Yesterday was fun! A huge thanks to Spring Spirit Baseball for having me out to shoot George Springer (aka – the World Series MVP, aka – Springer Dinger) cut the ribbon on their renovated field and play some ball with the kids!
Photographed in Houston, TX
Photographed in Houston, TX at the Manchester City training for the Manchester Derby.
Manchester United vs Manchester City. The Derby. Or, to Mancunians, the Darby. As two of the best clubs in the English Premier League, Man Utd and City have a rivalry that dates back to 1881. The Derby has taken place 173 times between the two clubs and the match in Houston was the first one played outside of the United Kingdom in their 136-year history.
Needless to say I, a Man Utd fan since middle school (hi, David Beckham!), freaked out when the announcement of this match took place. I bought pre-sale tickets and had it marked on my calendar in bold font for months…
And then, a week before the game, through a kind recommendation from my friend and fellow photographer Christian, I was on the phone with Soccer.com. I booked the gig to shoot pre-match content for City (and vowed not to wear a United shirt) as well as the Derby itself. It was the experience of a lifetime for me, and I’m so grateful to have had it. I’m not as diehard into the rivalry as most fans, being a fan of the overall League and someone who has huge respect for City and and their roster. It was all fun, all the time. But yes, I was pretty happy about the 2-0 United victory! And maybe even happier that I was, for a brief minute, mere feet from Drake as he presented the game ball. Here are the highlights from a night I’ll never forget!
J.J. Watt. 
Drake looking deep into my soul and me, behind the lens, trying to keep it together. 
The Manchester worker bee is on the city’s coat of arms and represents the industrial heritage of the region. It’s been used as a symbol of strength following the Manchester Arena attack in May, and the two teams wore custom shirts at the match in a show of solidarity for the victims.
Photographed at NRG Stadium in Houston, TX.
Carlos Correa making an appearance at the Alex Cintron Baseball Camp at Spring Spirit Baseball.
The reason for our recent trip to Spain was to photograph Inspire Soccer‘s training and International Tournament. Inspire is run by our friends who live in Spain (Hi, Susan and Sergi)! It’s a unique program with Union of European Football Association (UEFA) coaches who travel from Spain in order to provide participants with the best soccer camp experience in Texas. Their mission is to provide players with a unique, rewarding and unforgettable experience with the same training the best Development Academies (DA) from La Liga offer their players. It only takes about 15 seconds of watching the La Liga DA teams play to know that Spain does this game unlike any other. It’s beautiful, and it’s something Inspire is working hard to bring to American soccer. As someone who grew up in the select soccer world, I adore and appreciate what they’re doing.
This year, they selected players from their camps in Texas to travel to Spain to participate in an International Tournament – the Cerdanyola Cup. And that’s where we got to join in! What a blast to document this experience for these kids.
The training part of their trip took place in Santa Susanna, Spain, where this collection of my favorite photos begin…
Inspire’s first friendly in San Pol de Mar against San Pol.
The Cerdanyola Cup was in Cerdanyola, Spain, the home of Cerdanyola del Vallès Futbol Club (CFC). The boys played CFC along with three La Liga DA top U13 teams – a friendly against Real Club Deportivo de La Coruna and two tournament matches vs Granada CF and Atlético Madrid. Even at this level, watching these La Liga boys play was incredible. They’re machines, and I can’t wait to watch many of them playing pro on my TV one of these days.
Thank you, thank you to Susan and Sergi for bringing us along for the ride.