around waiting for clients. You are in a competition for our services just as your athlete is in competition against his or her opponent. You have to book us early or we just can't help you. So please, please, please - see, we're pleading again - books us early or we're just not going to be able to shoot for you.
Click photos for larger versions

Anything more special than Senior Day?

2009-05-13T12:24:00.000-07:00

Is there anything more special to a family than senior day, when the athletes take to the field for their last regular season home game with their parents and give their moms a rose? We were able to photograph the Bakersfield Christian High School baseball seniors Tuesday since we were there photographing our portfolio clients Dwight Mashburn and Riley Showers. Non-client parents may purchase our photos. Dwight and Riley's photos will be included in their portfolios. To see how good these special images are, we want to direct you to our full-size image galleries. You may purchase prints and or original digital files. Just send an e-mail to johnharte@johnharte.com for prices and details.
Click photo for larger version

New sport, new championship for Cooper

2009-05-10T23:19:00.000-07:00

During the past 10 years, we've photographed more than 400 of Kern County's best athletes. But even among the very best, some are a notch, or several notches, above the others. Garces grad and emerging Bakersfield College track star Cooper Thompson is easily among the very best athletes we've photographed. A standout at Garces High, Cooper played key roles in leading the Rams to the CIF section championship in football during his junior year and the section championship in basketball his senior year. He also competed in the long jump and triple jump in track. But this year, Thompson has accomplished the remarkable - he took up the javelin and almost immediately was throwing among the best in the state. Then this weekend, just four months after deciding to give the javelin a try, he won the Southern California junior college championship and will compete for the state title later this week.

Check out The Bakersfield Californian article about Cooper's incredible journey by college reporter Jeff Evans. Below, take a look at some of the photos we shot for Cooper during his outstanding varsity years at Garces High. And of course, we wish Cooper the best of luck this Friday and Saturday at the state championships in San Mateo.
Click photos for larger versions

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Greg Sanders: Just in the nick of time!

2009-05-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

It was last Tuesday and Greg Sanders was pitching his final game for the Bakersfield College Renegades. It was a beauty; Sanders had a shutout going against Citrus and was working the final innings of his two-years for Tim Painton's 'Gades when I was introduced to his dad, Jerry. Like so many parents, Jerry didn't know about Shooting Star, but asked if I could get him some pictures. Normally that's not possible, as I am totally focused on my clients, sometimes as many as eight or nine at a time. But on this day I was finishing up on Jarett Martin, who was the designated hitter, and was able to catch Greg, who attended Liberty High, pitching the final two innings of his career at BC. And of course we got a great set of photos for Greg, including him being embraced by his teammates as he came off the field, and are happy to welcome him to the Shooting Star family of athletes!
Click photos for larger versions

BC's Martin named first team WSC

2009-05-06T14:13:00.000-07:00

We offer congrats to slugger Jarret Martin of the Bakersfield College Renegades, who has been named to the Western State Conference first-team. Jarret was selected as the all-conference designated hitter. Jarret is Bakersfield's lone representative on the first-team squad, comprising both the northern and southern divisions of the conference. A tremendous hitter who is also being coveted by several major league organizations as a pitcher, Martin tied the Bakersfield College home run mark with 11 this season. He batted .331 with 35 RBI, scored 32 runs and had 44 hits, including 9 doubles. You can see a gallery of our images of Jarret here.
Click photos for larger versions

Jarret delivers the first base hit in the
newly-remodeled Collis Field on April 4.

A graduation congratulation: Cody Stone, Southern Utah

2009-05-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

Cody Stone walked the walk as an outstanding quarterback for the North High Stars, the Bakersfield College Renegades and the Southern Utah University Thunderbirds. On Saturday, Cody walked the aisle in Cedar City, Utah as a college graduate, with a degree in communications. We shot Cody's portfolio during his outstanding 2006 season for the BC Renegades, when he threw for 10 touchdowns and rushed for two in leading the 'Gades to an 11-2 record and a trip to the Southern California junior college championship game.

