Terrible news today for the Army football family, former Army corner back Mario Hill, a 2010 West Point graduate, was killed in a car accident early Saturday morning in Lexington, Ky. He was 25.

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, 1LT Hill ran off the road and his car struck a tree:

[Hill] was traveling east on Montavesta Road in a 2008 Chevrolet Impala when the car missed a curve, ran off the road and hit a tree head-on, police said. The driver, identified by the Fayette County Coroner’s office as Mario Hill, 25, of Lexington, was not wearing a seat belt and was pronounced dead at the scene. The coroner’s report listed Hill’s cause of death as multiple blunt-force trauma.

The wreck happened at the corner of Montavesta and Mount Drive near Chinoe Road in south Lexington. A delivery driver came upon the wreck and called authorities. Police arrived at 2:47 a.m.

GoBlackKnights.com also has a story about the sad news.

Hill was the oldest of nine children from Greensboro, N.C., and was the first of his family to attend college when he joined the USMA Prep School. Army Athletics wrote of Hill in 2009:

Since enrolling at the Academy, Hill has lived by the motto, “Duty, Honor, Country,” only a slight departure from the mantra, “Duty, Honor, Family,” that has guided him since he was a youngster.

“I was big brother, slash father, slash mentor,” Hill said in 2009 describing his childhood. “Not only was I the oldest of my household, but I’m the oldest in my generation of family. Growing up, we all lived in the same house so it was kind of tough sometimes. I was the one trying to tell everyone to do the right thing and basically leading by example.”

“He was soft spoken, very well respected and a quiet leader,” Army coach Tony Coaxum told Rivals.com. “Mario had a great sense of humor. He and I connected immediately when I joined the staff, even though I didn’t coach him until his senior year.”

Below are some photos of Hill from the 2009 season, which was my first covering Army football — this photo below is a shot of Hill’s interception against Ball State, the first game I ever shot at West Point:

Our thoughts are with the Hill family… Here’s a portion of a feature that ran in an Army Football Gameday program in 2009 about Hill, entitled “Born Leader“:

In addition to his duties as a cadet and West Point football player, the 22-year-old from Greensboro, N.C., has eight brothers and sisters watching his every move. Since enrolling at the Academy, Hill has lived by the motto, “Duty, Honor, Country,” only a slight departure from the mantra, “Duty, Honor, Family,” that has guided him since he was a youngster.

Hill is the oldest of nine children, ranging in age from 22 to five. As not only the oldest sibling, but also the oldest of his cousins, Hill had to develop leadership skills at an early age, a trait that has served him well at West Point.

“I was big brother, slash father, slash mentor,” Hill said while describing his childhood. “Not only was I the oldest of my household, but I’m the oldest in my generation of family. Growing up, we all lived in the same house so it was kind of tough sometimes. I was the one trying to tell everyone to do the right thing and basically leading by example.”

One of the examples that Hill provided for his younger siblings was attending college, becoming the first member of his family to advance his education beyond high school. His younger brothers and sisters have received the message loud and clear. Two of his siblings have reached college age. One is currently attending Morgan State, while the other is enrolled at North Carolina A&T.

“I think about being a role model all the time,” Hill said. “I send them (his brothers and sisters) West Point shirts and things like that, and they’re constantly reminded about it by other people. The other day my sister was at the store and someone asked her if she went to West Point. When she told them her brother did, the person said, ‘Tell him I’m so proud of him. I don’t know him, but thank him for his service. They go to my old high school and they hear it all the time from their instructors. They are always telling me how sick they are of hearing it.”

Hill’s road to West Point was not the easiest path, but it’s a journey that he wouldn’t trade for anything. While all cadets have proven their willingness to make certain sacrifices, putting others before himself is a way of life for Hill.

“I’ve never had a room to myself. Here at West Point is the closest thing I’ve ever had to my own room,” Hill said chuckling. “The bunk beds we have everywhere during training camp remind me of what it was like at home when I was little. I was the last one to eat and things like that because I made sure to take care of everyone else before I took care of myself. That’s just how it was. I wasn’t mad about it or anything – that’s just life. It helped me here a lot.”

