Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category:
One More From The Road
Here’s another RAGBRAI shot – this one from 2005. This one was from the last day that year at the top of a long climb. I made it up first – and stopped to wait for the rest of the crew. Again, this was shot with a cheap point and shoot – and I’m playing it up by using some Lomo-style processing.
Mister Seven
Recognize the man in black (and yellow)? Yep – it’s Mr. Livestrong himself. Since it’s the starting day of RAGBRAI, I thought I’d post a snapshot taken at RAGBRAI 2006 of Lance riding through a small town in Iowa.
Techically – it’s nothing to write home about. I had about 15 seconds to pull my cheapo point-n-shoot out of the saddlebag, run to the curb, and fire. I just love it because it’s photographic proof that for a few hours, at least – I was leading Lance Armstrong across Iowa.
Ah, what sad things we come up to make ourselves feel better. We’ll miss you in Iowa this year, Lance!
Time to Roll!
With only a few days left until RAGBRAI, I had to pull one from the cycling archives from RAGBRAI 2007. This one was taken shortly after dawn in the rolling hills of Eastern Iowa on the last day of the ride. This was a nicely rolling section that let us make unbelievable time so we could put in 25 miles before breakfast. It was a short day, and we were off the bikes by just after noon.
This was shot with a very inexpensive point-n-shoot (a $100 Nikon Coolpix L4), so the quality isn’t quite what it could/should be. I still like the shot – it’s really nostalgic for me.
Vital Stats: Nikon Coolpix L4, ISO 50, f/7.0, 1/125 sec.
Huck!
Fast action sports at night are a bugger to shoot – this being no exception. Every Sunday, Whistler puts on the Fire and Ice extravaganza – an hour of fireworks both of the pyrotechnic and skiing variety. The culmination of the show is a big ring of fire that the ski instructors jump through. This shot is one of the guys in the show throwing something very Johnny Mosley-esque.
How do you shoot something like this? Big lens, high ISO, and a BIIIG flash. Be sure and pre-focus, and keep your fingers crossed.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 70-200 f/4L + 1.4x Extender @ 189mm ISO 3200, f/5.6, 1/200 sec.
My New Friend Michel
I met this dude at the bottom of Blackcomb Glacier in Whistler near the rope tow to go back up the glacier. He obviously won the ‘best mustache ever’ award that year – and probably every year since then. This gentleman, Michel, personifies a love of skiing for me. It was dumping hard and visibility was near zero – but he was out there grinning everyone with his mustache stalactites.
Vital Stats: Olympus u400D @ 12.11mm, ISO 64, f/4.5, 1/800 sec.
Over Teakettle
Every Sunday evening at the base of Whistler Mountain they have the Fire & Ice festival. Besides fire dancers and fireworks, the main event is the stunt show put on by the Whistler ski school. At the conclusion of the show, they put up a huge burning ring and jump through it to the delight of the crowd.
It’s a tough thing to photograph between the huge crowds, the darkness, the distance to the jumpers, and the high speed. I wasn’t in a good spot because frankly, I was in the Garibaldi Lift Company enjoying a cold Kokanee.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 70-200 f/4L @ 200mm ISO 3200, f/4, 1/200 sec. A Canon 580ExII flash stops the action.
Surfin’ Bird
This was taken at a little beach just outside of Hana on Maui. We had driven to see the Seven Sacred Pools for the afternoon and stopped by this little locals beach on the way back. There were several locals out surfing on a beautiful fall day – and this young lady was one of them.
I had ‘the big lens’ on for this shot – a Canon 70-200mm with the Canon 1.4x extender. Combine that with the 1.6x magification of the Canon 40D, and I was at just about 500mm of 35mm equivalent for this shot.
Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Canon 70-200 f/4L + Canon 1.4x Extender @ 280mm. ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/3200 sec.
Team C4 Joins with a Bang
This is the third of four Minneathlon 2.0 team pictures that I want to share. This is Team C4 – Dan and Steve. Most teams came to me with an idea of what they wanted to do – and they were no exception. They rounded up the skeleton from the ME department and my practice hand grenade. They did the rest – including the curious look on Steve’s face.
Technically, this is a natural light shot with indirect light coming from large east-facing picture windows to their left. Since it was late afternoon, the light was coming from the West and reflecting off the buildings across the street. The net result was a nice warm glow and indirect softness. I added the ‘300′ filter in Lightroom to give it the final look.
Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Canon 50mm f/1.8 II. ISO 200, f/3.5, 1/100 sec.
Nurse Log at the Hoh
You wouldn’t think sun would be a problem in a rainforest, would you? The day we went to the Hoh rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, it was a beautiful spring day. It would have been the perfect day for everything – except rain forest photos. Regardless, I still like this shot – it seems like it’s straight out of “Lord of the Rings meets the Matrix”.
What you are looking at is a nurse log. When a cedar falls, it sprouts many other new cedars that grow in a perfect line down the length of the trunk. This is a case where several sprouts have grown into full trees.
Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Tamron 17-50 @ 34mm ISO 400, f/4.5, 1/50 sec.
Fire and Ice
Whistler is one of my favorite (if not my absolute favorite) destinations. We try to go skiing there just about every winter and we even got married there. Each day just after dusk, they have a stunt show put on by the ski patrol at the base of the mountain. The grand finale is a bunch of jumps through a burning hoop.
This was a tough shot due to extremely low light and fast action. I was able to get close enough to freeze the action with the Speedlite on the camera.
Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Canon 50mm f/1.8II lens ISO 1600, f/8.0, 1/160 sec