At Southern Utah, Cody became the starting quarterback late in his junior season, and remained the starter for the 2008 season. He started all 11 games and threw for 2,664 yards and 22 touchowns. Cody lit it up during the game at Cal Poly, throwing for 469 yards and four touchdowns. He completed 34 of 59 passes. He had another four-touchdown game against UC Davis. He was a standout athlete at North High and earned all-area honors during his senior year, when he threw for more than 1,700 yards and rushed for more than 300. Cody's mom and dad are Elissa Loop and Bob Stone. Congratulations, Cody!
Click photos for larger versions

Slide shows to post online in super-high quality

2009-05-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

Two-time Shooting Star athlete Tori Hoffmann.

Our Shooting Star clients will now have a new way to share their multimedia slide shows with friends and relatives who can't get over to the house to watch the DVD. Utilizing some of the same technology that the major networks and Netflix use that lets you watch shows and movies online in super-high quality, we will begin posting your slide shows online this spring. We've resisted this for several years because we just weren't happy with the size and quality that was previously available, but the breathtaking and rapid changes to the online landscape have changed that. As a matter of fact, the shows online are even clearer than those played through a conventional DVD player!

We've posted a demo show featuring athletes Tori Hoffmann of Bakersfield Christian High, Jarret Martin of Bakersfield College, Chad Pollard of Liberty High (now a Bakersfield College Renegade) and Alana Alexander of Centennial. Check it out and please send any suggestions! To view the sample show, click here.
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Grant Campbell launches first V-bomb

2009-04-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

Garces High sophomore Grant Campbell has carried a weighty responsibility for the Rams' varsity baseball program. He was inserted as the team's clean-up batter during his freshman season and carried it into this season. Grant, a powerful free-swinger who seems to always puts the ball in play, was missing only one thing in his impressive tenure in the number 4 slot - that first-ever home run as a Ram. It was only a matter of time, and that time came Wednesday at Bakersfield High when Grant launched a rocket shot to left-center field, easily clearing the 360-foot marker in the Drillers' spacious field. His first varsity bomb! I even got excited, and I'm not supposed to do that!

Our first picture of Grant, taken in October 2001.

I took my first picture of Grant, then 7-years-old, in October 2001 when I photographed his older brother, Jack, in a championship football game. Since then, the Campbell family has trusted Shooting Star and John Harte Digital Photography Services with their photography needs. We don't just shoot pictures; we have for eight years been weaving a tapestry, through our well-honed photojournalism skills, of the most important moments in the lives of this super close-knit family.

Grant's excited mom and dad, Bonnie and Jack, with little brother, Joe, after the home run.
Click photos for larger versions

Here's a slide show of Grant's first home run.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Then and now: New job for Kerianne's legs. Marathons!

2009-04-28T21:09:00.000-07:00

Kerianne Kreger's legs made her one of the best volleyball hitters in the area, helping her power the Garces Rams to the section championship in 2002 and landing her a scholarship to play volleyball at Cal State Bakersfield. Kerianne graduated in 2007 with her degree in business administration. She moved to Newport Beach last year and works for AAA Insurance and has found a new job for those "leap-out-of-the gym" legs. She's running half marathons!

Kerianne ran her first one in October, and completed the 13.1 miles in 1 hour and 49 minutes. She is training for another that she will run on May 9th. She says it was a bit of a challenge transitioning from volleyball shape to marathon shape, a process that took about six months. Kerianne also practices yoga and loves to travel and has a pretty interesting career goal. She hopes to form a non-profit organization that will let her combine her love of yoga and travel to help people in need around the world. And while Kerianne's competitive volleyball days may be finished, she's not yet done with the sport; she plans to start playing beach volleyball for fun!
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No waiting with Jarret at the bat

2009-04-23T22:02:00.001-07:00

We have added Jarret Martin of the Bakersfield College Renegades, one of Central California's most prolific home run hitters, to the Shooting Star family of athletes. Our big question was how long would it take Jarret to launch a bomb while we were photographing him? Uh, how about one swing? During our initial shoot Thursday, Jarret homered on his first swing, then launched another in a four-for-four performance to power the Renegades to a win over LA Valley College while leaving us thrilled with the set of pictures we came away with!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

