Pre Game Rituals

 I've been creating a series of photos as the players are coming out onto the ice for their pre game warm up. I guess you call these photos a series because they are basically the same idea and style.

What I would like to do is capture the player's Pre Game Ritual.

It all starts as the players stand in the hallway underneath the bleachers near the entrance to the ice surface. They wait for one of there theme song called Hell Yeah by Rev Theory to play. Then in a single file they advance towards the ice surface just in time to hear the arena announcer yell out 

" Lead by Tyler Bunz  ( or in many cases Deven Dubyk)....

 Your Medicine Haaaat T-I-G-E-R-S!" 

and the whole Arena explodes with excitement for their home town heros!

The intensity before show time.

                                       
Ok maybe not too much Intensity......lol

Can't forget The Fans..

Nemesis!

...and yet there is players like Reid Petryk that come out with a great big Positive Attitude.

...Game in and Game out...

His laughter rubs off on his team mates!

The one thing I love about rituals is that they are all unique. Take Hunter, No matter if it's warm up or game time the mouth guard makes it's way outside the mouth.

With my Pre Game shoot , I'm perched in the opposition bench across the ice from where the Tigers enter the ice surface.  While I take these photos and watch the players formative warm up. I get to see the little rituals of each individual player. Everything from juggling of a puck, to the back and forth speed skating in between the two side boards and to the goalies practicing their lateral movements in the crease. 

I believe that's what drives me to take more pictures. Like I said earlier, what I would like to do is capture the player's Pre Game Ritual.  To Trap, if you pardon the pun, the few moments of total concentration of each player as he follows his warm up routine.

I use art to apprehend an illusion of a players game. Even though I have my style of creating I always strive for the new and out of the ordinary composition. 

With photography, I have the ability to freeze a moment in a players life..

As the players single file onto the ice surface I want to capture their Pre Game Ritual. But sometimes an ordinary routine isn't ordinary at all...

Maybe not a Pre Game Ritual....Dylan The skate Guard buddy!

To view more of these photos go to http://www.pbase.com/mcimages

or 

Artwork http://www.versikaitis.com

The Final Whistle...

The Zebras...the funny and out of the ordinary shots.


To me there is nothing more exciting then going to do a photo shoot at a Medicine Hat Tigers game. As I drive my way to the arena, the ideas of what shots I want to take and who I should be taking shots of all races through my mind. I always have a list of 2 or 3 players that I need to concentrate on and the then there is the action shots for the W.H.L. 
I know the players are the main purpose for the shoot. But there is so much more going on in the game besides the players. Like the opportunity to photo shoot the dramatic referees.  At  times they are ignored in a game until they make a call then of course every one's eyes are on them.


 As an artist and photographer, I watch for the emotion and the facial expression of people. Not only are these next photos popular with my viewers but to me are somewhat funny and out of the ordinary shots.   


  At the bottom of this Blog you will find the link to my photography web site to view these and many more shots. 

The Intensity.

Three heads is always better then one.

As I took this shot, one of the referees turns to me and actually called me a Paparazzi. Can you believe the nerve of him? 

Again terrible call...lol

 I've often talked about how the referee seems to get in the way of me and the player that I'm following. Well here is my million dollar shot. In this play Wacey Hamilton #36 scored and of course I missed the shot....

Another one of those wonderful shots...

The Linesmen....Oh yes The Linesmen. This one in particular is kinda funny if you look at the size difference between the player and the linesman. My hat goes off to linesman Cochrane for keeping the peace on the ice.

The call is made but there is still time for arguing....

They do crack a smile every once in a while.

Thank you for viewing my blog. If you want to add your comments please be free to do so.

To view more photos of the referee please go to 

Versikaitis- The Art of Sport Photography

It just goes to show that you never know when or where your photos will show up..Who's hot, who's not - Medicine Hat's Tyler Pitlick big talk on Sportnet.ca - Photo Courtesy by Joe Versikaitis

Medicine Hat Tigers forward Tyler Pitlick could be on the verge of claiming his spot on the American squad in the world junior tournament. Pitlick is lighting the lamp and helping buoy the surge from the Tigers in the home stretch before the holiday break.

 By Patrick King at Sportsnet.ca

Tyler Pitlick - Medicine Hat Tigers

 I usually go to the Arena with a couple ideas of what stance and which player I would like to photo shoot.  Some nights I will follow the goalies. Others nights I will follow the defense and then other nights I follow the forwards.  Heck, there is nights when all I shoot is the back side of the referees as they so kindly skate in front of me while I'm taking my million dollar shot......lol.

The W.H.L. likes to see action shots which shows a player from each team in it. Shots like checking into the boards, taking face offs, the action in front of the net and of course goal shots. To me the action shots is what excite me the most. I understand the game well enough to anticipate of what's coming next. So I can start shooting when I see fit. One thing for sure, sometimes I get the shot and sometimes I don't.

 I will say, that towards the end of the game after I've taken my share of photos. I always seem to have a little bit more inspiration to follow 1 more players. I will follow this players for 3 to 4 shifts and see what comes out of that. 

