Oil seeps from the ground from a hole dug on a Knight Island beach in Alaska's Prince William Sound on Wednesday, July 16, 2010. Alaska still hasn't recovered from the Exxon Valdez disaster 21 years later. An estimated 21,000 gallons of spilled oil remains in Prince William Sound two decades after the initial devastation.

I spent four days in Alaska covering the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil spill 21 years later for the New York Daily News. It was an adventure of an assignment and an eye opening experience.

It was my first time in Alaska as well as my first time flying out of state for a big assignment like this. Meeting fishermen whose lives were ruined by the oil spill made me think of the fishermen in the Gulf who have no idea what’s in store for them in the years to come.

Myself and NY Daily News west coast bureau chief Nancy Dillon flew out on a sea plane to Knight Island in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, where oil seeped out from holes dug in the sand.

Prince William Sound is one of the most beautiful places that I’ve ever seen with my own eyes. Seeing how man can so easily destroy something so beautiful was really sad.

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Los Angeles Dodgers' Matt Kemp is congratulated by teammates at home plate after he hit a walk-off home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the 10th inning of their Major League Baseball game, Tuesday, June 1, 2010 in Los Angeles. Los Angeles won, 1-0.

I just wanted to share a fun celebration shot at a recent Dodgers game, in which Matt Kemp hit a walk-off home run in extra innings. It’s not every day that you see the headlock technique, as shown here by Andre Ethier.

Not a week before this game, did the Angels’ Kendry Morales break his leg in a similar walk-off celebration. You can sense a bit of cautiousness by the team as Kemp made it to the plate, which was kind of funny.

Luckily for me, I shot two frames off before Dodger Stadium security walked right in front of the photographers in the first base photo well, making for some pissed off photographers.

Check out my photo in the LA Times.

Mater Dei High School's Melissa Bates swims in heat two of the Girls 200 Yard IM during the 2010 CIF Southern Section Division 1 Swimming Finals at Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach, Calif., on Friday, May 14, 2010.

I had a good time shooting high school swimming finals recently. I love the access that shooting prep sports gives me. I was able to shoot down on swimmers from one of the diving platforms at the Belmont Plaza Pool.

This gave me a pretty cool vantage point, letting me clear up my backgrounds and get something out of the ordinary. I think I got a little lucky with the water in this shot.

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Foothill's Cooper Pickell, left, and Cameron Cole celebrate after Cole scored in the third quarter during a Division I South Division semi-final game of the US Lacrosse Southern Section Championships between Foothill High School and St. Margaret's High School at San Clemente High School's Thalassa Stadium in San Clemente, Calif., on Saturday, May 8, 2010. Foothill won, 9-7.

Before last week, I have only shot one lacrosse game back during my internship at the Erie Times-News. I cared for the sport very little.

Only after shooting three high school playoff games recently did I begin to grow an appreciation for the sport. As I was observing these guys run around with sticks, it made me wonder as to the origins of lacrosse.

It turns out that the sport belonged to the North American Indians before the French saw that it was good and took it. As a friend of mine Dave put it, “the white man doesn’t steal stuff that sucks.. Rock n roll, America… we only swipe the good stuff.”

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Check out my 10 favorite photos on my Sportsshooter page: www.sportsshooter.com/carlosd

Jenna Jameson walks out of her home wearing an arm brace carrying suitcases with her father Lawrence Massoli in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Monday, April 26, 2010.

Sometimes, I go on assignments that make me feel dirty. I have to sit in my car next to TMZ idiots waiting to get a shot of a celebrity outside of their home after a scandal. I go home after and promptly take a shower.

In this case last month, I went out to the home of porn star Jenna Jameson after her boyfriend UFC fighter Tito Ortiz allegedly physically abused her the night before. It wasn’t as tiresome as some celebrity stake-outs can be, as she walked out of her home wearing an arm brace and carrying suitcases within 30 minutes after I arrived.

She came out once, trying to look as down and defeated and possible, and then came out again after an outfit change. It crossed my mind afterward that with all the pain she said she was in from the injury suffered during the domestic dispute, she sure handled that heavy suitcase with ease.

Check my photos in the New York Daily News.

Check out my photos in the Orange County Register.

I had a pretty intense day covering high school regional championship games recently. I shot three back-to-back games for three different publications, all on deadline. The first game (pictured) was for the OC Register. The second and third games were for the Long Beach Press-Telegram. I also had to send photos from the third game to the Fresno Bee. Triple dipping can mean more money in my pocket, but it’s definitely a lot of work.

Championship high school games are usually fun to shoot, with a lot of emotion when the games are close. The game may not be played at the highest of levels, but some of the guys and gals sure get scrappy and emotional.

Check out more photos below:

Mater Dei vs Brea Olinda (Girls Div III)

Compton vs Lincoln (Boys Div II)

Poly vs Clovis West (Girls Div I)

Pat Matthews, 56, of Mission Viejo, poses for a photo in his home office in Mission Viejo, Calif., on Monday, Feb. 22, 2010. Matthews took his life-long love affair with The Beatles to the internet with his internet radio station, Beatles-a-rama.