One of the most exciting baseball talents to come out of Bakersfield in a long time, Jarret set the CIF central section record for home runs last year when he hit 18 during his senior season at Centennial High. He is currently chasing the season homer record at Bakersfield College. He has 10; the record is 11 and the 'Gades have three games left. Jarret was drafted in the 19th round by the Baltimore Orioles last year, but chose to attend Bakersfield College with hopes of improving his position in a future draft. He's in good hands, as coach Tim Painton and his staff have a nice track record of having Renegade players drafted.

To view a full-frame version of Jarret's gallery, click here.

Nick Sak ducks some high heat!

2009-04-20T21:52:00.000-07:00

Take a look at our client Nick Sakowski of Garces getting out of the way of some "chin music" during Friday's game at Golden Valley. The Sakowski family have been clients for four years now. We started with Nick's cousin, Jenna, in basketball and did our first portfolio on Nick last year. Nick is quite a talent; he started at shortstop for the varsity Rams as a freshman last year, and most likely play the position for the Rams throughout his high school career. The Sakowskis are a fixture at Garces High. There were even Sakowskis there in the 1970s when I was in high school at Taft.
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A fun pick-me-up for the Shooting Star gang

2009-04-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a little something for the weekend that I think will bring a smile to all in the Shooting Star community. Enjoy.

Alana gearing up for third state meet

2009-04-16T22:38:00.000-07:00

Our initial shoot on Centennial's super track athlete Alana Alexander as she gets ready to make her third run to the state track and field championship meet also provides a glimpse at the incredible care, attention to detail and planning we put into our portfolios. One thing you'll notice in this initial set of Alana's images is they contain only a few action photos.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

That's because the configuration of the track was not to our liking. The backgrounds were cluttered, the long jump and triple jump pits - Alana's specialty - were severely backlit, with a milky-white sky. Not good for pictures; not good at all. But we know that in a couple of weeks, we'll be shooting Alana in the league meet and the area meet in a venue more favorable for the action shots we need. So we call an audible, take the action shots of Alana where we can obtain a favorable result, but we don't force the issue. Quality of light and clean backgrounds are an obsession with Shooting Star. We decide that we will do most of our action shots next time.

Still, there's plenty of work to be done for Alana's portfolio. We spend the afternoon gambling on a few different angles, a few motion effects and mostly taking all of the extra intangiable photos that make our portfolios so special. Alana with her friends, family and coaches; the intensity of Alana as she peers down the track; Alana being Alana. We're so much more than just action shots. Alana's portfolio is not a set of pictures, it is a carefully woven story reflecting a very special time in her life. And we'll deliver big time. Good luck, Alana, we're rooting for you!

To view the above gallery in full-frame, click here.

Maxwell a Golden Hawk multi-tasker

2009-04-14T21:57:00.000-07:00

Bryan Maxwell, one of our new athletes this spring, is proving himself to be quite a valuable player on several levels for the Centennial High Golden Hawks as they battle arch rivals Stockdale and North in the tough Southwest Yosemite League. Bryan is putting up some impressive numbers on the mound for the Hawks, leading the team with a 6-1 record and a 2.22 ERA. He's struck out 48 batters in 41 innings. At the plate, Bryan is batting .340 with 18 RBI in 19 games and his 12 walks has him reaching base just about every other at bat.
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Bryan is best friends with two of our other clients, Riley Showers of Bakersfield Christian and Nathan Ketelhut of North. All three players were referred to us by Centennial mom Mary Westendorf, after we shot a wonderful, emotional portfolio of her son Sam, who is now playing for the Bakersfield College Renegades. You can keep up with Bryan's season stats here.
To view full-page galleries of Bryan, Nate, Riley and Sam, click here.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Then and now: Volleyball still Jackie's passion

2009-04-12T23:35:00.003-07:00

We were still experimenting with our format in 2001 when Jackie Bernardin's parents found us just in time and commissioned us to photograph Jackie (Centennial High, 2002) as she played her last home volleyball match. And Jackie delighted us with a spirited, emotion-charged performance that eight years later remains one of our most memorable.