In this picture of Tyler Pitlick I only followed him for 1 shift...That's it...It just goes to show that you never know when or where your photos will show up.  Although, to have my Art work show cased in such a great media would have been an awesome experience. Having my photo displayed to the world by Sportnet.ca is a very great honor.

Thank you to the Medicine Hat Tigers, Patrick King and Sportnet.ca for giving me this opportunity to show case my work. 

Along with an awesome write up about Tyler Pitlick, this shot is being feature on Sportnet.ca by Patrick King

To view the article please click here http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/juniors/2010/11/22/king_chl_hot_not/

Tigers Vs Pats

It seems that I'm always looking to take an ideal shot or pose during the hockey game. The time that it takes for me to drive to the Arena to take photos at a game is very important to me. As an artist, I'm visualizing different stances that players do. I am also thinking if I was going to do a painting of a player what pose or stance would inspire me?  

These ideal shots is where the player is in a routine stance, certain pose or little habits that they show on the ice. Habits like tucking their jersey into one side of their pants. Others like to chew on their mouth guards while they skate. The goalies, well they are a different bunch all together. I seen guys come up to the net and treat it like a shrine. They stand in front of it and say a prayer, tap the two post and then the cross bar before turning around and backing up into it.  They don't light candles but pretty close... I believe that most if not all goalies slap the catching glove and then the butt end of their stick to the goal post in rhythm. 

Then there is the player or the goal scorer that seems to communicate with his stick by staring at it,  rubbing the taped part and almost talking to it.

That's why I believe that sports photography is not only capturing the players face and emotion but also capturing them in their routine superstitious habit. What ever ritual they do, I want to capture it

Hope you enjoy!

 Most of these photos were taken on November 13th, 2010. Between the Medicine Hat Tigers and  Regina Pats..

Starting goalies always go to the center ice area and do their stretching out while their counterpart go to the side boards for their stretching exercise. Here #33 Deven Dubyk at center ice going through his routine.

 This would be a cool pose to paint....

Capturing the player during a break in the game makes for some interesting poses. During game if I get a chance to talk to players I always tell them that when I'm looking at you with my camera, Smile at me..lol

This would be a cool pose to paint....

 Hunter Shinkaruk has a habit of chewing on his mouth guard while he skates. 

This would be a very cool pose to paint....

Here Linden Vey turned just in time to see the puck coming out of the net after team mate Emerson Etem scored.

This would be a cool pose to paint....

Just like Frank Lennon, the photographer that took the pictures of Paul Henderson of Team Canada, scoring on Russian goaltender Vladislav Tretiak. 

Each one of us photographer dreams of taking that one or two photos that will for ever live on in the life of a sport. Eugene Erik is the main photographer for the Medicine Tigers. One of the question we always seem to ask each other is "Did you get that Goal?" Which of course means did you get the photo of the goal going in the net... 

More then enough times I always seem to get a picture of the referee's butt. Just as a goal is about to be scored. This game was between the Tigers and the Kootenay ICE.

This would NOT be a cool pose to paint....

From where I sit during the games, like I've said in previous blogs, is the best seat in the house. I get to see a lot of face offs and the great Jr. hockey thats packed with non stop action.  
I always try to capture the moment the puck leaves the hand of the referee. I like to see what the player eyes are doing during that particular second. Like in this shot of Wacey Hamilton #36 and the Rebels #9 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins during a game against the Rebels. Their eyes are focused on the puck in the referees hand...
But with any sport photography,

sometimes you get the shot and sometimes you don't...

This would be a cool pose to paint....

Here Linden Vey takes the puck away from his opponent..

By the way Linden is going to be playing in the 2010 Subway Series against the Russians on November 17 and 18. Read about it here at  Hockey Future.com

Good Luck Linden!

A stance of Linden playing against the Russians would a very cool portrait to paint....!

The photo of Paul Henderson was turned into a drawing which was donated to a local charity in Brooks Alberta. Go here to view " The Goal ".

 Also You can view Eugene Eriks web site Here 

You can can go to my photo web site at http://www.pbase.com/mcimages/tigers_vs_pats  to see more of these shots..

Fatty - The painting of my first goalie mask!!

This goalie mask is a project that has been going on for sometime. The mask belongs to a co-worker of mine by the name of Marlo.  Being that Marlo is a huge Philadelphia Flyers FAN the theme of this piece has to do with the Flyers.  Marlo and I decided that it would be great to acknowledge Bernie Parent and  Pelle Lindbergh. 
 To start I had to sand, prime, and add a layer of paint to the front  and back part of the mask. I then searched for reference photos to use and created a design that looks some what good. 
Painting this mask is going to be done with my old air brush. Now I haven't done air brush work for over 12 years so I'll be a little rusty.

The back of the mask once the priming and first coat of paint was put on it.

Here I have done painting on the back part of the mask. I used the air brush with the help of my smaller painting brushes. Those little air holes, I believe I painted those buggers about 5 times before I was satisfied with what I had. The piercing eyes looking at you. I wanted to make them seem like they are stuck back in a shadow....

