Photographing the 2011 Men's U.S. Open of Water Polo in Costa Mesa, CA

Last weekend was the 2011 Men's U.S. Open of Water Polo down in Costa Mesa, CA and I was down there to photograph this event for USA Water Polo. It was a perfect day in Southern California, with the sun high and the temperatures pretty mild.

The great thing about water polo is that there is always a lot of action to capture.

At this high level of play, it is amazing to see ho high these guys can propel themselves out of the water.

At the beginning of each of the medal matches, the teams would line up for introductions. I took the classic shot from across the pool, but then quickly moved to the side of the pool to shoot a photo down the line of athletes.

I like this shot, because the offensive player is setting up for a shot and the goalie is concentrating, but relaxed.

When shooting water polo, it is good to shoot a combination of wide shots like this, and also zoom in to isolate the action, like the shot below.

Here is a shot of the goalie in the right place at the right time.

It may not look like it from this photo, but the NYAC goalie (the MVP of the tournament) made an amazing stop on this shot. This image was captured after he deflected the ball with his left hand.

The New York Athletic Club won the tournament to match the win by their female counterparts two weeks before. This team was the favorite to win the tournament with half of the team being made up of silver medal winners from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Nashville, Tennessee: Jack Daniels Distillery, A Field of Sunflowers, Nightlife

So...if you read the previous blog entry, you know that we saw some and heard some cool music while in Tennesee, but actually got out of the city and saw some other cool sites. Since we had some spare time after shooting corporate footage all day, we decided to make a short road trip to Lynchburg, TN to check out the Jack Daniels distillery.

The tours are free and it was very interesting to see how this whiskey is made. And...no...there is no tasting room since the distillery is located in a dry county. Funny...but true!

This is one of the older buildings on the premises, where JD is still made. There are large barrels (approximately 21 feet high, filled with 14 feet of charcoal) where the raw whiskey is poured in from the top and filtered through all of the charcoal. After the distilling process the whiskey is put into burnt barrels for 5 years.

The town of Lynchburg is really small. Most of the town's inhabitants either work for Jack Daniels or are somehow affiliated with the distillery in one form or another.

As we made the hour long drive out to Lynchburg, we passed an amazing field of sunflowers and thought "we need to photograph that on the way back", which we did. We parked the car on the side of the road and walked down into this field and basically shot images and video there until the last light of the day.

As I walked around and shot images of the sunflowers, I caught a glimpse of this beautiful butterfly out of the corner of my eye. I follow it until it landed and quickly grabbed images before it took off again. I was (and still am) very excited about the amazing brown and blue wings against the yellow pedals.

After getting some close shots, I zoomed out (using the Canon 100-400mm lens) to show the butterfly and more of the field in the background. I shot this at f4 to maintain a focal point on the butterfly but give a hint to what is behind my main subject.

For the last day of our trip, we headed towards Chattanooga, TN to shoot some more video, but the day was filled with lots of rain and thunder storms, which scrubbed those plans. So...we decided to check out a local cave in Lookout Mountain. You could not take tripods into the cave, so I set my Canon 5D Mark II to  ISO 3200 and held still for shots like this one.

The most amazing part of this cave is Ruby Falls, which is the nation's largest and deepest underground waterfall (at 1120 feet below the surface). They have really cool LED lighting in this chamber, which changes color every couple of seconds. After getting my "safe" shots at ISO 3200, I turned the ISO to 800, wedged myself up against a rock on the wall, and while holding the camera very still, shot images like this one. The shutter speed slowed down to 1/4 second which helped create more drama in the waterfall.

After many hours of driving (in heavy rain) we returned to Nashville for a quick shower and dinner. After we ate, we were walking back to our hotel and I realized that I really had not taken any shot of Broadway, which is where a lot of the fun bars and restaurants are located. So, being the crazy photographer that I am, and the fact that sleep is overrated, I headed back to the hotel, grabbed my camera and tripod and walked back downtown to shoot some night shots.

Funny story: I wanted to shoot images from the middle of the street, but wasn't sure, even at midnight, how to avoid the traffic to get my shot. Well...as luck would have it... a concert had just gotten out and the police closed off the street to force traffic in other directions. Voila - I had the street to myself! There I was shooting images with the police blocking all traffic, and people assumed that they stopped traffic for me. I had all kinds of questions, like "which star is here?" or "what is happening tonight that is so special?", and I just laughed and let their imaginations run wild.

After shooting numerous images of the bars, I thought that the photos needed something more, so I started rolling the zoom during the long exposures. (Photographer's note: For most of these exposures, the shutter was open for approximately 4 seconds, with me rolling the zoom at various times during that time. You will notice on the image above, that the neon signs are visible at the beginning and end of the light trail. This is because I left the lens at 200mm for one second at the beginning of the shot, then zoomed for 2 seconds, and left the focal length at 45mm for the last second.)