Jackie played for and graduated from the University of San Diego in 2006 with a degree in communications and leadership. Volleyball is still big in her life; in fact, volleyball coaching is what she does. She did stints as an assistant volleyball coach at the University of San Francisco in 2006-2007 and the University of New Mexico in 2007-2008. She is currently living in San Diego and is coach of the Coast Volleyball Club, 16-1 division team which is ranked fifith in southern California. Jackie reports that she is about to open her own volleyball business and will provide details shortly.
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Riley still smoking hot

2009-04-10T22:10:00.001-07:00

Our newest athlete, Riley Showers of the Bakersfield Christian High Eagles, is off to a smoking hot start this baseball season. Riley is batting .467 with 7 RBI in seven games. And he will have a beautiful set of photographs to remember his great senior season.

Update April 22: Riley is now batting .563 through 18 games with 28 RBI and an amazing 10 triples. Keep up on Riley's stats here.

To see a gallery of full-frame images of Riley, click here.

Click above photo for larger version

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Of family, friends and faith

2009-04-07T22:25:00.001-07:00

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Almost without exception, the pictures that resonate most with our clients are those special moments that help us craft the visual story of the special time in your athlete's life. Sure, we're proud of our action photography skills, but it's those moments between our athletes and their friends and family, their coaches and fans, sometimes even their faith, that makes our portfolios so special to our clients. And it's those story-telling skills, honed from nearly 30 years of experience, that sets us apart - light years apart - from all those "Uncle Harrys" who just bought a digital camera and have declared themselves sports photographers. Yeah, right. Maybe I'll buy a scalpel and declare myself a surgeon!

Scott, Putman named Terrio Edge All-Stars

2009-04-06T22:40:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to our clients Riley Scott and Andrew Putman of Garces High, who were selected to next month's Terrio Edge Arena Bowl. The Arena Bowl is one final showcase for local seniors and has really caught on with fans. It is unusual in that it is played indoors at Rabobank Arena on an arena football field.

Riley, pictured above, scored six touchdowns as a combined receiver-running back last season. He averaged just over 5 yards per carry as a runner and an impressive 16.6 yards per catch. Andrew, pictured below, was a disruptive force and an emotional leader on the defensive line, and had 56 tackles, second on the team.
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Brandon, Brent have eyes on "The Show"

2009-04-06T18:57:00.000-07:00

Two of our outstanding clients continue their development in professional baseball with the intent of making it to the big leagues.

Brandon Roberts, whom we photographed at both Centennial High and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, has been assigned to the Minnesota Twins' AA New Britain, Conn. Rock Cats. Brandon has been named to three minor league all-star teams and had several .300 seasons before he was slowed by injuries last year. Here's hoping he stays healthy this season and continues his march to the Twins' big league club. Follow Brandon's season stats here.

Here's Brandon during a portfolio shoot at Cal Poly:

Brent Morel, our most photographed client -- we recorded his entire high school career at Centennial High -- has moved up three levels in the Chicago White Sox organization since being drafted out of Cal Poly last spring. He is starting this season with the White Sox's high A level affiliate, the Winston-Salem Dash. Brent hit .318 with six homers last season in rookie and lower A ball. Interestingly, Brent and Brandon were teammates on Centennial's 2002 section championship team. Follow Brent's season stats here.

Here are some photos from Brent's junior season portfolio:
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We've been waiting for you, Cole

2009-04-03T23:45:00.000-07:00

We're happy to have Centennial High shortstop Cole Hallum as one of our new athletes. Cole's grandfather, Bob Hallum, was one of my first clients when I started Shooting Star 10 years ago (I did some automotive pictures for him) and I remember him telling me about his then 5 or 6-year-old grandson who I would end up photographing in a few years. And here we are. Cole is quite a ball player. He's batting .433 on the 14-1 Golden Hawks and he's just a sophomore. Keep up with Cole's season stats here.
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Because details matter...

