Two Blog Week

I think this is my worst unannounced week of blogging since I started. Got won in MOnday, Tuesday and Wednesday went down the chute, today I am wedging it into the day and tomorrow it just isn't going to happen. I will be running around for a wedding we are a part of on Saturday. So here goes...

Last Saturday I got up early to shoot a golf outing the College/Career group from our church was having. Early yes, it was still dark when I arrived at the course. Basically it was going to be an ugly day, no sun, drizzle if not showers. Yuck! It would give me an opportunity to try out my new bag, a Tenba Messenger bag I picked up at one of the seminars last week.

So the shoot went really well, I had a cart to run around with which mad a really good support for the mono-pod I had with me. Here are some shots for the day. All the long shots were done with an EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS with a 1.4 teleconverter. This first shot was from halfway up the fare way shooting towards the tee box.

This next shot is a par 3 and shot from the tee box. The compression is really obvious with the tele glass. It looks like it's a chip shot but is actually 130+ yards.

Here is another shot racked all the way out to get the golfers teeing. Again the compression is quite dramatic.

This next one is with the EF 24-105 f/4 IS L lens. All of the shots were on a Canon 40D as I wanted the crop for the reach. It was nice with the 6 fps burst rate I could get shots like the one below. This was of the Pastor teeing (duh!) off on the 14th hole and I just ordered a print of this to give him for his office.

Ok, Lets all go Aaaaaah! Is't he so cute!

Yes he is just a bit blurred but that just shows movement. Not really thats just a photographic excuse. Fact of the matter, I was driving the cart while holding onto the camera on the right seat and this little guy goes squirting out in front of the cart. I let the cart coast and use both hands to steady the camera as best i could. Now that's what I call an action shot!

Like I said, I will not be around tomorrow so it will be Monday before I am back!

Cya... Doug

Double Vision - Double Play

Last Tuesday when we were at a Cubs game at Wrigley Field in Chicago I took along my Canon 40D. Not knowing what the policy of the park or the Cubs organization was about photography or equipment, I e-mailed them and got the following response back.

We do not permit monopods, tripods, or any large lenses into Wrigley Field due to the fact that it possibly will obstruct the views or interfere with the fans sitting behind, next to, or in front of.

Thank you,

Chicago Cubs

Cool, but what constituted a "long" lens in their minds. I erred on the side of caution and took the EF 24-105 f/4L IS. I figured that one, the lens is not that Canon white, and two it was stabilized. I know... Why did I take a f/4 lens to a night game. Well, I wasn't sure but I thought I would give it a shot! I have a EF28-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS but I figured I would be pushing the 5.6 most of the time so I took the hit on reach which was not really that much. I was able to run ISO 100 most of the time but I would occasionally push it to 400 which generated little to no noise.

I ended up taking 138 shots which I later pared down to 75. Not because there were that many bad ones but so many that were so close as I was shooting at the high speed burst on the 40D. My finger hold is now calibrated to 2, 3, and 4 shot sequences.

The image above was a series of shots during a double play after an attempted steal of second base. I was out to 105 mm on all the shots shooting with my right eye in the viewfinder and looking at the play with my left eye. It must be my A.D.D. but I find that is the easiest way to catch the action. Anyhow the image is a composite of four shots where three of the runners are inserted and one of the areas of the field had to be brought in to complete the composition. But I ain't tell'en!

Have a great weekend all... Doug 

Any Team, Any Time

A promise has been satisfied. After 30 plus years I took my wife to Cubs game at Wrigley Field in Chicago. I must admit I am not the biggest baseball fan. To that point, a few years ago I was standing by the counter at the Fixed Base Operator in Tampa FL when my first officer across the way pointed to my right and made some lip talk. I looked to my right and there were a couple of people standing there, so I looked back at my guy and with my arms out, liped back to him with What? I walked over to him and asked him what the big deal was, He said "Dude! You were stnading right next to Derek Jeter!", to which I responded "Who's Derek Jeter?"

With that story (which is true by the way) told, I have established the fact that I may not be the biggest follower of the game that hits the small stiched ball. After having gone to the park, I must say Wrigley Field is magical. Riding the bus from the parking lot at DeVry University through bustling streets of a residential city to come upon the ball park is a visual transition that was so natural. Very old but well kept, tightly spaced homes, transitions to a more but very old commercial district and finally there is the ball park in the midst. Very old but unassuming and very natural in its surroundings. Then you see the marquee. That massive red, and unmistakable Wrigley Field.

