Spring Football
Brandon Willliams (23) is tackled by Aaron Colvin (14) during the University of Oklahoma Sooner's (OU) spring football game at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on Saturday, April 16, 2011, in Norman, Okla. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
Staff Photographers from The Oklahoman covered spring football games today at OU’s Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman and at OSU’s Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater. You can click these links to see more images of the Sooners and the Cowboys, or to read more about the games.
OSU's Justin Blackmon (81) misses a touchdown catch as Colby Ellis (49) defends during the Orange/White spring football game for the Oklahoma State University Cowboys at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, April 16, 2011. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Best of Thunder
Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant hangs on the rim after a dunk as New Jersey's Kris Humphries, left, Stephen Graham, and Devin Harris react during the NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the New Jersey Nets at the Oklahoma City Arena, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2010. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
Since the LA Lakers ended the Thunder season in April 2010, we’ve turned in over 1,300 pictures of the Oklahoma City Thunder. That number includes press conferences, appearances by players at schools and community centers, practices and, of course, all the games from the 2010-2011 season played at the OKC Arena.
We’ve gathered 104 of our favorite images and put them into a gallery that you can see by clicking here. To read more about the Thunder click here.
From left, Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook (0), Eric Maynor (6) and Kevin Durant (35) react after Westbrook made a shot and was fouled in the fourth quarter during the NBA basketball game between the Orlando Magic and Oklahoma City Thunder in Oklahoma City, Thursday, January 13, 2011. Oklahoma City won, 125-124. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
James Harden poses for a photo during the Oklahoma City Thunder media day on Monday, Sept. 27, 2010, in Oklahoma City, Okla. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
Oklahoma City's Serge Ibaka (9) blocks Utah's C.J. Miles (24) shot during the NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Utah Jazz, Wednesday, March 23, 2011, at the Oklahoma City Arena. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Weekend photo gallery extravaganza
Justin Miller of Billings, Montana, loses his hat as he rides Will He Lounge or Not for a score of 75 in the bareback riding event during the PRCA Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo at State Fair Arena, Saturday afternoon, April 2, 2011. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
Since last Friday, photographers at The Oklahoman have uploaded 17 photo galleries that are worth a look if you haven’t seen them already. In addition to a couple of galleries from PRCA Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo, there are also galleries from the NCAA gymnastics regional, OSU’s spring practice and the Medieval Fair in Norman.
We also feature images from assignments about Richard Edwards, of Edmond, a chiropractor who received a double hand transplant and Trevor Aycox, a teenager with Autism who creates spray paint art.
Richard Edwards kisses his wife, Cindy Edwards, as they pose at their home in Edmond on Tuesday, March 29, 2011. Edwards is a double hand transplant patient. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Pictures I Like-The last 21 Days
Sofie watches her owner, Tim Burch, help install a new sign at the Cock O' the Walk bar, N 36th and Western, Sunday, March 20, 2011, in Oklahoma City. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
If you’re new to Alternate Crop, or if you haven’t checked in for awhile, this installment of ‘Pictures I Like’ is a good look at the work we’ve been busy with in March. We’ve photographed grass fires in the state, seen a change in the weather and covered the end of high school basketball season. We’ve also gotten nice pictures from the Timed Event Championship, The Big 12 Basketball Tournament and troops returning home from service overseas.
Some of these pictures were used in the newspaper, but for a few of them, this is the first time they’ve been used. Remember that you can click on each of these pictures to see a larger version, or you can see a collection of photo galleries, by clicking here.
Jim Ross Cooper rolls over his steer while competing in Steer Wrestling during the Timed Event Championships at the Lazy E Arena, Friday, March 4, 2011. Photo by David McDaniel, The Oklahoman
Courtney Walker (23), left, and Tamara Lee (20), right, of Edmond Santa Fe kiss the gold ball trophy after the Class 6A girls basketball state championship game between Edmond Santa Fe and Midwest City at the Mabee Center in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, March 12, 2011. Edmond Santa Fe won, 56-36. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
William Hunter hugs his son, William Hunter, Jr., 4, as Hunter and other members of the 507th Air Refueling Wing, U.S. Air Force Reserve, return from duty overseas to Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, March. 9, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
A grass fire burns near a neighborhood close to South County Line Road and SW 29th, Sunday, March 20, 2011, in Mustang, Okla.. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Oklahoma State's lacrosse team hold up their sticks after getting instructions during a timeout in the Bedlam lacrosse game outside Cheyenne Middle School in Edmond, Okla., on Sunday, March. 6, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
OSU's Jean-Paul Olukemi reacts after the Cowboys' loss to Kansas in the college basketball Big 12 Championship tournament game in Kansas City, Mo., Thursday, March 10, 2011. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Oklahoma March Madness
Stetson Clawson poses for a portrait Saturday, March, 12, 2011, at the State Fair Arena. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
The high school basketball season came to end this weekend with the state basketball championships at the State Fair Arena and the Mabee Center in Tulsa. Oklahoma photographers Sarah Phipps and Chris Landsberger covered classes 2A, 3A, 4A at the arena while photographer Nate Billings covered classes 4A, 5A in Tulsa.
