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!

Undiscovered Photographers Exhibit

The Weinstein JCC had its opening reception for the Undiscovered Photographers Exhibit last Thursday night (April 17, 2008). I submitted 3 photos, and all are displayed. They will hang until mid-May.

Although I am happy to have my work being shown, the highlight of the event was the judged competition of all the exhibits' photographs. Scott Elmquist, the Style Weekly photographer and photo editor chose the top 3 photos, along with 4 honorable mentions. I believe there were something like 70+ photos included. My photo of Terry running on the Belle Isle footbridge was awarded 1st place!




Needless to say I was stunned. I felt a little embarrassed standing in front of the other photographers. I was glad I had submitted 3 very different subjects, but I felt that "Footbridge" was actually the best. It is a photo I planned well in advance. Terry and I went for a 12+ mile trail run that morning, and I had a backpack full of camera gear. I stopped in several places to take pictures of Terry, but the footbridge was the main purpose for the gear. I knew from countless solo runs what the shot would look like given the time of day and the weather.

Many people have shot the footbridge; most of them do it with a telephoto lens to get the rolling hill look. In fact, a Roadrunner catalog once used a photo of Thad Jones on the bridge for their cover. My idea, however, was to make Terry wait while I ran up to the road surface of the Lee Bridge, go out to the center where the bridge opens up and shoot straight down onto the footbridge. It was a Saturday or Sunday morning around 9am, so there wasn't much traffic, and there is about a 2-foot "shoulder" to the inside of the vehicle lane. I was much less concerned with getting hit by a car than I was dropping my camera 60 feet onto Terry's head.

Of note - I rarely "plan" photographs. The benefit to recruiting Terry for this was a) to make sure I got a usable shot and b) so I could print/use/sell the photo while having permission of the runner involved. Other than me shouting down the gap "go ahead!", none of the image was manufactured. I did make him do it twice, though.

Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K

Saturday found me rain-soaked and shooting the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K for the Sportsbackers. This year's event was the USATF Men's 10K National Championship. Bigger elite turnout, bigger prize money, and the biggest field to date. Over 24,000 finishers and a limit of 30,000 entrants. In fact, I heard that this has become the 4th largest 10K in the country.

And it rained all day. With this kind of massive event, I re-enlisted the help of Rick Barlow. He covered the course in the early stages, as well as the start of the "Dash for Cash" runner Billy Weldon. This 'lucky' guy had a 2.8 mile head start on the elites and had to stay in front until the finish line to get his $2500 prize. Not necessarily a daunting task, assuming you don't get overwhelmed by the fact that all eyes are on you. Billy, against my doubtful nature, prevailed with a substantial lead over the elites, and went home with a big check.

Due to the predicted (and delivered) all-day rain, I purchased AquaTech's Sport Shields for my cameras. I was quite pleased with the lower-end 2-layer version, but the higher-priced 3-layer for wide-angle lenses (including hot-shoe and strap attachment option) was kind of a nuisance. Not that the purpose of stopping rain wasn't achieved, but it was next to impossible to focus and/or zoom with the snug-fitting lens cover portion. And there is no way to adjust the flash compensation on the 580exII with the flash rain cover. It was also hard to accurately judge proper exposure through the vinyl window with condensation and rain drops. I suppose if you are stuck on a sideline in a downpour for 3 hours, adjustments aren't really necessary, but when the sun came out for a few minutes, I was stuck with dozens of over-exposed shots.

To sum up the day - it was quite a learning experience, and I have to thank the Sportsbackers for entrusting me with such a prestigious event (along with Dean Hoffmeyer of Richmond Times-Dispatch fame, who I'm sure didn't run around like a chicken without a head like I did). And I have to tip my hat to Rick, who has shown phenomenal improvement since the Duathlon; especially considering he has a real job and no background in photography. If I wasn't hyper-aware of who I photographed, I might think his shots were mine.

The Racing Season Returns

Just past dawn on Sunday, I found myself out at Camp Hilbert in Goochland County, VA. It was the first day of the 2008 Camp Hilbert Race Series. The series, organized by Mark Junkermann through his RunRideRace venture consists of 3 separate dates of trail runs and mountain bike races. The dates are spread across 4 months from early Spring to early Summer.

I made the mistake of staying out past midnight on Saturday - a mistake made all the more painful due to the Daylight Savings Time change at 2 AM. I discovered that 3 and a half hours of sleep is not enough. 4 and a half is usually ok, though, as I've pulled that off several times.

Mark's races are so far the only "race photography" events I've done. I generally shy away from the "shoot-and-sell-prints" jobs. While there is a good living to be made in that arena, a photographer is limited to (usually) boring angles and telephoto stills of action. This is because you are dealing in volume. The more people you can shoot, the more likely you are to sell photos. However, from my experience as a runner/cyclist, I find that I almost never buy these photos. So what I bring to the table is a photograph that I would buy of myself. The only drawback to this approach is that sometimes you are unable (as a photographer) to get everyone. A long exposure of a cyclist can be worthless if you don't time the speed of the rider to match the shutter speed. While I might only get 60%-70% of the shots to look like I wanted, the folks who buy the photos have something worth framing.

The Camp Hilbert Races are great for this kind of shooting because of the multi-lap format of the races. I can wander the course finding more interesting spots while being confident that if I miss a few riders/runners at one spot, I will more than likely catch them somewhere else. And I also like to pick a different spot or two every time I go out there to keep people interested in looking at the photos. You aren't going to sell anything if you always set up in the same spot. I can get a lot of repeat customers by changing the setting of their photos.