fancy book-learnin'
Heatwave on! Recently acquired Kathleen Turner voice in effect! Three gig flash cards full of what appear to be the exact same five bicyclists racing... over and over in the exact same position in pocket!
The race yesterday did not give me any particular itch to run out and become Sports Illustrated's next hot photographer nor would it produce any great yearning to hunt down another such race for shooting.
pursuit © Laura Kicey
I can, in my limited experience conclude that sport photographers who are able to do truly creative or interesting things must really have some kind of mad talent. The specific breed of which I do not posess. However!
lick © Laura Kicey
After a blackened alligator poboy pre-race lunch with my friend Adrian where I received a. some fantastically hilarious stories from the vault about the madpersons he has encountered and b. a couple of unbelievably useful tips about functions to use when shooting action. The combination of the two made the otherwise schweaty hot monotony pretty bearable and an enormously useful lesson.
inhale © Laura Kicey
There was not a whole lot of camera equipment hotness on the course. But what there was was indeed pretty amazing. Including what was maybe an 800mm lens that had its own leg to stand on.... approximate proportions of a megaphone. Noted that the photographers with presspasses had wimpier cameras than the joe schmoes. As natural light faded, I tried to use my flash but my flash realllllly sucks and couldn't handle the rapid fire shots, so it killed about 4 shots in 5. (quiet sound of hair being pulled out). So more often I shot the stragglers who were going slow. Or in the case of the the final professional men's race, I shot the guy who broke ridiculously ahead of the pack and stayed there... the guy who about 30 laps in completely lapped the entire group and was leading them from coming up from behind. The eventual winner, Stefan Steinweg, who looked like Vin Diesel, wore bright red and never once seemed to really slow in the almost hour-long (maybe more) race.
fahrrad © Laura Kicey
(Stefan Steinweg of SC Bergen won the pro men's, I think)
To make me feel better about myself, Adrian took me and his dog, Seven, to one of his favorite spots to shoot: the reservoir in West Chester, post-race.
reservoir dog © Laura Kicey
Without functioning tripod I didn't feel all that much better but did some experiments with my flash that were much less frustrating.
earth and sky © Laura Kicey
(edit to say: I am totally mystified how the above photo happened. shooting a tree branch from below, against the sky in nearing complete darkness... it appears that the leaves are casting a shadow on the sky and the highlight from motion blur(?) paired with that makes them look like they are embossed in the sky.
What???
I will eventually put up some photos in this entry to illustrate (edit: done). That is, if any turned out (edit: kinda soft kinda not really excited). Right now I am stranded in Lancaster at my parents' house, having come home to give my father the eloquent Father's Day gift of my broken tripod for him to fix. Which he did and immediately disappeared back in to the basement ne'er to be heard from again. I will update this before Monday, that is if I make it out alive.
The race yesterday did not give me any particular itch to run out and become Sports Illustrated's next hot photographer nor would it produce any great yearning to hunt down another such race for shooting.
pursuit © Laura Kicey
I can, in my limited experience conclude that sport photographers who are able to do truly creative or interesting things must really have some kind of mad talent. The specific breed of which I do not posess. However!
lick © Laura Kicey
After a blackened alligator poboy pre-race lunch with my friend Adrian where I received a. some fantastically hilarious stories from the vault about the madpersons he has encountered and b. a couple of unbelievably useful tips about functions to use when shooting action. The combination of the two made the otherwise schweaty hot monotony pretty bearable and an enormously useful lesson.
inhale © Laura Kicey
There was not a whole lot of camera equipment hotness on the course. But what there was was indeed pretty amazing. Including what was maybe an 800mm lens that had its own leg to stand on.... approximate proportions of a megaphone. Noted that the photographers with presspasses had wimpier cameras than the joe schmoes. As natural light faded, I tried to use my flash but my flash realllllly sucks and couldn't handle the rapid fire shots, so it killed about 4 shots in 5. (quiet sound of hair being pulled out). So more often I shot the stragglers who were going slow. Or in the case of the the final professional men's race, I shot the guy who broke ridiculously ahead of the pack and stayed there... the guy who about 30 laps in completely lapped the entire group and was leading them from coming up from behind. The eventual winner, Stefan Steinweg, who looked like Vin Diesel, wore bright red and never once seemed to really slow in the almost hour-long (maybe more) race.
fahrrad © Laura Kicey
(Stefan Steinweg of SC Bergen won the pro men's, I think)
To make me feel better about myself, Adrian took me and his dog, Seven, to one of his favorite spots to shoot: the reservoir in West Chester, post-race.
reservoir dog © Laura Kicey
Without functioning tripod I didn't feel all that much better but did some experiments with my flash that were much less frustrating.
earth and sky © Laura Kicey
(edit to say: I am totally mystified how the above photo happened. shooting a tree branch from below, against the sky in nearing complete darkness... it appears that the leaves are casting a shadow on the sky and the highlight from motion blur(?) paired with that makes them look like they are embossed in the sky.
What???
I will eventually put up some photos in this entry to illustrate (edit: done). That is, if any turned out (edit: kinda soft kinda not really excited). Right now I am stranded in Lancaster at my parents' house, having come home to give my father the eloquent Father's Day gift of my broken tripod for him to fix. Which he did and immediately disappeared back in to the basement ne'er to be heard from again. I will update this before Monday, that is if I make it out alive.
posted by helveticaneue at 11:42 AM
Stumble It!
3 Comments:
Hi Laura! (making my first appearance on your blog instead of over at Flickr) I wouldn't shut the door on the sports photographer option if I were you... these photos of the cyclists are pretty darn good! Not your usual subject, but I could see these appearing in ESPN.
Hello Q, good to see you! It isn't so much my inability as lack of passion for the subject. I never really got caught up in the excitement of sports.
Hmm, yes, there is that, isn't there? It's not much fun to HAVE to shoot subjects that you feel blah about. Nevertheless, good photos! Your talent shines through despite not being into the event.
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