I had a fun portrait assignment a couple weeks ago for the Orange County Register. Pat Matthews loves him some Beatles music. Who doesn’t? He took it a step further and started an internet radio station that plays The Beatles music 24-7.

He has a monster archive of The Beatles music in his home office. Pat not only runs the station from his home, but also teaches voice acting classes at Saddleback College. He also is a freelance voice actor. We spent an hour talking about freelancing in both of our industries, music, little league baseball, and snakes…. oh yeah, his son’s pet snake was on the loose that day which made me a little nervous!

Pat was a really cool guy who does what he loves for a living, and you can’t knock on anybody who can say that about themselves.

Read an article about Pat and a view a photo slideshow in the OC Register: Beatles Fan Fires up Fab Four with Web Radio

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Check out his internet radio station:  www.beatlesarama.com

Photographers often ask me, “How do I light high school basketball?” We all know high school gyms are caves. Everybody lights a gym there own way based on their equipment, but here’s a little insight into how I light high school basketball.

My typical setup when I have to cover both teams is like this:

Most of the time, I set up a remote camera on the far end of the court, opposite from where I will be sitting during the game. Usually, it’s on a floor plate as far back from the baseline as possible. For the remote camera, I set up two light stands with a Nikon SB-800 speedlight on each pointed up towards the ceiling of the gym. I try to set up the lights on each corner of the baseline, as far back as possible. I use the built in commander on the Nikon D300′s pop-up flash to fire the strobes. The camera is triggered with one set of Pocketwizard tranceivers firing the camera with a pre-release cable (note: if not set to pre-release, there will be a big lag and you will miss your shot!).

I do the same light setup for my end of the court, except I fire these directly with Pocketwizards, not using a flash as a commander. I only use the lights on my end for shots of offense, whether it be with my 28-70mm or 70-200mm lens. When the action moves to the far end of the court, I switch to the Nikon D700 with a 300mm f2.8 lens. I shoot available light with this camera because high ISO’s look really good. I shoot with the long lens and fire my remote camera at the same time so I get two sides of the play at the far hoop.

Technical info for above photo: Nikon D300 on floor plate, 17-35mm f2.8 lens zoomed in to 30mm, ISO 800, 1/250th, f4, two Nikon SB-800′s on remote mode, fired using built-in commander with output of +3. I triggered the remote camera with Pocketwizards (you can actually see me in the photo sitting on the opposite end next to the cheerleaders firing the camera). If you have questions or need help with your setup, feel free to ask!

Check out more photos from some recent games below:

Irvine – Laguna Beach, 1/7/10

University – Aliso Niguel, 12/10/09

Los Alamitos – Edison, 1/29/10

Nick Sanchez, father of New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, poses for a photo at Orange County Fire Authority's Station 6 in Irvine, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010. Sanchez Sr. has been a fire captain at Station 6 for 33 years - the reason his son wears No. 6.

This was the second time I photographed Nick Sanchez, father of the NFL’s Mark Sanchez. The first time was in his home soon after Mark got drafted by the New York Jets. This time around, I visited him at the fire station where he works in the days leading up to his son’s AFC divisional playoff game against the San Diego Chargers. Tell me about a great guy. Nick said he would run endless football drills with Mark throughout his childhood. He would have Mark do passing drills and have to solve Algebra equations at the same time. They would run drills until after dark under the lights of his pickup truck. I would guess that a big reason that Mark Sanchez is where he’s at now is because of his dad. Hard work pays off.

Check out the article in the New York Daily News.

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Texas' Marquise Goodwin, left, is hit hard by Alabama's Kareen Jackson in the second half during the Citi BCS Championship Game between Texas and Alabama at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2009. Alabama won, 37-21.

I shot the BCS Championship Game this year between Texas and Alabama for Horns Illustrated magazine. I’ve shot several bowl games in the past, but this was my first title game. So, I was excited to say the least. The day started off with a major hiccup. Mainly, it was the fact that there was no media parking pass waiting for me on the morning of the game. Apparently, I was not aware that I had to pick up my parking pass from the media hotel days before the game. If you know about the Rose Bowl, you know how far you have to park in the general parking golf course. It was a hike. By the time I got to the stadium, my feet felt like I already shot the game!

Nevertheless, it was fun to make pictures of Texas fans and the environment before the game. Once the game started, it was a different story, as Texas’ Colt McCoy left the game injured in the first drive of the game. That’s too bad because I probably would’ve gotten better action photos of Texas’ offense. Since I was covering the game for a publication devoted to the Texas Longhorns, I mainly set up to get Texas touchdowns. It made my job a little easier, since I didn’t have to run from end zone to end zone, but I had to sacrifice getting Alabama touchdowns, their celebration and basically, the story of the game.

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