Camp Buckner was buzzing on Saturday as 55 teams from around the world competed in the annual Sandhurst military skills competition at West Point. Here’s a look at some of the action I saw.

The 2012 Sandhurst Competition, also known as SANCOM, is a two-day military training competition course at Camp Buckner at the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. sponsored annually by the West Point Department of Military Instruction. The Sandhurst Military Skills Competition has been held since 1967 and features nine-member squads from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, Germany, Chile, Spain, China and Afghanistan.

Squads this year included 36 teams from the U.S. Military Academy, two from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (UK) as well as American teams from the U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Air Force Academy. Eight Army ROTC teams also joined a USMAPS squad. Teams are graded by time as they aim to compete various courses over the seven-mile Buckner area, including an obstacle course, a rope bridge, a rappel challenge, first aid and CAS-EVAC, weapon assembly, an IED scenario, a boat challenge and more.

• Check out more of my shots from Sandhurst 12 here
• Slideshow of images from last year, Sandhurst 2011
• Featured Army combat training photos

I haven’t read anything official, but it sounds like the Australian team won this year’s event. Here’s a look back at my day with the cadets, click each image to view it larger and/or as a slideshow:

First event I got to was the rope bridge held at Camp Natural Bridge off Route 293. Teams basically get to the side, devise a strategy to string a rope across a stream and then pull themselves across to the other side without getting in the water. The cadets have to carry their rifles and cases of ammo across as well. West Point teams were broken down by company, so below is a shot of I4 — as compared to C1, C2, C3 and C4, etc.

I should note that I only made it to three courses this year — the rope bridge, boat site and DMI challenge. I shot everything with a 400mm lens, so I didn’t bother with the obstacle site, and the rappel challenge was held a day earlier. First aid was way out in the woods this year and wasn’t feasible for me to reach, although I really wanted to. The IED scenario, I was told, was canceled for some reason. Bummer.

After the rope pulling, I walked up the hill to the staging area for this event, where teams gathered, hydrated and plotted out their plans. Made for easy portraits:

Teams don’t get it easy for one second in Sandhurst — Buckner is a huge wooded area and the squads typically jog as a group from one venue area to the next. You can see E3 here, with a group of fellow cadets who are behind them in caps running along in support:

I drove down to the main Buckner are near Lake Popolopen for the boat course, where squads had to maneuver a boat within buoys in the lake before paddling back to the beach. In terms of weather, the forecast was for heavy rain, so of course, it was bright and sunny most of the day:

Here’s the Royal Military College of Canada rowing their way to the beach. This course is always good for some great emotional shots like this:

Can you tell this cadet’s rifle is fake? It’s actually made of rubber (or plastic, I think it varies). A cadet told me these rifles are referred to as Rubber Ducks — they are made entirely of rubber or plastic that has been molded to resemble both the exact shape and weight of a rifle, this one being an M16, the standard Army rifile for decades which has more or less been replaced by the M4 Carbine. They’re used for training purposes, and some of them vary in that they are old, real M16 shells filled with plastic, or rubber-based with old authentic M16 parts, etc. Either way, they look legit:

After the boat course, I took a walk across Buckner with the legendary Tommy Gilligan (check out his photos from the day here) to site 8, the “DMI Challenge,” which was held at Buckner’s parade grounds. The official description of DMI was that “squads are faced with a problem to solve that requires both physical and mental toughness.”

