I was in San Francisco this morning as Proposition 8 was upheld by the California Supreme Court 6–1.
The crowd in front of the Supreme Court was lively just before 10 am, demonstrating their support and desire for marriage equality.
Once 10 am hit, there was no general announcement from the court: just a slow trickle of the news through the crowd, after which people shouted out in anger and sadness.
The Prop 8 protesters then marched around San Francisco’s City Hall and formed a circle in the intersection of Grove and Van Ness, blocking traffic from all directions.
After about an hour and a half, San Francisco police began arresting those still practicing civil disobedience.
View more photos from the Prop 8 decision, rally, and subsequent arrests here.
Another rally starts up at 5:30. I’ll update with more photos after.
The USC Trojans haven’t exactly had the best season. Coming into the Pac-10 playoffs seeded 6th and with a 9-9 record, the Trojans were hardly considered for a berth in the NCAA playoffs. That is, until last night, when the Trojans upset the Bruins, the defending Pac-10 champions in the semifinals of the Pac-10 Tournament.
The Trojans defied all stats and odds by never letting up their lead and holding the powerhouse Bruins to 27% from the field. Here are some photos from the game:
DeMar DeRozan with a massive dunk in the first half.
Alfred Aboya celebrates a three-pointer in the first half
Jrue Holiday, Taj Gibson, Nikola Dragovic fight for a rebound in the second half.
Darren Collison commits an offensive foul on Marcus Simmons in the second half.
Marcus Simmons, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Dragovic fight for a rebound in the second half.
Dwight Lewis and DeMar DeRozan celebrate DeRozan’s dunk in the second half.
Taj Gibson celebrates a three-pointer in the second half.
The UCLA bench sits dejected during a free throw late in the second half.
The Trojans face the Arizona State Sun Devils this afternoon in the Pac-10 Championships.
See more photos from the USC–UCLA game.
See the photos from the Washington–Arizona State game.
UPDATE: Defying all odds, the USC Trojans managed to rally back from a nearly-all-game deficit to defeat Arizona State and win the Pac-10 Championship. See photos from the championship game here.
A few weeks ago, I was assigned to photograph the USC men’s water polo team for a feature.
Because of the weather forecasting a severe storm, the coach and my editor both offered to reschedule, and most photographers probably would have done so. However, I figured shooting them in the rain would actually make more interesting pictures, so I stuck with the challenge and I think it worked out for the better (see all the photos here).
The three players I was shooting, Arjan Ligtenberg, Ryan Cummins, and Jovan Vranes, were surprisingly reluctant to stand out in the rain, and they surely weren’t willing to go into the pool. But after a couple of minutes and seeing the photos, they began to have fun with it.
Technical Notes:
To highlight water, or in this case, falling rain, you have to use sidelighting. So, I set up two flashes as rimlights behind the players both to light the rain and to create more dramatic highlighting that would outline the players. For my main light I had wanted to shoot through an umbrella to soften the light, but the high winds forced me to use direct light instead.
As for waterproofing the flashes and my wireless transmitters, I simply rubber-banded clear Ziplock bags over the tops of them. They’re still flashing, so I suppose the makeshift rain covers were effective.
I got a text yesterday (Feb. 11, 2009) telling me that a truck rolled over three blocks north of me on West Adams Street and Orchard Avenue in Los Angeles.
Being in the middle of doing laundry and eating an afternoon snack, I threw on some shorts, put down my hot pocket, and headed out the door with my cameras to find this scene.
Somehow a white car was making a U-Turn, causing the truck to swerve out of the way and roll over onto and off of a brand-new parked Cadillac. Luckily no one was hurt.
