Virginia

Old Dominion’s first conference home game of the season took place October 4, 2025 at S.B. Ballard Stadium in Norfolk as they hosted the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. It was a 6pm kickoff and it was a beautiful evening for football with temperatures in the low 70’s at kickoff. I was bringing along my Nikon Z9 and Nikon Z8 along with my Nikkor 400mm f/4.5 VR S and Nikkor Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S lenses.

Old Dominion’s home season kicked off September 6 at S.B. Ballard Stadium in Norfolk as they hosted the North Carolina Central Eagles. It was a 6pm kickoff but it was still a very warm evening to start as the day’s high temperature was 95°F. I was bringing along my Nikon Z9 and Nikon Z8 along with my Nikkor 400mm f/4.5 and Nikkor Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena lenses.

Old Dominion was coming off a 27-14 loss to the Indiana Hoosiers and were looking for their first win. Trequan Jones of Old Dominion had a monster game gaining 163 yards on only 5 carries. Three of the carries went for touchdowns including runs of 93 yards and 39 yards. Complete coverage of the game can be found here.

Fading Malls and Coastal Light with Kodak Portra 400

This roll of Kodak Portra 400, shot on my Nikon F6, gave me a good mix of subjects to work with—abandoned malls, lakes, bridges, and gardens. Portra 400 handled everything well, showing why it’s such a versatile film. The colors came out natural and balanced, the grain stayed fine, and the film’s wide exposure latitude made it easy to manage both tricky lighting indoors and bright conditions outdoors.

City Streets, Quiet Trails, and Wild Marshes with the Nikon FM2n

This roll carried me through a mix of urban scenes, quiet parks, and wild marshland—an excellent showcase for what black-and-white film can reveal in such different environments. Shot entirely on my Nikon FM2n with Ilford HP5+, these images reflect a season of exploration between August 1, 2024 and November 3, 2024.

HP5+ is one of my favorite black-and-white stocks. Its slightly more pronounced grain and high latitude give it a grit that feels at home in both city streets and natural landscapes. It rewards careful metering but also forgives a lot, making it a perfect companion for wandering with the FM2n.

It’s been a long while since I posted my film photography. I developed several rolls in March and I’m finally getting around to blogging about them. This roll of film was all about slowing down and letting the Nikon FM2n guide the experience. The FM2n, fully mechanical and as dependable as they come, has a way of making you think about every frame before you press the shutter. No screens, no autofocus—just pure photography.

The 2025 football season kicked off at Norfolk State last Thursday night as Norfolk State hosted Towson University. It was a 7pm kickoff so I parked at MacArthur Center and hopped on the Tide to take me over to Norfolk State. I was bringing along my Nikon Z9 and Nikon Z8 along with my Nikkor 400mm f/4.5 and Nikkor Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena lenses.

Michael Vick’s debut as Norfolk State’s head coach drew plenty of attention in Norfolk on August 28, 2025, but Towson spoiled the occasion with a decisive 27–7 victory. Freshman quarterback Andrew Indorf stole the spotlight, completing 14 of 26 passes for 187 yards and three touchdowns in his first collegiate start.

I had the opportunity to shoot a Saturday night Sun Belt matchup basketball game in Norfolk between the Old Dominion Monarchs and the Georgia State Panthers. The Monarchs came out strong in front of their home crowd at Chartway Arena, playing with energy and intensity on both ends of the court. Georgia State made a push in the second half, but ODU held firm down the stretch to secure a 73–66 victory.

A Southeastern district game took place at Hickory on Tuesday night as the Hickory girls took the floor against Western Branch.

I used my Nikon Z9 body and Nikkor Z 70-200 f/2.8 S lens to shoot the action.

It was a hard fought game by both teams but Western Branch was able to come away with a close victory in the end.

You can purchase images from the game on MaxPreps or my website.

The Indian River gym was packed as the Braves hosted district rivals King’s Fork on Friday night. King’s Fork came into the game ranked #4 in the area while Indian River was ranked in the top 15.

I used my Nikon Z9 body and Nikkor Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena lens to shoot the action.

King’s Fork proved to be to much for the Braves and won the game easily. Even with the loss, Indian River is destined for the playoffs.

Rivalry game at Hickory on Tuesday night as the Hickory girls took the floor against their rival Great Bridge.

I used my Nikon Z9 body and Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 lens to shoot the action.