That’s pretty vague — it essentially describes every aspect of Sandhurst. In reality, the squad’s problem was a huge M114 155 mm Howitzer, and the solution was to drag that sucker across the field. Just for fun, cadets also had to drag lots of belts, ropes, chains, heavy wooden crates of ammo and a huge metal plate. Then, they had to drag it all back to the starting point, after taking a brief written test. Safe to say it was easier to shoot this than actually do it. Here’s D3 going over the rules:

This is a cadet from the National Military Academy of Afghanistan. I don’t know how they scored, but it’s good to see they came and competed again:

Here’s D3 sizing up the cannon on that Howizter. I overheard someone say some of the equipment used was brought down from Fort Drum. Not sure how true that is:

D3 gets their big gun to the end of the field. You can see the course is mapped out here with orange cones:

Then, they ran back to gather more heavy stuff to haul. Worth noting here that every nine-member team must include one female:

Here’s a cadet from Canada drawing the lucky straw of pushing the cannon from behind. Talk about looking down the barrel of a gun:

Can you hold this for me? This is West Point cadet Camille Currin Runyans picking up the slack with six rifles, a bag of gear and the squad’s souvenir slice of log from the boat course:

Here’s the big ol’ crates of ammo en route:

This squad leader goes over the course with one of the referees, for lack of a better term (on the left). Each team is monitored and timed, with points docked for violations:

Here, two Canadians slowly roll this wheel-lookin’ plate that I think serves as the base to the Howitzer. It’s a lot heavier than it looks, evidently, and it looks heavy:

This is an ROTC cadet, shoving the Howitzer by the barrel:

The C4 Cowboys rode into town:

This is the cadet ROTC team from North Carolina State University:

This was one of my favorite portraits of the day, and it came somewhat by luck as this ROTC cadet from the Citadel was running toward a boat and I just happened to frame him like this. Lately I’ve discovered Instagram, so I processed a version there too:

Back at the boat course, these two cadets await teams on the sideline. No clue what that Arabic sign says, but if someone wants to translate, have at it:

To gain entrance to the beach, cadet teams first had to break through a metal door. A door on a beach? Yeah, kinda weird — the doors were framed and just randomly placed at the end of the sand. One cadet picked up a big ramming thing and typically had to bang on the door two or three times before it opened. This cadet from C4 ran in ready to fight:

The other random aspect of the boat challenge was cutting off a piece from a giant log. I have no idea how that relates to the military, but it was a huge pain for a lot of teams, especially the Canadians, who probably spent a half an hour and broke several saws trying to finish up. It prompted plenty of lumberjack jokes from us Americans. Here’s a C1 cadet doing work, its like one of those Acme saws Wile E. Coyote would use to drop a huge pine tree on the roadrunner:

One funny note — most every team jumped in the boat and left their helmets on the beach like this. The ROTC team from the Citadel lined up their helmets the opposite way (with the open part in the sand), and I immediately thought to myself, “but aren’t they just going to get sand in their helmets now?” As I thought about it, some West Point cadets behind me picked up on it too (use your imagination):

Check out more of my shots from Sandhurst 12 here

Michie Stadium had a football-like atmosphere on Saturday for a lacrosse showdown between Army and Navy with a playoff berth on the line. It was a long day for me that began well before the game and ended a couple hours after a team speech from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey.

My day began with some portraits around West Point. Army is putting together a book this spring and asked me to take some photos for it — I don’t want to spill too many details, but I had a chance to shoot some cadets at the pool, at the tennis courts near the Plain and football coach Rich Ellerson up outside his office in Michie. After the lacrosse game, I photographed two of the lax players with their family. So, there was a lot of driving back and forth and trying to setup quickly and get some usable photographs within 20 minutes or so. A huge thanks to Dave Hahn and Tommy Gilligan for lending me their lighting equipment and expertise, everything worked out perfect.

Back to lacrosse, I started the game using my new 16-35mm II L lens with a polarizing filter. The dude at Adorama tried to sell me a $110 polarizing filter when I bought this lens. I went for the cheaper one (a Tiffen). And? Still nice, deep blue skies over Michie:

I did edit these to adjust the levels/exposure and darken up the sky a bit, although the sky on Saturday was a really beautiful dark blue. I believe these were taken around ISO 160 or so.

This game drew over 10,000 fans and a jump from the West Point parachute team. Always awesome to see these guys jump from the Lakota:

Anyone who saw this game (and it was televised by CBS College Sports) saw a spectacular goal by junior Garrett Thul, who walked in front of the net and rifled a shot over his shoulder — as in, he was facing away from the goal — for a score that brought a gasp from the fans, like some dramatic NBA dunk:

Crazy right? Guy is a beast. Unreal strength, speed and skill.