2009-04-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

I shoot thousands of images for my clients, constantly seeking those special story-telling photos that make our portfolios the best sports photography product in the world. And it's the "detail shot" that just might be my favorite of all. I never set them up, I just shoot what I see. Fast forward 10 or 15 years from now when you're looking at your portfolio, and there they are. The batting gloves you wore during your senior season; the measuring tape lying on the grass after you ripped off your personal-best triple jump; the lineup card with your name and the names of your teammates. Detail shots help us craft a story very personal to you, and set us apart from all those other folks you see running around with cameras. There's something to be said for experience, and we have plenty. Here are just a few of the detail shots I've done this spring for my clients.
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Honors for Natalie

2009-04-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Garces High's Natalie Kobliska, who earned second team soccer honors in the super-tough Southeast Yosemite League, which features the dominant Bakersfield and Liberty teams. The Kobliskas have been clients for the past three years; we also did a portfolio on big brother Kevin in football. Natalie also runs track and does the long jump for the Rams.
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This Ketel is hot!

2009-03-31T21:27:00.000-07:00

Our newest athlete, Nathan Ketelhut of the North Bakersfield High Stars, proved to be a smoking Ketel during our initial shoot Tuesday. Nathan went 3-for-3 with a walk and picked up a huge RBI in the sixth inning to give the Stars some breathing room as league rival Ridgeview closed to within one run in the top half of the inning. The win puts North into a first place tie in the Southwest Yosemite League and Nathan raised his batting average to .359! Keep up with Nate's season stats here.
To view a gallery of full-frame images of Nathan, click here.
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Now that you're in the family...

2009-03-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

Once you're in this thing of ours, you can never get out.
Oh my gosh, did I really just go to the Tony Soprano card on our web site about high school athletes? Just having a little fun, but the point I want to make is that once you join the family of Shooting Star athletes, we'll keep an eye out for you, and if we see you at another event we're shooting, we'll grab a few snaps. Like we did for our two-sport athlete Kelly Hosey of Garces High. We're shooting her in track this spring, and when we saw her cheering for the Rams at a basketball game, we grabbed a few shots that we'll happily put on one of her CDs.
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Alana bound for Washington

2009-03-23T23:02:00.000-07:00

Super track athlete Alana Alexander of Centennial High is bound for the University of Washington, where she will specialize in the long jump and triple jump. We have Alana as a client after producing a portfolio for her brother, Taylor, in 2007. Why should big brother get all the cool stuff? Alana is primed for another big year. She is a four-event qualifier in the past two state track and field meets, and is working toward a 39-foot triple jump and a 19-foot long jump. Good luck, Alana!
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Farewell Californian, hello new life

2009-03-22T11:33:00.000-07:00

On Friday, March 20th, I retired from The Bakersfield Californian, calling it quits after 28 and one-half years. I have desperately wanted to take John Harte Digital Photography Services and my Shooting Star product from a successful part-time business to a full-time one. I was able to craft a nice departure from the newspaper -- one in which I accepted a buyout offer but am able to continue shooting for them as a contractor, so it was a win-win for both sides. I now have the extra free time to build Shooting Star that I so craved; The Cal can still turn to one of its most experienced photographers to help them out when needed. But now Shooting Star Sports Photography is my full-time job. All those folks I had to turn away because I couldn't get the time to schedule should now be able to have their athletes photographed. I anticipate that I can handle twice the current client load.

I want to share with you my very last shoot as a Californian photographer. Fittingly, it was where I am most happy, on a ball field.

That's me with coach Gary Porter on my final assignment. Gary and his wife, Centennial athletic director Becky Porter, played a big role in helping Shooting Star get started with word-of-mouth recommendations and access to the Golden Hawks athletic community. The Hawks are one of the schools we do most of our portfolios for.

These are the three photos I submitted from my final assignment. I wanted to have a good last shoot, and was happy with the pictures.

And this is the final shot I took in my career as a Californian staff photographer. Literally the last time I tripped the shutter. From here, let's see how far we can take this Shooting Star thing!
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