Lions Park Cyclocross Race Photos

I finally got a chance to go through 1000+ photos and have edited these (so far? not sure I'll have time to edit the rest of them):

le Tour de Femme photos

Here are the first 40 photos in a slideshow:

BMX Stunt-y Goodness

A few weeks back I was driving around Cary supposedly doing errands...yeah...errands. I ran across some guys doing BMX stunts, so I stuck around for the show.

Here are a few of the hundreds of photos I took. I'm still going through them, but I thought I'd share what I have with ya.

7/22/09 Wed Womens Ride - CSH/GMW

This is a weekly womens ride I shot a few months back. Not sure if it's year round or not. Check out CSH's website for more details.

Slideshow:

4th Annual Fat Tire Festival Photos

I know it's a miracle, but I've processed all my FTF photos already. :D Go me!

Here is the slideshow from flickr. Flickr was having major issues tonight and the photos are out of order. Grrr flickr.

Garner 4 Hour Endurance Race - 1st 20 pics

Here are the first 20 pics from the race in Garner this past Sunday. I had a blast!!

Race at the Reactor Photos - first 10

ETA: 20 photos from Sunday's Race at the Reactor:

6GB of love

That's right folks. I took 6GBs of photos at today's Race at the Reactor at Harris Lake County Park.

For those of you wondering *why* it's called Race at the Reactor, lemme tell ya. Here in central NC, there's a nuclear power plant. Used to be called Shearon Harris Nuclear Facility, now it's just called Harris Nuclear Plant. Here's a link to the wikipedia entry. Harris Lake provides water for cooling. Progress Energy (used to be known as CP&L) provided the land on which Harris Lake County Park is located...so it's all a nice big circle of helpfulness between Wake County and Progress Energy...giving back to the community and all that.

ANYWAY...I had a good time shooting out at the race. Got to hang out and talk to some peeps I don't see all that often and got to get some great shots (at least I hope they're great) of the participants. I always love shooting those shots where the riders can see the finish line. You can see in their faces that they are soooo done, but they put that last bit of effort in to ride over the finish line. I'll try to post some shots tonight...but I have got to pick a sink, toilet and fixtures for the bathroom remodel! Oy.

Sports Photography

Ok...I'm not a sports photographer by any stretch. Today's race, the Huck-a-Buck at Lake Crabtree, was by FAR the most difficult race to shoot of the 3 I've done. The other 2 were up at Carolina North Forest, near Chapel Hill, NC.

Why was this race so difficult for me to shoot? A couple reasons, I think. Firstly, it is VERY shaded there. As in so shaded that what sunlight gets through is dappled and not consistent. I didn't walk the whole race course, but from what I know of Crabtree, there really aren't any places that get good open shade light. It's either full sunlight (which I would have paid for today) or the dappled stuff I mentioned. So I was at a bit of a disadvantage already as I don't have good low light equipment. I can use my 50mm prime lens, which stops down to 1.8, but then I'm limited in my range because it only has one option - 50mm. My 18 - 55mm lens stops down to 3.5/5.6, but I had a hard time with that as well for most of the morning, unless I bumped my ISO up to 400...which is what I ended up doing. I have a long lens, but it has the same max f/stop as the 18 - 55.

So the other thing I could have done was use my flash. And I did on occasion, but the problem with my flash is that it takes a bit for the flash to recharge, and mountain biking is fast paced stuff. You can't sit there and wait for your flash to recharge and not miss stuff. I'm referring to my on-camera flash, btw. I have a small hot shoe flash, but I don't think it recharges very quickly either. I just got it, so I'm not for sure about it.

So I saw all these other people taking photos and was almost embarrassed at my equipment. Then I reminded myself that it is not the equipment that makes the shot, but the person using the equipment and whether they know what they are doing. Not that I always know, but I try, and I've learned a lot in the past few months. One thing I did notice was that most of them had hot shoe flashes, and what looked like diffusers over them. They had the kind that could be swiveled up and down for better light control - mine doesn't swivel. It's just a little guy a bit more powerful than the on-camera.

Something else that I did notice...and maybe it's just me being me...I like to move around when I shoot. Try different angles, get nice panning shots, etc. A couple of the photogs I saw there were literally in one spot for the entire race (3+ hours) - with the exception of going to the starting line at each stage of the race. I don't understand that...I'm not knocking it, I'm just trying to figure out how that could be fun for them. To get the same shot every time. My question then becomes, is that what "real" photography is about? Getting the perfect shot? Or is it about trying different things? Or maybe it's just personal preference.

Anyway, I had a good time despite the fucking heat...it was OPPRESSIVE today. I got lots of good shots and met some new people, got to hang with some people I don't get to see often. It was good.

I'm just sorry I didn't catch Kim before she left so I could give her the bracelet...that I actually brought this time. ;)

The Tarwheel Photos - The Last 62

The Tarwheel Photos - The Third 64

The Tarwheel Photos - The Second 50

The Tarwheel Photos - The First 50

MCAS Cherry Point Air Show Photos!!

A set of 84 photos from the MCAS Cherry Point Air Show, May 16, 2009.

Enjoy! (If you go directly to my flickr acct, you can see my comments on what types of aircraft are in the photos, if hubs knew).

Shot the HOAR today

And I'm half happy with the results. Some of my pics turned out really good. Some not so much. But hey - this was my first real "action" shoot, so it's ok. I'm happy that I learned a couple things:

1. I really need to get a faster focusing long lens if I'm going to shoot action
2. I really need to learn to pan b/c the effect is REALLY damn cool

Here are a few of the "good" shots I got today:



I've got lots more, but I haven't gone through them yet. They'll all be put up on flickr eventually.

HOAR - no, not WHORE...HOAR!!

Heel Of A Race!!!

I'm totally psyched about this cuz I'm going out to shoot my first race and this is IT! I'm also volunteering to help out wherever else they need me - and parking is one place I know I've been assigned to so far.

I'm thrilled and will be studying up on taking action shots and asking a good friend of mine for tips on action shots...*coughs*...you know who you are, so be ready for my email, k? :-* :P

Yay me for doing something new!