…Random Photographs & Thoughts From a Discursive Mind

Event photography is my bread and butter.  Sporting events in particular can be very exciting, if not challenging, to cover.

These two combatants were captured during the 2006 Alberta Winter Games. Hockey is a very frustrating sport to photograph. It’s not so much the action – although hockey is a fast sport.

It’s the lighting. With apologies, most arena’s lighting sucks.

First off, as you can imagine, it’s not bright at all. One must shoot at a high ISO and open your aperture in attempt to get a barely acceptable shutter speed. Even then, you’re lucky to get somewhere between 1/400 and 1/640.   And when you’re shooting with a 200mm lens, this requires some pretty smooth technique.

More maddeningly, the lights are slow. The white balance will change with every frame – In a burst of 4 photos, one will likely have a magenta cast, the next a yellow, the next blue, then maybe, if you’re lucky, no cast at all. Although you’ve got good focus and desired composition, this will result in many unusable shots.

Not sure if this is a legal hit per say, but it’s always satisfying to capture an iconic moment.

Jasper is amongst my favourite places to be.

Not only are the photographic opportunities both plentiful and incredible, but it is also a very comfortable place to be. Jasper holds on to that small hometown feeling. It is truly an escape: a place where I can go to relax and think.

An ideal day in Jasper is one where the greatest decision to make is whether or not to enjoy just one more cup of coffee at the local bakery, or to set out and explore. The day should finish over a beer (or two), contemplating the sights seen, the shots taken and the shots missed.

A photographer in Vienna once reminded me not to ignore the beauty we often have in our own backyards. In the very next breath, he also expressed jealousy of what my backyard contained.

This is the incorrect way in which to photograph a rail car (See here for the correct way). People or machines are not always predictable.

Here’s a series of photographs that almost ended with a dramatically different tale (or worse!). During one of the last runs of the day, this driver took a decidedly bad turn. Unlike the previous post, notice how the rail car is pointing directly at me?

Although both my eyes are open while taking photos, you tend to experience a bit of tunnel vision. In certain situations, your adrenaline is off the chart, and you’re so very focused on trying to ‘get the shot’.

My trusted sports shooter, the Canon 1D Mark II, boasts ’8 frames a second’. This sequence occurred during that burst. I was positioned toward the end of the track, standing with the official time-keepers. Working directly with event organizers is important, and generally keeps everyone safe & happy.

While I was locked-on,  Barry, one of the event’s organizers,  grabbed at me, pulling me off the track’s shoulder.

The rail car bounced just shy of where we were standing and performed a last 180 degree spin before coming to a rest. After taking the last shot, I looked at Barry, expecting to be relocated.

Instead he declared, ‘That was… awesome! Did you get it?!?’

These sold a few copies. Every once in a while, you’ll take a technically shitty photograph that still captures people’s imaginations. Or, at very least, makes them laugh.

In the middle of old Havana, you will find ‘Parque Central’. Here, older men gather to play chess, to talk baseball, and to argue politics, all the while sharing a bottle of rum. As I approached a chess game being played upon a rusty old iron table, one gentleman slammed down an empty bottle as he slowly got up, bracing himself on a rickety wicker chair. As he pushed away, I caught his eye. He motioned me over, and spoke with a raspy, yet high pitched voice. Frustrated that I spoke no Spanish, he waved me away with his hand. I smiled and raised my camera, hoping for a quick shot. He nodded then took a step back. After this frame, he shook my hand and shuffled away into the chaotic traffic.

This was one of those moments that you wish you had spent more time. It’s somewhat blurry (at least in the eyes, where it matters), shot from the hip. I shot a burst of 3. The man was already moving out of frame by the third. Although technically poor, this is one of my favourite photographs of the trip.