Champion Cornhole Player Ryan Smith for The Wall Street Journal

Ryan Smith, a former defensive back for James Madison University, found his post-collegiate athletic calling through the game of cornhole. The object, to toss a bean bag 45 feet away into a hole six inches in diameter, is as challenging as it sounds.

I was able to photograph Ryan at a brewery, Twinpanzee, in Sterling, Virginia. The cavernous space offered lots of room to work in. Movable walls made of plywood the brewery uses to separate brewing equipment from the cornhole court created interesting, clean backgrounds and good visual separation between Ryan and what would otherwise have been a very cluttered background of tanks and hoses. The best part is Ryan had no problem at all with my strobe blasting away for the whole shoot. He continually dropped bags into the hole like he was standing right over it - it really was amazing to witness.

It’s a good thing we both showed up early, because I used up a half-hour attempting some stroboscopic images of Ryan tossing the bag, but there was just too much ambient light I couldn’t control, so I bagged the idea and moved the strobe behind and to Ryan’s right, really just to see what it would look like and to get some kind of visual starting point. As soon as I saw the potential in the first frame of creating Ryan’s silhouette on the wall and getting his beanbag in there, nicely separated inside the shadow, I knew I’d have a keeper.

My favorite photo is the first one below. I brought along a Q-Flash T5D-R, a small, powerful strobe that is easy to move around in active environments like the cornhole court.

The image also set a style for the remainder of the shoot. Luckily, Ryan was playing in front of a large stainless steel wall, inside which kegs of delicious beer are kept. The Q-Flash loves shiny surfaces, and with Ryan’s bright red jersey, blue beanbags, and outgoing personality, I was able to create images that, for me at least, made something visible from the invisible.

Check out The Wall Street Journal’s story to learn about his workout routine and how he keeps in shape physically and mentally for his upcoming busy tournament season. And see some outtakes and the tearsheet below.

The Shell Eco-Marathon for Royal Dutch Shell

Photography: Action and behind-the-scenes at Sonoma Raceway

I had the fantastic opportunity to cover the 2018 Shell Eco-Challenge at Sonoma Raceway last month. The four-day event was a competition between college and high school engineering students to design, build and race the most fuel-efficient vehicle possible. The top winners of each category - electric, gasoline and hydrogen - proceeds to the big race in London later this year.

Check out some of my favorite images below and let me know what you think!

Team B-17 with their vehicle the B-17, #511, from Braham High School, Braham, Mn, United States, competing under the UrbanConcept - Gasoline category, hits the track at Shell Make the Future at Sonoma Raceway, Sunday, April 22, 2018 in Sonoma, Calif.

Team #316, E-Team UDA Elec, of Universidad del Azuay, in Cuenca, Azuay, Ecuador, Prototype, Battery Electric work on their car in the paddock during day one of Shell Make the Future at Sonoma Raceway, Thursday, April 19, 2018 in Sonoma, Calif.

Team Cal Poly Supermileage with their vehicle the Donald Duck, #4,from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA, United States, competing under the Prototype - Gasoline category waits before a group portrait during day two of Shell Make the Future at Sonoma Raceway, Friday, April 20, 2018 in Sonoma, Calif.

Team #5, University of Toronto Supermileage, of University of Toronto, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Prototype, Gasoline works on their car in the paddock during day one of Shell Make the Future at Sonoma Raceway, Thursday, April 19, 2018 in Sonoma, Calif.

Team #201, Wheat Ridge STEM Gold, of Wheat Ridge High School, in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, United States, Prototype, Hydrogen is pushed out of the paddock during day one of Shell Make the Future at Sonoma Raceway, Thursday, April 19, 2018 in Sonoma, Calif.

Team OSU Beavers with their vehicle the Beaver Bolt, #302, from Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States, competing under the Prototype - Battery Electric category, and Team SEMA PUCP with their vehicle the PUCP 1, #21, from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Lima, Peru, competing under the Prototype - Gasoline category leave the paddock during day two of Shell Make the Future at Sonoma Raceway, Friday, April 20, 2018 in Sonoma, Calif.

Team HydroAggies with their vehicle the Streamline, #211, from North Carolina A&T State University , Greensboro, North Carolina, United States, competing under the Prototype - Hydrogen category in the paddock during day two of Shell Make the Future at Sonoma Raceway, Friday, April 20, 2018 in Sonoma, Calif.