While at the Big House, Sarah and Chris explored the culture of fans by shooting portraits and collecting audio. See the photos and stories they discovered here.
Snyder basketball fan Tyler Roberts during the championship games of the Oklahoma state championship tournament at the Big House in the State Fair Park on Saturday, March 12, 2011, in Oklahoma City, Okla. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
See all the high school basketball championships galleries by clicking here:
Ft. Gibson reacts to their win over Cache as Cache's Katelynn Martine (21) reacts in the 3A girls championship game, Saturday, March, 12, 2011, at the the State Fair Arena. Okla. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman.
Edmond Memorial's Jared Jobe (5) celebrates as James Woodard (3), right, and Obi Emegano (15) hug at the end of the Class 6A boys basketball state championship game between Midwest City and Edmond Memorial at the Mabee Center in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, March 12, 2011. Edmond Memorial won, 53-43. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
- Sarah Phipps
Better than a poke in the eye
Jimmie Cooper, of Monument, New Mexico, gets a horn to his face as he competes in the steer wrestling event during Timed Event Championship at Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Okla., on Sunday, March. 6, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
It’s customary for news photographers to stay busy with sports assignments in March. The Big 12 college basketball tournaments are underway in Kansas City, while back in Oklahoma City, high school teams from around the state compete for a state championship at the State Fair Arena.
Some of the smaller schools have already played for championships, while the larger schools’ playoffs continue. Finding the best pictures from these games is a challenge, because so many nice images have been turned in from our staff photographers. Here’s a few pictures from last week along with one of my favorite steer wrestling pictures from the Timed Event Championships at Lazy E Arena in Guthrie. Today is a good day to check our photo gallery page if you’ve never seen it. We have galleries up from National Guard training at Camp Gruber, high school basketball playoffs, Oklahoma City Thunder against the Phoenix Suns, and OSU Spring Football practice.
Carson Perry, 17, at left, Ashlyn Yancey, 15, and Katie Hart, 14, react as Fort Cobb-Broxton wins the boys Class A boys basketball state tournament championship game between over Cheyenne-Reydon at State Fair Arena in Oklahoma City, Saturday, March 5, 2011. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
Graham's Dylan Harmon (32) puts his head on the shoulder of Kyle Hart (24) as Hart holds the state runner-up trophy after the Class B boys basketball state tournament championship game between Graham and Forgan at State Fair Arena in Oklahoma City, Saturday, March 5, 2011. Forgan won, 81-47. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
The Calumet team, including Morgan Renbarger, center, celebrate after winning the Class A girls basketball state tournament championship game between Calumet and Cyril at State Fair Arena in Oklahoma City, Saturday, March 5, 2011. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Some unpublished sports pictures
Norman's Nathan Sheely swims the Boys 100 Yard Freestyle during the finals of the Class 6A State Swimming Championships at the Oklahoma City Community College Aquatic Center in Oklahoma City, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011. Sheely finished fourth in the event. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
Staff photographers at The Oklahoman covered a wide variety of sports events around the city in the last few weeks, from high school swimming championships to college wrestling to NBA basketball. Here are a few images that were not selected to run in the newspaper. You can see images from these events as well as other sports, news, feature and entertainment assignments by clicking here.
Oklahoma State's Dallas Bailey wrestles with Oklahoma's Tyler Caldwell (top) during their dual at McCasland Field House on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, Okla., on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2011. Tyler Caldwell won this match. Oklahoma State won the dual 24-9. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook (0) goes to the basket between Los Angeles' Blake Griffin (32) and DeAndre Jordan (9) during the NBA basketball game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Clippers at the Oklahoma City Arena, Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Pictures I Like-So far this month
A motorist tries to dig a path for their car on the access road to I-235 near Britton Road during a major winter storm that hit central Oklahoma Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011. Photo by Doug Hoke, The Oklahoman
So far this month, Staff photographers at The Oklahoman have put over 1,100 images into our archive system. I thought that seemed like a high number and attributed it to the snow storms. When I looked up the same time period over the last few years, however, we turned in about the same amount in the first 13 days of February 2010 and 2009 we turned in nearly 1,400 images.
