An exhausting event for this aging fellow. All shooting from the seats, and all movement around the arena with obligatory over-abundance of gear. An exciting night in which the attendance record for the conference's gymnastics championship meet was set (19,734 across the two sessions, with 10,897 at the evening session with the top 4 teams, including Utah). Utah absolutely rocked the house on bars and floor. It was thrilling to be a part of. Their vault set was quite strong as well, but beam wasn't kind and Utah had to count a fall. With 8 teams competing, Utah finished behind UCLA: 197.425-197.375. Most surprising for me (since I suffer from tunnel vision during the meets) is that Stanford, who had been in the lead going into the fourth and final rotation, ended in fourth place. I guess they fell apart on bars. Oh well....... On to the photos, of which I'm posting too many, but I'll just apologize in advance and blame it on fatigue. Thanks in advance for looking. C&C is welcome. I'll be doing this once more (regionals), with the same set-up as far as where I'll have to shoot from.
10. Georgia Dabritz receives an award from Pac-12 commisioner Larry Scott for conference freshman of the year. (You're not alone in wishing I'd turned the camera for that second shot.)
Thanks, Jerry. I hear you about the backgrounds. I keep asking them to put in white mats and hang black curtains, but so far, they're paying me no mind.
Russ,
I really like your #1 shot, the timing , the eyes, the bg crowd and ceiling banners. Would you say the lighting emphasizing her face is reflected off her hands? Mat?
It's funny how photographers want backdrops, but the Athletic Directors, Marketing, and Media want the fans to be seen in the background. It gives the photos more life, reality and not the appearance of a staged shot. Nice Work regardless.
Thanks, Guy. I can't say for sure where that light on her face is coming from. Her hands/grips are a good guess, and the fact she's fair-skinned also helps a lot.
Nidaros: You make a good point. I find the crowd to be a perfect background, especially when I can choose my spots to shoot from so that I can maximize the distance between my subject and that crowd. It's the shots where the chaos of what's going on on the floor becomes the background that lead me to wishing for something very different. Thanks for your comment.
Russ.....no posting apologies needed. These are always a pleasure to look at. Was shooting from the seats by choice? These are pretty sweet....some different angles.
Niccee shots Russ.. again great set..
I too just got back from a conference champs (EAGL) in Pittsburgh .. I'll have to post my stuff soon.
Lets see my "liked" ones (you make it so hard ) 1, 3, 4, 5, 11, 14, 15, 17, 20
no worries about to many photos.. I think you're suffering from the same thing I was a few weeks ago.. TMGP (too many good photos) I must now post them..
you shot from the seats.. wot? they didn't have room for you on the floor?
GL at regionals .. I get to shoot the SE one here in Raleigh, NC. last one for the year. sniff.. sniiff.. :|
Thanks, Frank. Shooting from the seats was not my choice. There were four teams on the floor and it's a small arena. No room for photogs (though they did make a concession for the video guys). I agree that some of the angles are nice, but moving around the arena between rotations was a DRAG.
Thanks for your feedback, Mike. Regionals should be crazy. Just saw that the fields have been announced. Doesn't look like any of the teams you'd expect to make it to nationals will have much of a challenge, but I suppose if we could count on that, there'd be no point to the competition! Good luck to you as well. Yeah, hard to believe the end is near.
Larry: Easy? Not this time. If I had a dollar for every time I smacked my knee on a seat or hit someone in the head with my bag... There was a lot of the atmosphere to share this time out. It's kind of nice when they corral the athletes--makes it a lot easier to plan for some jube shots. Thanks for the support.
Nice set of shots technically. Once again you've presented an excellent variety of shots to give the viewer a feel for the entire event. One thing I just had to do was tweak #8 with Photoshop ....