I tried shooting back-lit and with the sun, but it was a high-noon kinda sun for this one for much of the game (12 pm start) so helmet shadows were there and varying angles of light threw off exposures. As I discussed with Dave on the sidelines, Canon just cannot be trusted to expose in Av mode. It’s brutal. I have yet to use a Canon camera, from the Rebel series up to my $7,000 1D Mark IV that correctly meters and exposes in Av mode, at least for sports. I was manually shooting at 1/2500th shutter speed and Av had the camera maxing out at 1/8000th. So, to end this rant, it was the usual challenge of not overexposing a player when they ran into the sunlight. Much easier from the south endzone of Michie, where the sun was behind my back:

I shot the fourth quarter from directly behind the Navy net, in between the padded advertisements which provide some shelter for me. Wasps love those things, for whatever reason. Anyway, I had the sun behind me and shot this quarter at ISO 100 and 125. Rare opportunity to do that.

Some football players got in on some early Halloween action, dressing up like the Village People and some random mullet-headed hecklers. Hilarious stuff, until they got run out of the stadium by higher ups. Army football fans will notice the “Keys to Victory” sign here, which hangs in Foley Athletic Center and Army’s lockeroom:

Here’s Thul taking a whack to the face:

I like this one as, in this split second, both players are facing each other, sort of reminiscent of the football line of scrimmage imagery:

This shot of Thul ran on the Army website:

Here’s a back-lit shot, where you can see the faces without shadow:

Here’s Conor Hayes running behind the net, pushing the line of my manually exposed settings. I’d rather see the eyes than keep the highlights on that shoulder, personally:

The game was close all afternoon, back and forth, quick responses, etc. Finally Army went up 7-6 and pulled away with two late goals. A 30-second Navy penalty let the cadets kill the clock, and the anticipation built. I swapped my 400mm L for a 16-35mm zoom (no fisheye on this day!) and hit the Army sideline for some celebration shots. Here’s Kevin Epp (31) enjoying the final seconds:

Army’s Pat Hart knows what’s coming:

Army head coach Joe Alberici went nuts when clock hit zeros. This is what beating Navy means:

A playing of the alma mater let the team really let it out in front of the Army fans:

Handshakes at midfield:

U.S. Army General Martin E. Dempsey was in the house to watch this one — Dempsey is the 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, replacing Admiral Mike Mullen, who gave the graduation speech last spring at Michie. Gen. Dempsey told the team that beating Navy in lacrosse was more important to him than winning the football game (not sure how true that is, but it sounded nice in the moment). He talked about the team’s mission following games like this, gave out coins to the team’s firsties, or graduating seniors, shook hands and asked the captains to sign a game ball for him. Cool moment:

ESPN.com’s Big East blog went with one of my photos of South Florida quarterback B.J. Daniels today:

Another quick clip, NJ.com ran a shot of the Devils’ Ilya Kovalchuk with a live game story they did last week:

I’m not breaking any news here saying that Tim Tebow is joining the New York Jets, but amidst the drama of that deal is the reality that the Jets’ current starting QB, Mark Sanchez, is under increased pressure to perform. And typically when Sanchez comes under pressure, criticism or otherwise has reason to be worried, my photo of him turns up somewhere.

Here’s my shot of Sanchez leading FoxSports.com tonight in the moments after Tebow’s trade became final. The story revolves around whether Tebow’s coming will make Sanchez a better quarterback (neither is especially good at throwing the ball, so…)

This photo got a lot of repeated play on ESPN this past season, basically whenever Sanchez screwed up — for example:

I also had another shot of South Florida coach Skip Holtz on Yahoo today:

Army’s Andrew Rodriguez joined elite company on Tuesday when he was named the winner of the Sullivan Award as the nation’s most outstanding amateur athlete. The honor has been presented annually since 1930, and is based on character, leadership and sportsmanship.