Entering the stadium is like going back in time. If it were not for all the people dressed in todays garb, you feel as if you are back in the early 20th centyury. It was a wonderful experience. We obviously had to stop and shop at the Cubs Store but after that it was up the ramps to our seats.

I must say there are a muber of experiences in life where your first view is breath taking. That first view of the Grand Canyon, or waking up in Denver to see the Rocky Mountains, or something many have experienced, going up in a tall building and finally getting to a view point that over looks the city. That is the feeling you get when you finally get your first glimps of the ball diamond, lush green grass, and that wonderful and historic ivory coverd wall of Wrigley Field.

Other than the old architecture, structure, and ivy covered perimeter wall, there was one more very old school item to the park. The score board! for the longest time I could night see what the score of the game was until I realized I was looking at the running scores of all the games being played in the National and American leagues.

Below is a portion of the scoreboard as you can see the dismal performance of the Cubs in the bottom of the 8th inning. The really old school functionality of this board is the little squares where the numbers are shown a panels that are manually placed throughout the game. After realizing this I started looking around for a semaphore flagman at the bullpen.

It wasn't until after I got the images downloaded and was able to take a closer look did I realize the open panels were not simply missing. As evidenced by the man sitting back with his arms behind his head in the image below, they were peep holes for the occupants of the scoreboard to watch the game. Very cool!

The Cubby's were up against the Washington Nationals and it was too bad the entire team didn't show up for the game. It is true, baseball is as much a team sport as football or basketball.

The star pitcher for the Cubs started the game after being off fur a number of weeks. The crowd had high hopes but soon faded. Not even his home run in the third was enough to bring fan loyalty and more-so, coach patience. A relief pitcher was brought in during the fifth inning with two on base, the next batter was intentionally walked as he was a good hitter. I can't remember the count but it was the next batter that sent one over the ivy for a grand slam. BAM! 6 to 1, that'll take the wind out of your sails for sure.

They never did recover as you can see the 15 to 6 score on the board. So the question still remains... Is Doug now a baseball fan?

To that I will continue not to be but I do enjoy going to the park and watching a bunch of guys hitting a ball and running around the bases. As far a Wrigley Field, I am most certainly a fan and hope they are able to maintain the emotion that facility brings out in people. As far as the Cubs? Well there is always another game, and another year to go for the championship. I guess that makes me a Cubs fan!

Cya later... Doug

Da Bears!

This past Tuesday and Wednesday I was able to make it to the Chicago Bears training camp in Bourbonnais, Illinois. The weather was perfect as it was in the high 70's and ended in the low 80's. Bright sunlight which is usually not the best of photography, at least portraiture, but really nice for sports as you want the shinny things to be shinny.

Below is 26 year old 6'-3" Quarterback Jay Cutler from

Vanderbilt University driving at the line while working

on patterns with this particular line-up.

Here is Cutler handing off to 29 year old 5'-11"

Fullback Jason McKie from Temple.

One of the practice areas simply had a quarter back

passing to a running receiver with a "defense man"

having his hands up for distraction. Here is 26 year

old 5'-11" Wide Receiver Devin Hester out of

Miami catching one of the passes.

Below is 30 year old, 5'9" Wide Receiver

Rashied Davis out of San Jose State trying

to catch up to a way over thrown ball.

Caught in the "act" below is 6'-1", 26 year old

Quarter Back Brett Basanez from Northwestern.

Punting into a huge net (out of frame) that was probably

forty feet high is 26 year old 6'-4" Punter Richmond McGee

out of Texas. There was a large round target high up on the

netting used to aim for a pseudo field goal.

The next two images are of lineman working the rush.

I was unable to get good numbers on them but in the

second image 23 year old 5'-9" Corner Back

Trumaine McBride from Old Miss doing what he does.

The shot of Devin Hester below is from day two where

the team was having a scrimmage in one of the

practice fields at Olivet Nazarene University.

The image was very busy and quite a ways away. I was shooting my 40D with the EF 70-200 F/2.8 IS L lens with a 1.4 teleconverter to reach just a little further. In order to really spotlight Devin Hester I desaturated the background just a bit in order to maintain some color on the coaches.

I think that is the most images I have put up on one post. Hope you enjoyed them.

Cya later... Doug