USMS National Championship 2-Mile Cable Swim

I shot my first swim-only event last Saturday at Chris Greene Lake in Charlottesville. There were 3 different start times, the first being a non-championship 1-mile swim. The course was out in the middle of the lake with an in-the-water start and finish.

I'll say that shooting from a 'Zodiac' rescue boat wasn't an ideal platform, but thanks a million to the Charlottesville/Albemarle Rescue Squad's Water Rescue team for allowing me to ride with them. They couldn't safely get close enough to the swimmers for my purposes.

I finally decided to venture out near the start/finish carrying the 70-200mm with the 1.4x Tele-Extender (giving me an effective range of 156-448mm). The rope divider showed up a bunch for the 2nd heat of the 2 miler, because of the direction of the swim, but for the most part the pics were unbroken. I would have liked to get exactly even with the turn buoy to get both going and coming, but the water was over 5 feet there.

Needless to say, being chest-deep and holding about 5 pounds of camera out of the water for an hour wore my shoulders down, but the close-ups at that angle were pretty cool. I might build a floating platform to put the camera on when I'm not shooting next time! A big thanks to Dave Holland for a well-organized event, and for giving me the opportunity to be there.

Camp Hilbert Race Series Finale!

The series has come to an end for the second year. Congratulations to Mark and RunRideRace, as well as all his family & volunteers (usually one and the same)! The MTB and Trail Run races have really developed well in a short time.

This past weekend's events included a new 'Night MTB Time-Trial,' as well as a camp-out. With a turnout of only 6 or 7 for the TT, I decided to bag the slow-shutter head/handlebar light exposures. Instead, I put on the spandex and joined the fray as a competitor. Good thing, too - 5 minutes into my anchor position, all heaven opened up. I had no idea that much rain could reach ground level in dense woods. I literally could not see. I finally pulled off my sports glasses to have a modicum of vision. It was awesome fun though! Not seeing beyond my lights made my 30-something fear of crashing vanish. In fact, I only dismounted once in 6 miles. For all reading this, sign up for next year's TT!

The Sunday races were amazingly NOT muddy. I guess the lack of rain leading up to Saturday made the ground too hard to absorb any of it. Mark scored some new interest in the way of sponsorship, including Blue Ridge Outdoors. I met Tom Daly of BRO and have since checked out his photography work. Very nice stuff. Give it a look at Tom Daly Photography. Looking forward to next year's Series, Mark!

VCU Nursing Graduation

I know this is a while after the fact, but I got to cover the VCU School of Nursing Graduation ceremony at the Siegel Center back on May 16. It was different, and made me nervous; especially when asked to do an impromptu whole-class photo. I didn't have any large flash units, and every room in that place was verging on a 1600 ISO minimum. I think the shots came out pretty good, though. I was limited to the staging area (practice gym), so don't fault me for terrible background colors!

It was fun - I got to roam freely through the whole place for the entire ceremony. I just wish that one of the large 'speaker-focused' events I do would spring for a spotlight though. I'm tired of shooting at the Xti's ISO limit. It really limits what I can get at 1/100th with a 200mm lens. Maybe I should start thinking about the 5D or better yet - the Mark III! I also have been thinking a fish-eye would be interesting for some angles in these massive venues.

XTERRA & the James River Adventure Games

I need to be more regular about this blogging!

It has been difficult to find the time for a blog since Willem has been out of school. Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that my primary job is that of stay-at-home-dad. The photog gig is my vacation from the soccer mom (or whatever they call us these days...) routine. But I will wait 'til I catch up on the recent shooting events to add more about that stuff.

Saturday - day 1 of the James River Adventure Games. Photography for the Sportsbackers. A loooong day. And it was HOT. The stunt bikers (Bike Trials) were out on the rocks south of Belle Isle, and it was an OVEN out there. I don't know how they managed that kind of focus in those conditions. I finally called it a day after the mediocre turnout for the kayaking events. There was a big crowd in bikinis, but I think that was the regular crowd from any given Saturday down there. They seemed to have little interest in the event.

I was everywhere, though. I rode the MTB from Brown's Island to Rockett's Landing and all the way back to 42nd Street stairs. And MAN! were the stairs the hot spot! The slideshow doesn't do it justice. I was sweating more than the bikers of the Urban Assault.

Sunday was a different gig, though. I was a volunteer for XTERRA (or Team Unlimited, to be more precise). I ferried the Times-Dispatch (local paper) photographer Clement Britt and video cameraman Sean Connelly (not sure for whom or if I'm spelling his name right) behind Trey and Nils from XTERRA to all the key points of the course. I got to drive the Town & Country onto Belle Isle! I felt like a rock star - forget the photography.

I managed to take some shots while on duty though, and it was a lot of fun being allowed in all the secret places! Can't wait 'til next year!