A-Rod had 59 tackles in 12 games for Army in 2011, serving as one of the team’s captains. His 4.14 GPA as a mechanical engineering major was insane, he ranked third in his class of 1,052 cadets and he also won the Campbell Trophy as the National Football Foundation’s National Scholar-Athlete.

“I’m blessed to be here and for the opportunity to play for all the servicemen and women around the world,” Rodriguez said. “This award goes out to them.”

A-Rod is the sixth football player to win the Sullivan Award in its 82-year history, and the second from Army (correction: third from Army). Felix Blanchard of Army won the award in 1945 and more recently,  non-Army QB’s Peyton Manning and Tim Tebow.

“This award is a tribute to all the people who have helped me throughout my life, especially my family,” Rodriguez said. “I had the opportunity to play for all the servicemen and servicewomen who watched us every week. That’s who my teammates and I played for, and this award goes out to them.”

Rodriguez is the second cadet in the last three years to be a finalist for the honor, joining 2011 West Point graduate Clint Moore, who graduated and was drafted by the San Diego Padres last year.

I wasn’t thrilled with my images from my first NHL game last weekend, but at least three photos have been picked up this week, including one in a USA Today game story and another in the Newark-Star Ledger, via NJ.com.

Here’s a couple links to the recently published shots:

An Islanders fan blog also picked up my fisheye shot of the Coliseum, check it out here.

My photo of Temple Owls quarterback Chris Coyer was featured on ESPN.com Tuesday in a Q&A with the team’s new starting QB. Coyer, who played parts of Temple’s game against Army last November at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, spoke about playing under a new offensive system and the Owls’ bowl win over Wyoming last year.

Another shot I got of Coyer with my fisheye lens made it to CBSSports.com.

“Our offseason program, everyone’s been working hard, and is real enthusiastic,” he told ESPN’s Andrea Adelson. “We had a great workout in our first practice, so I’m excited, and I feel like we’re really pushing and propelling forward as we move toward the season.”

Here’s the photo ESPN went with — what a great game this was to shoot with that beautiful back-lit sun. I rarely get to shoot teams in red uniforms too up at West Point, so these made for nice portraits:

Here’s an excerpt of the Q&A:

How are you adjusting now to a new offensive coordinator?

CC: A lot of things we’ve done in the past, we’re going to keep doing. The system’s not broken. There will be a few different changes in different schemes, so there will be a little bit of a learning curve in the spring, but I feel like we’ve got a good little bit of leadership on this offense.

You also mentioned the veteran offensive line. But you lose four of five starters. What do you want to see out of the new players up front?

CC: We still have a little bit of experience up front. We don’t have the five seniors to play on the offensive line this year, but we’ve got young talent and leaders on the offensive line to bring them along. I have faith in Coach (Justin) Frye and our teammates to be able to bring that along. I don’t think we’re going to be hurt at all.

Incumbent starter Chris Coyer getting competition at quarterback

How does the team feel now about getting a shot to play in the Big East?

CC: The team as a whole, everyone’s really excited. It’s something that we’ve been striving for ever since all of us have gotten here, knowing as a school we were kicked out, what eight years ago? So we wanted to be a BCS team and be playing those big schools week in and week out. There’s where I feel it may be more challenging, playing the type of quality opponents week in and week out is going to be different. But at the same time, nothing will really change in the way we prepare.

For those Big East fans who haven’t seen you play, what can they expect out of Temple?

CC: Our style is tough. We’re a tough team, we fight. That’s our style. We’re going to fight and scratch for every inch. No doubt we’ll be competing right away, and those are my expectations.

And what can they expect out of you? I know some have compared you to Tim Tebow. What type of quarterback are you?

CC: I like to run the ball, but I’m a quarterback first. I want to put the ball in the air, I like throwing the ball, that’s what we do. But I like running the ball and don’t mind taking a hit or two. I enjoy the contact and my style of play is our style of play: I like to play tough.