We’re getting back into a more normal routine after the recent snow storms. No early deadlines or assignments canceled because of ice and snow this week. There are plenty of images to catch up on from the end of last week and some good stories to look for on the Alternate Crop blog site in the next few days. Here’s a last look at some of the blizzard images you may have missed last week, as well as gymnastics and Rumble the Bison. We’ve put up galleries about the PBR events in Oklahoma City over the weekend as well as galleries from Oklahoma City Thunder games that you can watch by clicking here and remember that you can click the images on this post to see them on a dark background.
Abby Hoffman, 12, of Jenks Gymnastics competes on the bars during the Nadia Comaneci International Invitational at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Friday, Feb. 11, 2011. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
The sun sets at a frozen Lake Hefner, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011, in Oklahoma City. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Guilherme Marchi's ride ends during the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) 2011 Built Ford Tough Series event at the OKC Arena in Oklahoma City on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Oklahoma City's Serge Ibaka (9) blocks the shot of Washington's Kevin Seraphin (13) during the NBA basketball game between the Washington Wizards and the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Oklahoma City Arena in Oklahoma City, Friday, January 28, 2011. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
Jennie Linck (right) slips and falls as she and her sister Meg Linck (in pink) help push German exchange student, Alexander Kauschanski, down their street in Heritage Hills during a snow storm in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Firefighters battle a house fire in the 1900 block of E Harrison in Guthrie County, February 3 , 2011. Photo by Steve Gooch, The Oklahoman
Greg Rosino surprised his wife Krystale at work when Thunder Mascot Rumble delivered a Valentine Surprise on Saturday, February 12, 2011, in Norman, Okla. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Blizzard
Just before the snowfall started, Nate Billings had the idea to do a time-lapse video of the blizzard from multiple locations. He set up a camera on the ninth floor of the OPUBCO tower at Britton and Broadway in Oklahoma City on Monday night. I braced a camera to a ladder in my garage to get images of the snow piling up in the window, and Sarah Phipps set one up in the front window of her home in NW Oklahoma City.
We attached Pocket Wizard receivers to our Canon Mark II cameras and set them to take a picture every 20 seconds. To avoid glare off of the windows that could ruin the effect, you have to mask off the area around the lens. To do this I nailed an old blanket to the top of the window and draped it over my camera. On the sides of the windows, I propped up two large pieces of cardboard. This kept the garage light or the light from the kitchen from refecting off the glass.
We started recording around 11 pm on Monday night and let the cameras take pictures all night long. I turned off my camera at about 12:45 pm on Tuesday.
We ended up with three very different time-lapse videos that we edited together to make this video.
As always, you can see images from the blizzard and all of our photo galleries by clicking here.
-John Clanton
Star Wars Day at Lloyd Noble
R2-D2 sits by the court as the teams warm up before the men's college basketball game between the University of Colorado and the University of Oklahoma at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011. This R2-D2 was built and controlled by Chris Campbell of DeWitt, Ark., with the 501st Legion, a group of Star Wars costume enthusiasts. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
It was an exciting afternoon at Lloyd Noble Center last Saturday. First, the OU men’s basketball team won a conference game, defeating Colorado 67-60. And almost better than a win from the Sooners, it was Star Wars Day at the game. I must admit, as a lifelong lover of the Star Wars films (and to be clear, I’m just talking about the original three. I don’t have enough space to get into my complex feeling about the prequels), I thought this was a very cool idea for a promotion.
Members of the 501st Legion, a national group of costumed Star Wars fans, walked around the concourse posing for photos and entertained fans on the court during time-outs and at the half. The costumes from the 501st were really remarkable and looked as if the characters stepped right off the big screen. Peter Mayhew, the actor who played Chewbacca, was at the game too, signing autographs for fans after the win.
The only member of the Rebellion in attendance was an R2-D2 built and controlled by Chris Campbell of DeWitt, Ark. Campbell told me he had worked over the last two-and-a-half years to build his remote controlled R2-D2. It was impressive.
To see some pictures from the actual basketball game, click here.
OU mascots Boomer and Sooner stand with Darth Vader before the men's college basketball game between the University of Colorado and the University of Oklahoma at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
Cole Svob, 5, of Pond Creek, Okla., gets an autograph from a Tusken Raider before the men's college basketball game between the University of Colorado and the University of Oklahoma at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
Charlie Briggs, 11, left, of Norman, Okla., poses for a photo with a stormtrooper as his father, James Briggs, middle, takes a picture before the men's college basketball game between the University of Colorado and the University of Oklahoma at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
-Nate Billings