Hickory jumped out to an early lead, but Great Bridge started chipping away in the 3rd quarter. Great Bridge took over in the 4th quarter to grab the victory.

You can purchase images from the game on MaxPreps or my website.

It was senior night at Great Bridge on Wednesday night as the #2 ranked Wildcats hosted a tri-meet with Hickory and #1 ranked Grassfield. Grassfield cruised to an easy win over Hickory. I wasn’t able to get any images of this match. But I did shoot the match between Great Bridge and Hickory followed by the match between Great Bridge and Grassfield.

I brought my Nikon Z9 body and Nikkor Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena lens. I love how the Plena lens renders the backgrounds, but sometimes the wrestlers definitely get too close for this lens.

It was a packed house at Hickory on Friday night as they took the floor against their rival Great Bridge. It was the first time that I’ve been shooting games at Hickory that they pulled out the bleachers on the other side of the court.

I used my Nikon Z9 body and Nikkor Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena lens to shoot the action.

Hickory jumped out to a commanding lead, but Great Bridge started chipping away in the 3rd quarter. They cut the lead to 3 points with less than two minutes to play but they were unable to get any closer.

It was doubleheader night at Greenbrier Christian Academy as both the girls and boys took on Hickory High School. It was my first time in their gym and while it was a decent size gym with a food court upstairs that overlooked the floor, there was about six feet of space between the ends of the court and the walls. The good news with that is I could rest my back against the wall.

It was doubleheader night at Hickory High School as both the girls and boys hosted Norfolk Academy. The girls game was a very competitive game that Hickory looked like they had control of going into the fourth quarter. But Norfolk Academy got the momentum and dominated the fourth quarter to win.

The Hickory boys took a 20 point lead to halftime and looked to be in complete control of their game. But Norfolk Academy fought back in the second half and even took a 1 point lead with a couple of minutes to go before Hickory finally got control of the game and won.

I started my high school basketball season off with a game between Southeastern District rivals Grassfield High and Deep Creek High. Sadly, I was going to have to shoot this game sitting on the floor since my telescoping stool got messed up from baseball season.

Grassfield controlled nearly all of the first half of this game but Deep Creek went on a row in the last minute to actually take the lead at halftime. Deep Creek then went on to dominate the second half.

JMU traveled from Harrisonburg to take on their in-state rival ODU in Norfolk for a 4pm kickoff. It was another beautiful day for football and the stadium was packed.

I brought my Nikon Z9 body with my Nikkor 400mm f/2.8G lens and my Nikon Z8 body with the Nikkor Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena lens. But just before ODU took the field, I realized the 400mm wasn’t going to stay on the monopod. The screw holes in the footer collar were stripped. This was the same issue I had at the Norfolk State game a couple weeks earlier, but I thought I had fixed it.

CNU hosted William Paterson in a New Jersey Athletic Conference D3 football game on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Newport News, VA. This was my first D3 football game of the season and I found it to be just as fun to watch as FBS and FCS football games. In fact, I think I liked it more. No media timeouts! I didn’t even have time to take my phone out of my pocket to check scores after a touchdown because they were already lining up for the kickoff.

It was homecoming at Norfolk State this past Saturday as they hosted their MEAC rival Howard University. It was a 2pm kickoff so I showed up around 12pm and drove around campus looking for a parking spot. After realizing it was going to be hard to find, I changed my mind and drove over to Macarthur Mall to park there and then ride the Tide back to Norfolk State. There was a 10 minute walk from the train stop to the stadium and I was carrying my Nikon AF-S 400mm f/2.8 G lens, all 10 pounds of it, along with my Z9, Z8, and one other camera I’ll talk about in a future post.

The Grassfield hosted the Nansemond River Warriors on Friday night for their homecoming. A clear night with perfect temps. Another Chesapeake game with outdated lighting. I really hope they can get around to updating the lighting at the Chesapeake high schools.

Nansemond River was dressed in white while Grassfield wore their dark blue jerseys. Perfect color for a dimly lit field. Detect any sarcasm there?

I only shot the first half of the game as I wasn’t feeling great but at halftime Nansemond River built a 28-7 lead.

I finally got to shoot a day football game this year! Every game I’ve shot up until this one had been a night game or early evening game. This game between Texas State and ODU was being played at 3:30pm in Norfolk. And the sun was out!

Texas State rolled into Norfolk with a 4-2 record and were 10 point favorites against the 2-4 Monarchs. ODU jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first half and would hold on to win 24-14. ODU has now won 3 of its last 4 games even though the offense is still struggling.

