5 posts from January 2009

So the weekend of derby photography went off without a hitch.

Admittedly I was a bit nervous. Silly I know but I have that all too common fear of demonstrating in public what I do not know can hurt me. So from my seat out of the way, unobtrusive with my 300mm lense I focused on the season opener for the Rosecity Rollers (www.rosecityrollers.com):

http://picasaweb.google.com/masonite.burn 

Part of the class experiment/lesson this week involved messing with shutter speeds so that you black out the background and focus on your subject. Given the vast difference in lighting on the track and the audience behind them this was not too difficult - nor did it require the 4 full fstops the teacher advised.

It was an interesting trade - I lost some coherency in the bouts given I was behind a camera - they all went by quite fast. But seeing them through the telephoto lense exposed me to more personal aspects of the event - seeing it up close, the huddles, the jokes between jammers on the line, etc.  I will need to find that happy balance of enjoying derby for the sake of derby and playing with my new hobby.

P.S. A "masonite burn" is the rash one gets when you go down hard on a derby rink surface. It sounded neat so I am using that for now.  Someday soon I'll join the Flickr army and need to generalize the name since it will house derby and dogs and life pictures all at once.

2009 brings a new hobbie.. previously covered in several places here are some results from the Rose City Classic

dogshow where my whippet actually took 1st place in his breed/gender 1 of the 3 days. HUGE happiness for the

significant other.

Icarus

For more cool snaps...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/whippet-madness

So just prior to the snowpocalypse of 2008 I decided to make a purchase. I did the research, talked to a friend who's a  semi-pro, and made the purchase.  I've entered the world of digital photography.  Canon Rebel XSi + lenses + gear has been delivered.  Starting Friday I am taking classes. 

I've often looked at the few folks @ the cons I attend who lurk with cameras wondering about them. It's a dual edge sword; it seems to afford you some anonymity in crowd, acting as a shield of sorts to some forms of social scrutiny. On the other hand, most of the people I engage with despire being photographed so.. we shall see.

I think the happy compromise for me will be faceless moments captured in time.

- people's shoe covered feet at conferences (actually I don't have a shoe/foot fetish but I was trying to think what could I photograph that would not offend... oh look! it's  HD and Valsmith talking with Window.. and all you see are feet in a nightclub..)

- people's tattoos (another rarely discussed obsession of mine)

Of course the perrfect harmony that awaits these combination (like resse peanut butter cups) is shoes in rollerskates and tattoo.. namely.. DERBY.  Season Opener, January 24th!

Simplest Xmas gift - a shuffle.

It's interesting how this device changed work. it is so small that it's innocuous enough to be worn as I walk

down halls.

It's a slim 2G so it gets updated each night with a few techno podcasts, etc. + some mood oriented music derived from my general genres - rage, happy, high energy, nostalgia, chill, etc...