Nashville, Tennessee: Local Music and the Grand Ole Opry (Charlie Daniels Band)

I was in Nashville, TN a couple of weeks ago and made sure to check out the local music as much as possible. Trust me, there is a lot of music happening in this town! I flew into the city and landed at 9:30pm. I took a taxi straight to Broadway Street and met up with some friends at Rippys. It was one of the hottest days of the year and we were sitting in this open air restaurant melting, even at 10pm! The food was OK but the entertainment was great. We were sitting right by the small stage and decided to shoot images of the band that was playing, because...hey...that is what we do right?

This is an image of Anna LaPrad, who was singing that evening. She is a really pretty girl with a great voice. I purchased her CD from her and it is very good.

What is better than a full rack of ribs, a couple of beers, great music and a chance to shoot images? Other than the sweltering heat, this would have been darned near perfect. :)

I looked at the table next to us and saw Anna's mother (who was visiting from out of town) and shot this image of a proud mother watching her daughter performing. I know this because I went over to her and offered to send images to them. (Photographer's note: Whenever you happen to capture nice images of people, you should offer to send the images to them. It is a really nice gesture and always appreciated by the individuals.)

Her guitar player taking the lead while Anna took a break.

You can get more information on Anna LaPrad here. Check it out.

And then the next evening, we bought tickets and visited the Grand Ole Opry House. This was nothing like I expected. I was expecting a full concert, but not knowing much about the Grand Ole Opry, soon learned that this was a live radio show and featured numerous bands who played a couple of songs each. (Photographer's note: For those of you out there who want a chance to photograph live entertainers, this place is perfect! Not only do they let you bring in cameras, they also let you come right up to the front of the stage to shoot. Yep, it's true! The only restriction is that you have to return to your seats in between acts.)

We got lucky and happened to be in town for one of the better line ups. There were a total of 10 bands playing on that Tuesday night, with The Charlie Daniels Band as the headliner. Here is a shot of Karen Fairchild, performing with the band "Little Big Town".

Jimi Westbrook, also from the band Little Big Town, doin' his stuff.

The next performer was long time artist (so they tell me) George Hamilton IV. It is really strange that in between each act, there is an announcer who is pitching products. "This part of the show is sponsored by Cracker Barrel...blah blah blah."

Next up was the band "Gloriana". This is a shot of Rachel Reinert belting out a tune.

 And another member of Gloriana performing.

Here is a shot of Craig Morgan working the crowd. You can see the crowd of people up at the front of the stage, mainly taking pictures with their cell phones.

Here is Little Jimmy Dickens who, at the ripe old age of 91, happens to be the oldest living member of the Grand Ole Opry. He performed a couple of songs and told some darned funny jokes along the way.

And then it was time for the headliner, The Charlie Daniels Band. I made sure to get to the front of the stage as soon as he came out.

And Charlie Daniels did not disappoint. At 75 years old, he still has it. He played for at least 30 minutes and still can work that fiddle like nobody else.

He finished his set with "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", which was awesome! This is a picture of him performing that number.

Overall it was a great night. Even though I am not the biggest country western fan, it was fun to be at the famed Grand Ole Opry and to see some really great musicians. Being able to photograph them up close was a real bonus!

Photographing the 2011 Women's U.S. Open of Water Polo 2011

Yesterday was the final day of the Women's U.S. Open of Water Polo 2011 and I was there to capture the Bronze medal match and the Gold/Silver medal match for USA Water Polo. The tournament was held in Lafayette, CA on a beautiful sunny afternoon (but not too hot).

I got to the venue about an hour before the bronze medal match to meet my contact from USA Water Polo and to check out the pool, the light and get the lay of the land. I shot half of the preceding game, to check camera settings and prepare for the medal rounds.

I had a couple of different options for shooting this event. I could either put the camera in Aperture Priority and determine the optimum aperture for the event, or I could put the camera in Shutter Priority and dial in something like 1/1000 sec to freeze the action (letting the camera determine the aperture). I actually shot in both modes depending on my mood. Since the event was outside and it was a bright day with an abundance of light, I had a lot of choices. Of course, this also meant that I was dealing with harsh shadows on the athletes. (Photographers note: Whenever you shoot outdoor sports, make sure that you are sitting on the same side of the game as the sun so that you have more light on your subject's face.)

When shooting water polo matches, you need to be ready at any given moment, since the action is almost nonstop. And like any good photography, focus is key. I made sure to focus on both the offensive players and defensive players depending on what was happening in front of me. In the above image, you will notice that I focused on the eyes of the goalie to draw you into her concentration.

Most of the images that I captured during the day were tight shots using the Canon 100-400mm L Series lens mounted on a Canon 1d Mark IV. But, there were times when I would pull back and show a wider view of the action. In this case, it worked out perfectly with the shooter, defender and goalie actively involved in the play while the others watch on.

Having a camera that can burst at 10 frames per second really helps for shooting a fast sport like this. This allows me to frame the shot and burst images at the peak of action, freezing the action at that perfect moment.