The Hickory Hawks hosted their city rival Grassfield on Friday night. Great night for football as I had to put on the hat and thin gloves.

Hickory isn’t the best place to shoot football at night. The combination of outdated lighting and black jerseys make for some high ISOs in the images. Luckily, software has come a long way in the last ten years and the noise cleans up well.

Thanks to Hurricane Helene’s tracking, and the upcoming rains we were expecting on Friday, we had a football game on Thursday night. It was Military Appreciation night as the Hickory Hawks hosted their rival, the Great Bridge Wilcats.

The combination of high school stadium lighting, dark open spaces between the two sides of the stadium, and Hickory’s all black jerseys, make for a difficult night of shooting. It gets so dark out there. Even shooting wide open at f/2.8 on the 400mm lens, my ISOs were reaching my peak settings. Lets hope these schools can switch out to LED lights in the near future.

I got to shoot my second ODU football game in a row on Saturday. This time, I was prepared. I would be shooting my Nikon Z9 with the 400mm f/2.8G lens. And I would be using my Nikon Z8 with the amazing Nikon 135mm f/1.8 S Plena. This time it was against the Virginia Tech Hokies. Virginia Tech has had a rough time in Norfolk, losing each of the last two times they’ve played here. Virginia Tech has been notorious for getting their seasons off to slow starts under the current coaching regime, while ODU is struggling to find any semblance of an offense.

I made it out to Colon L. Hall stadium in Great Bridge for the Friday night high school football game between the Oscar Smith Tigers and the Great Bridge Wildcats. Great Bridge’s stadium had undergone renovations and it was finally complete. I have to say the stadium looks really good now. I want to say it was originally built in 1962. Made completely out of cinder blocks and concrete, it had suffered from neglect and black mold for years. They gutted and ripped out a lot of the back wall and replaced it with steel beams.

I had the opportunity to shoot Saturday night’s matchup between East Carolina University and Old Dominion University in Norfolk, and let’s just say it didn’t go as planned. I came ready with my Nikon Z9 paired with my Nikon 400mm f/2.8G ED AF lens, along with my brand-new Nikon Z8 paired with the Nikon 135mm f/1.8 S Plena lens for more close-up work. But, in all my excitement, I forgot the most critical piece of equipment—my Nikon FTZ II mount adapter. Without it, I couldn’t connect the 400mm lens to my Z9! So, I had to shoot the entire game with just the Z8 and 135mm lens.

I went down to Greenville, NC (or as the locals call it, G-Vegas) to shoot the football game between Norfolk State and East Carolina. Opening game of the year for the Pirates. The Spartans had lost a close one the week before against Florida A&M in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Atlanta.

It was a pretty warm day with highs close to 90°F at kickoff. I entered the gates around 4:45pm for the 6pm kickoff. I wanted to get some shots of the players warming up.

I shot my first high school football game of the season on August 29th. The game featured the home team Deep Creek Hornets of Chesapeake, Virginia and the visiting Currituck County Knights of Barco, North Carolina.

Having just received my “new” Nikon 400mm f/2.8G ED VR lens a day earlier, I was eager to try it out and since it was Labor Day Weekend coming up, most of the high school football games would be played on Thursday. Deep Creek High is not too far from my house, so I decided to go there and shoot. Did I mention I shoot for MaxPreps too? The gallery from this game is on both MaxPreps and my own site.

I drove down to the Virginia Beach oceanfront on Saturday morning to catch some of the surfing action taking place at the 62nd annual Coastal Edge East Coast Surfing Championships. I arrived around 7:30am and got a good parking spot. I decided to walk around with my Nikon F6 at first and capture some images on film. I’m still working on that roll, so stay tuned for a post about it.

As my film journey progresses, I absolutely love the simplicity of shooting with my Nikon FM2n and Yashica Electro 35 GSN. But I have been thinking about getting into medium format at some point. I’ve really had my eye on finding another Yashica. Especially the Mat 124G. But then I was watching Youtube and and I saw Kai’s video on using the Nikon F6.

Watching his video got me thinking. I have the Nikon FM2n. The perfect, most simplistic 35mm SLR made by Nikon. It doesn’t even need a battery to function. But what if I paired it up with the most advanced 35mm SLR Nikon ever made? That would be an awesome complement to the FM2n.