Category Archives: basketball

Vanishing…

hay·mow/ˈhāmō/noun

  1. a stack of hay.
    • a part of a barn in which hay is stored.
Canon 5D Mark 3 | 70-200 Canon L IS lens | Off Camera Speedlight with Fong Diffuser

Hay mow (or, hay loft) basketball is a foreign concept to many young, up and coming basketball players these days. Back in the day when big red barns were more of a farm standard, the hay mow was the closest thing young people had to basketball skills camp. I’m sure the reffing was questionable and rules may have been bent, adapted or even eliminated. How did they ever survive?

This lucky young man along with his siblings and cousins have spent many hours playing basketball in this hay mow. Memories made and life lessons learned.

What are YOUR memories of games or shenanigans in the hay mow?

Canon 5D Mark 3 | 24-70 Canon L lens | Off Camera Speedlight with Fong Diffuser

Basketball… the will to prepare.

“The key is not the ‘will to win’… everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important” – Bob Knight

Composite by Joyce Meyer | Lightroom | Photoshop | Ashe Design elements | Topaz edits

Once a Wildcat…

The school is now closed and will no longer hold the cheers of a crowd, squeak of basketball shoes on the shiny, waxed floor, whistle of the refs and buzz of the clock. I close my eyes and these sounds and memories flood back to me as though it was just yesterday. Luckily, the passing of time means the memory filter allows only good vibes to flow through as I bid a final farewell to my last opportunity to click  the shutter of my camera within these walls.

Image and edits by Joyce Meyer

Nostalgia was the theme of the day for me on August 15, 2017. For 26 years I drove this route from early August until the end of May as I prepared and taught a new group of students each year at Grant-Deuel School located in Revillo, South Dakota.

Cheer, cheer for GDHS!

Wake up the echoes cheering their best,

Send the loyal cheers on high,

Shake down the thunder from the sky,

What though the odds be great or small,

The blue and white will win over all,

While our loyal sons are marching forward to victory, Fight!

Blessed be the memory…

Lightning & Smoke

I’m not fond of drama in real life but I do love a dramatic blended image… and high school sports.

Tried to make my own lightning at first, but decided that was too time consuming. Googled smoke and lightning brushes and downloaded some free brushes, installed them in Photoshop CC 2015. BOOMmuch easier.

Every image can use improvement and I think an action image would be a good candidate for a blend using these brushes.

Next time…

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Outdoor portrait: Sun plus external speed light

Slaba-9806hfm20pl20dmvbgcrImage lit with sun plus an external Canon 580 EX 2 speed light positioned behind subject to define muscles. I believe this may lend itself to a faded blend with another image… Hmmm?

The Last Wildcat “Swish”

It was a warm, summer day as my mother accompanied me on a trip to a little South Dakota town just across the border from Minnesota.  A job interview was scheduled for a teaching position and the day resulted in a job with a new life living in a small, farming community.

Yeah, I can see myself doing this a couple of years…  which stretched out to 26 years plus additional substitute teaching years.

It was an emotional ending for the last Grant-Deuel High School sporting event held in the Revillo, South Dakota gymnasium. I listen for that memorable roar of Go, Big, Blue!,  smell the fragrant concession stand popcorn and gaze at the sea of blue and white filling the stands… now merely memories of days gone by.

Blessed be the memory…

 

 

 

 

 

The kid can play…

This young man has been part of the gym scene for more years than most may realize. From water boy for my son’s 7th grade team to a key component of the current varsity team.

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Imagine, if you added up all of the hours spent practicing in this very gym, the number you’d end up with.
Hard work,perseverance and determination… Now that adds up to true grit.
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Looking forward to the 2014-2015 season.