These girls are amazingly powerful athletes, often lifting half of their bodies out of the water to take that blazing shot at the cage.

In the shots above and below, you will notice that the focus is on the eyes of the athletes.This is critical in sports photography. (Photographer's note: I find that it is best to use the center dot or a cluster close to the center and set the camera to servo focus for these types of events. Since I did not want every image to have the subject dead center, I would periodically move the focus point to the right or left of center. This is true for both of these images.)

This was one of my favorite shots of the day, highlighting the goal keeper, Emily Feher, who was also the MVP of the tournament. It captures her at the height of the action as she lunges to her left to stop this shot by the Santa Barbara team.

And then it was time for the medals to be given out. USA Water Polo wanted images of each of the winning teams, but the lighting was harsh and I had just a short amount of time to figure out where we would shoot the team photos. Since there was no shady area, I decided to set them up in front of the pool, with their backs to the sun and fill flash them. (Photographer's note: Never have your group facing directly into the sun, since they will end of squinting and you will have harsh shadows on their faces. Instead, turn them away from the sun, meter the background and use your flash in TTL mode to light them. I even had one of the girl's fathers come up to me and say "Uhhhh...don't you want them facing the sun?" and I politely said, "Don't worry - I am a photographer. I got this." That cracked me up.)

The Bronze medal team from Stanford.

The Silver medal team from Santa Barbara.

The Gold medal team from New York (NYAC).

And...today's home page of the USA Water Polo web site features my shot of the Gold medal team.

Camping at Patrick's Point - Amazingly clear night skies

If you have been following my photography for a while, you know that I love shooting images at or after sunset. There is something special about capturing images when the light is low the world takes on a different look. (Photographers tip: Most people put there cameras away as soon as the sun goes down. Resist that temptation! As long as you have a tripod or a sturdy area to rest your camera, try taking some long exposures to see what you can come up with. It is well worth the effort, I assure you.)

It was towards the end of our trip and I wanted to get a nice shot of a sunset from Agate Beach. As I was walking down the trail to get to the beach, I saw that the sun was setting in a perfect position for me to shoot through this foliage. I set up the tripod and shot 4 exposures of the sunset, and then merged them into one HDR image using Photomatix Pro.

This shot was at the tail end of sunset on the fourth of July, as we prepared to shoot off (legal) fireworks on the beach with the kids. I set the camera so that I would have a nice long exposure, yielding some motion in the waves.

Speaking of long exposures, once it got dark, the kids pleaded with me to slow the shutter and capture fun images of them with their sparklers. I had taken these types of images of them years ago, and they remembered that, and wanted more. Who am I to refuse my kids and their friends? This is a picture of my daughter's best friend Danielle, who joined us for the week of camping. I asked her to move the sparkler to form the first letter of her name.

We had some small fireworks, which didn't do much to light up the night skies. But not far down the beach, another group was setting off these huge displays. I turned my camera (mounted on my tripod) to face the other fireworks, and grabbed some cool images using their heavy investment of explosives. :) (Photographers note: The best way to capture fireworks is to mount your camera on a tripod, set the camera to "bulb mode" and use a remote trigger so hold open the shutter to capture multiple bursts.)

On July 5th, we were lucky enough to have a beautiful clear night. This was perfect because, on our last night there, I really wanted to capture a "star trail" shot. But before I could capture that, I needed to wait for the sunlight to be completely gone and also wait for the moon to drop below the horizon. Myself and a couple of our friends were watching the moon going behind the trees and someone asked me if my 400mm lens was like a telescope. I answered "not really" but realized that I had my 1.4x teleadaptor in my bag, so I grabbed that, connected it to the 100-400mm lens to add some additional magnification. Combining this with the ability in live-view to zoom in 10x, we could see the craters of the moon. People were blown away with the clarity. And...of course, I was shooting images as we were watching the moon set. (If you click on these images, you will be able to see the craters even in these small images.)

 

I talked about framing in some of my other blog posts. I could have taken the picture above with just the moon in the frame, but chose to move my tripod so that I would have the tree to the left and the moon to the right. It makes the image much more interesting and gives it a sense of place.

 

Finally, both the sun and moon had left for the night and it was time for me to capture a star-trail shot. I looked for a location where I could see a lot of the sky, but also frame the image with some of the large trees which surrounded us. I then set my camera on my Gitzo tripod, aimed the camera straight up (using my 24-105mm lens), put it in bulb mode and locked the remote for a 10 minute exposure. It turned out that 10 minutes was not enough, so I tried a 20 minute exposure. Still not good enough. So...at 11pm, I decided to lock the shutter for an hour and see what happened. Actually, I was concerned that the Canon battery would not last that long, but there was plenty of power for this long exposure. So 62 minutes later, after sitting there and marveling at the clarity of the night sky, I closed the shutter and looked at the final image on the LCD of the camera. Pleased with the results, I slipped into my sleeping bag a happy camper (pun intended).