Here I have put on the straps that to show what it's going to look like from the back of the mask...

Almost like some kind of Warrior!!!!

" FATTY " is a nick name that Marlo goes by in his hockey career...

Medicine Hat Tigers vs Saskatoon Blades.Photos for this week...Nov 7th,2010

This blog of photos was taken at the Medicine Tigers game on November 6th, 2010. I get the privilege, along with another gentleman by the name of Eugene Erik to take photos for the Tigers. I feel like I have the best seat in the house....Hope you enjoy these pics!

Nov 6th, 2010. Medicine Hat Tigers vs Saskatoon Blades

 

#9 Hunter Shinkaruk has himself a goal after receiving a great pass from fellow teammate #15 Linden Vey.

#34 Kale Kessy comes in spraying snow behind the net while goaltender Adam Morrison tries to clear the puck.

This shot of Emerson Etem is one that I always wanted to do with a player. That is having the player looking to the side while having their back to the camera. 

 This shot of Kale Kessy I caught my luck. I just happen to look over in front of the net  the puck was shot by Defensive Sebastian Owuya. Kale just held his stick between his leg and tried to redirect the puck to the net.  These kind of photos are the ones that I always want to get but have a hard time capturing. I either shake the camera a little so that the picture comes out blurred or like my mother used to take pictures and only get part of the body and miss the rest of the shot!

You can can go to my photo web site at http://www.pbase.com/mcimages/tigers_vs_saskatoon to see more of these shots..

Miguel Jose

This piece is a portrait of my son Miguel.

16 x 20 pastel sketch of Miguel

A while ago I had him pose for me in front of our den window so that I could get some cool light effects from the window. It started out as a pastel sketch but like always it turns out to be a little bit more.

Is your ability to create Art a gift? Or do you have to work at it to make it a talent??

Throughout the years I have gotten myself into a lot of little arguments over this issue.  When someone says they like my artwork. Of course I say " Thank you!" But then, when they say you have such a wonderful gift. I tend to be a little apprehensive because I feel a gift is something that is giving to you. A gift of God would be life itself. That's a gift. The gift of sight, hearing , feelings, etc...  To me, talent is something that I have to work hard at to perfect. To make it look easy in someone else eyes. Im sorry but I have to work hard to create my artwork and yes some aspect of my art comes easy. But it's all about the dedication it took to create that aspect easy.

What is a " BLOG"

My daughter asked me what is a " Blog?"
This question came to be when I told her and her boyfriend that I created a blog page and that I was going to write in it. You see I started my own blog, Blog with Alberta Sport Artist Joe Versikaitis about two weeks ago. Here I will talk about Sport art, marketing, photography and yes a little bit of hockey.Yeah I know the name is a little long but what ever. I like it.
I thought a Blog would be kinda fun to create. It was so much fun that after I created my first blog page I created another blog page. This one I called Blog with my fellow Artist. In this blog page I want to encourage local artist to send me their works so that I can post it on my blog.  My madness behind this concept is that if I show case other artist work then hopefully they will return the favor by show casing my work on their blog. I'm just trying to create a artsy fartsy community. We'll see how it goes.
After all the reading and scrutinising of other blogs. I have come to the conclusion that this blogging business is really a place to write my diary about my life. I talk about my art work and how that particular  piece was created. I also bring in guest writers with marketing ideas and I try to promote a marketing guru by the name of Alyson Stanfield. Alyson has a great book called " I'd rather be in the studio ". For any of you artist out there that are interested in stepping into a career path as an artist then this book is a must.
 My stories about meeting hockey super stars like Teemu Selanne, Trevor Kidd and soon to come Theo Fleury and Sandy McCarthy is really the part of my art that keeps me going. If it wasn't for my dream to be an N.H.L. artist the reason for marketing and blogging would be none existence.
 So in saying all this. It seems that when people ask what is a blog. My response has to be this....
It's about writing what ever you want to write about, discussing a favorite topic with a person that you've never met before or in my case show casing mine other artist works. In all fairness Blogging to me is creating a community on a single web page where artist can come to visit...Simple!
Joe Versikaitis - Artist

The Guardian Project

Stan Lee - SLG Entertainment. Creators of Spider-man, The X Men, The Fantastic Four just to name a few. Along with the National Hockey League are joining forces to create The Guardian Project. In short, GME or the Guardian Media Entertainment group is going to vow hockey and comic book fans with Hockey Superheroes comic book, strips and movies.

" It's all about Marketing. The N.H.L. and Stan Lee are going to make a ton of money with this. The popularity of the game is going to grow beyond our imaginations. The kids and adult alike, that will read these comics will idolize their heroes on and off the ice.
Guarantee that when Halloween comes around there is going to be a lot more N.H.L. Superheroes coming to our doors for treats.
The 'Guardians' is going to be a marketing success which is going to help grow HOCKEY not only in the sunbelt regions but also world wide." Joe Versikaitis - Artist




Visit http://www.guardianproject30.com/ to watch a Trailer and http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=540091#&navid=nhl-search for more info.