I stole Bruce Bennett’s personal work stool. I set up shop in the wrong media workroom. I edited my photos in Sparky the Dragon’s sweaty dressing room. And I was kind of hungry. That, and three goals in the last few minutes, was my experience last night in Uniondale as I shot my first NHL game, a 2-1 comeback win by the New Jersey Devils over the stunned New York Islanders.

First I’ll admit, I wasn’t too thrilled with the images I produced in general. Partly because shooting through the glass (they did not have a hole open for me) was a nightmare and it effected image quality, and partly because nothing happened in this game for the first 50 minutes. It was scoreless midway through the third period, and I was a least up in a higher shooting position and finally got some better photos when the goals came. But early on, I tried my luck down in the corner nearest the Islanders’ locker room.

I was sitting beside Mr. Bennett, who is probably the most legendary hockey photographer there is, so that never got old for me.

The shot here on the right was my view for the first two periods (taken with my new 16-35mm lens, which I didn’t use much without the hole). Look closely and you can see the stick and puck marks and scuffs on the plexiglass. Not good. That stuff ruins photos, it creates haze and blurry areas and generally is a nightmare. I tried shooting around it for awhile, but went up to Section 217 for the third period.

Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum is not what you’d call a charming, picturesque venue. It’s dated — maybe even outdated — and feels its age. There aren’t any real defining characteristics to this place that make you feel like you’re on the Island. To a degree, it’s sort of nice, considering the organization’s legendary history when this building was the home to four consecutive Cups in the early 80s. One thing I love about this place is how easy it is to park and walk to your seats (or leave your seats early to beat the traffic). Nowadays, the fans are short-tempered and miserable. One of the photography holes on the glass was broken, which ensured I’d have to find other options. The higher-up position wasn’t so much a media spot as it was just some steps next to a row of seats.

During pre-game warmups, I snapped this shot of the Isles’ peppering goalie Evgeni Nabokov. I thought it was a nice moment, but US Presswire didn’t post it. (Thanks again to US Presswire for this opportunity, you can find my set of images from the game here on their site)

Devils captain Zach Parise during the first period:

New Jersey Devils right wing David Clarkson (23) fights for the puck with New York Islanders center Josh Bailey (12):

Islanders third-string goalie Anders Nilsson got the start opposite Devils backup Johan Hedberg. I was a little bummed about that since I’d hoped to shoot Marty Brodeur:

Devils star Ilya Kovalchuk skates the puck into the zone early:

Islanders All-Star John Tavares was one guy I wanted to get a few extra shots of. He ended up scoring the Isles’ lone goal in the third:

One thing I was really frustrated with was the glass and how it distorted any images with my 300mm and 400mm lenses. I’m not sure what the reason was, but it was impossible to get a sharp frame through the glass with a long lens — only the 70-200 was feasible.

Here’s former Devil Jay Pandolfo looking for a shot in close:

Kovalchuk tries to elude PA Parenteau, one of my favorite names in hockey. This is of course from the third period, as you can see I’m shooting from a higher angle above the glass with a 300mm:

Here’s Parise going up against Islanders captain Mark Streit:

Dylan Reese (42) joined the pair and made for two compositions I liked:

Parise tries to shove the puck under Nilsson’s pads:

Ahh, the Ice Girls. True, professional and college hockey players tend to cut up the ice surface faster than youth games, so maybe snow removal is helpful, but I think the Islanders’ team of spandex cheerleaders are more to distract the fans from the real action on the ice:

Parenteau reacts after Tavares knocks home the game’s first goal late in the third, putting New York up 1-0:

This was one of my favorite shots from the game, but it also didn’t make the cut on Presswire’s set:

This was my shooting position for the third, just left of center ice:

Steve Bernier (18) plays the puck from behind the Islanders’ net late in the third:

Devils defenseman David Clarkson (23) reacts after scoring the game-tying goal with under two minutes to play. Clarkson tied it with 1:39 remaining, squeezing the puck past Nilsson for his 28th goal:

The game slipped away from the Islanders at this point, when Parenteau took a brutal penalty for boarding:

About 14 seconds later, Marek Zidlicky gave the Devils the lead with a power-play goal:

Suddenly, Islanders fans stood up and walked out with 1:38 remaining

The Isles had one last chance to tie it up with an extra skater, but fell short:

Again, thanks to US Presswire for the chance to go shoot this game. Hopefully more to come!