A Saskatchewan Polytechnic SaskEco participant carries a car part to the paddocks, competing under the Prototype - category at Shell Make the Future at Sonoma Raceway, Sunday, April 22, 2018 in Sonoma, Calif.

Participants take in the experience during day two of Shell Make the Future at Sonoma Raceway, Friday, April 20, 2018 in Sonoma, Calif. 

UBC Supermileage Team with their vehicle the Zephyr, #520, from University of British Columbia , Vancouver, BC, Canada, competing under the UrbanConcept - Gasoline category work on their car near the paddock during day two of Shell Make the Future at Sonoma Raceway, Friday, April 20, 2018 in Sonoma, Calif.

Team members prepare signage to signal their driver during day three of Shell Make the Future at Sonoma Raceway, Saturday, April 21, 2018 in Sonoma, Calif.

Team Mavericks with their vehicle the The Tank , #508, from Newburgh Free Academy, Newburgh, New York , United States, competing under the UrbanConcept - Diesel category on the track during day three of Shell Make the Future at Sonoma Raceway, Saturday, April 21, 2018 in Sonoma, Calif.

The driver of Saint Thomas Academy Experimental Vehicle Team Alpha with their vehicle the The Doppler Effect, #701, from Saint Thomas Academy, Mendota Heights, MN, United States, competing under the UrbanConcept - Battery Electric category took 1st place in the Drivers World Championship on the final day of Shell Make the Future at Sonoma Raceway, Sunday, April 22, 2018 in Sonoma, Calif.

Saint Thomas Academy Experimental Vehicle Team Alpha with their vehicle the The Doppler Effect, #701, from Saint Thomas Academy, Mendota Heights, MN, United States, competing under the UrbanConcept - Battery Electric category gets the checkered flag during the Drivers World Championship on the final day of Shell Make the Future at Sonoma Raceway, Sunday, April 22, 2018 in Sonoma, Calif.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias (deceased) for ESPN.com

ESPN.com recently published a feature on deceased sports heroes and how they still get visitors. I think my assignment was the control group, since I didn't see much evidence that the gravesite of Babe Didrikson Zaharias saw many visitors. And this is a shame. One of the first pro women golfers and 1932 Olympic gold-medal track star, the woman was a legend in her own time. She broke the gender barrier as well as world-records that still stand today. Read more about it here and check out a few images from the shoot below.

New tearsheet - Harvard Business Review

I was recently contacted by the Harvard Business Review to drive up to New Waverly, Texas to photograph gymnastics coaching legend Bela Karolyi. Few have the reputation for coaching champion gymnasts like Karolyi. I wasn't sure to expect, but in a way, it seemed like a pilgrimage. Many of my favorite Houston-based editorial photographers had, at one time or another, made the same drive out into the woods of the Sam Houston National Forest to document the silver-haired Hungarian. When I got there, a film crew from Yahoo was just wrapping up. The threesome told me they were traveling around the country interviewing athletic greats. Man, what a great gig that is. Then they asked me about living in Houston, and then moved on to wonder out loud why anyone would want to live anywhere other than Los Angeles. Being a media grunt, I could see his point. There is definitely more action on the coasts. But I digress.

I wasn't sure how much time I'd have with Bela, so I made sure to set up with a quickness. To say that the gymnasium was warm would be an understatement. By the time I was finished setting up for the first shot, I was drenched. I let the maintenance guy know I was ready for Bela. Two minutes later, he arrived by golf cart and strode over the padded gymnasium floor and asked me where I'd like him to stand. I didn't really have to give him much direction. I'm sure this was the 1,237th time he'd been photographed. He feel into a relaxed stance, and we got busy. I'm glad I did all the sweating for us.

The only restrictions I had were knowing that the final image would be black and white, and that the designer needed about 1/3 of the frame available for text. Being able to control the light indoors was a plus. We were the only people in there so I had all the lights turned off and could actually use my modeling lights, which I'm almost never able to do. Another plus was Karolyi's silver hair and mustache, which I knew if I lit well, would draw the eye right to his face.

Bela stood calmly while I sweated and worked the first set up. We eventually moved to a second set-up, the uneven bars, where I made a few more pictures. My personal favorite is the shot by the uneven bars. HBR liked the vertical shot.

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