Saturday night will prove a childhood theory of mine wrong: that you couldn’t pay me to watch the Islanders.

Alas, it can be done. I’m getting a great opportunity to cover my first NHL game on March 10 when my two favorite teams face off on my favorite island — the Devils head to Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale to try and burn the Islanders for the second time in three days. All kidding and Rangers loyalty aside, I’m pretty pumped for this game; Devils goalie Martin Brodeur is an ageless Hall of Famer and I’m going to bring my 400mm lens just to get some tight portraits of him in goal. I bought a new Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 II L super-wide lens earlier this week, so that will get its first real action at ice level. Both teams have some stars and this should be a nice upgrade from shooting Army hockey.

But this post isn’t just about the Isles. I stumbled across some published images of mine this week, notably a few in Sports Illustrated, and then randomly, more images unashamedly stolen by a variety of obscure and legit websites. Just to humor myself, I’ll post it all here.

First, we’ll start with the good: this nice photo of the Jets’ Shonn Greene ran in a late-October column in SI:

SI also used this image in ranking Don Bosco football this fall:

USA Today and ESPN.com both ran the same shot of a former Bosco star who got himself into hot water:

Hooray, published, paid, legit usage of my work in major outlets! Now we’ll move over to the “what the?” category. Occasionally I’ll Google image search my name, since I’m so impressed with myself, to see what’s floating around the web. Here’s LaxAllStars.com, a college lacrosse website, swiping a photo from my Flickr page I guess:

I like when websites write “courtesy xyz,” as if it’s implying the photographer donated the image or something. Even better than this theft, this sports blog must have felt like they struck gold when they found my collection of Jets cheerleaders — they posted an entire gallery of my Flight Crew shots on their site. Why stop at one? He did thank me for the photos it appears, and I have the satisfaction of knowing maybe a few Jets fans enjoyed ‘em.

My personal favorite of late has been people stealing my shot of reigning (and briefly tainted) National League MVP Ryan Braun looking fairly distraught last summer during a game at Yankee Stadium — Joe, “a writer with a BA in communications from Boston College,” stole my shot of Braun for his fieend.com blog story in December when Braun tested positive for a banned substance. Does BC teach media ethics?

But wait. This blog also stole the same photo.

And this website (deathandtaxesmag.com) did too! (DJ Pangburn being the thief in this case).

Also here.

And here too, by Ben Herman.

Damn, this site swiped it as well.

Unreal. You’d think I’m the only person who’s ever snapped a photo of Ryan Braun looking kind of worried. Just the fact that I posted that image again above means it’ll probably be stolen again. Should I start heavily watermarking my stuff everywhere?

I spent some time this week trying to determine a fair value for images, and the answers I got varied. Consider the cost in equipment alone when it comes to producing high-quality images. In general, when folks steal images like these Braun shots, it hurts the whole industry; what value does a professional image hold if you can just find one on Google for free?

This fan-based website I’ve never heard of stole a rather nice shot I got in August of Hunter Pence and the Phillies. I drove all the way to Philly for that one!

Gothamist, which I’ve at least heard of, swiped this one of Yankee Stadium I took during the Army-Rutgers game.

Good ol’ Bleacher Report stole my photo of Army QB Trent Steelman for a photo gallery (I took that one in Dallas in 2010, no less).

Some people do acquire photos the old fashioned way, though – like this website I’ve never heard of going with my Obama coin toss frame, and two more I know all about: the Sun Sentinel, my grandmother’s hometown newspaper in South Florida, also couldn’t resist some Jets cheerleader action, and the nearby Orlando Sentinel went for this cool shot I got following UConn’s win over South Florida back in November.

Will Islanders photos be the next off the shelf?