Not sure what’s wrong with me lately but my photography has been suffering . Not sure if it’s the pressures of work or what but I seem to be making rookie mistakes every time I shoot. My mind is just not in it. I debated whether or not to post any of these photos, but decided I’d just post a few, call it a slump and move on. The first was the Tuscaloosa Air show. Two mistakes. First, this was only my second air show to shoot, should have done some research. If i had I would have known that shutter speeds above 320 or so cause props to freeze looking more like a suspended static shot than an “in flight” shot. Couple that with the fact that my 1.4TC was causing some sort of focusing problem and you end up wasting a perfectly good day. It’s so hard to tell out in the bright sunlight what you are actually getting. Then, when you get home, you see the disappointing results. Next was the Monte Montgomery concert at Workplay. Not much i could do about this, just bad lighting conditions for photography. Great show, not so great photos. All I could do was crank up the iso and shoot. Third, and hopefully last, in the slump is the Sunrise Balloon Race at the Tuscaloosa airport. I made the mistake of leaving the ISO set to H1 from the night before and didn’t realize until most of the balloons had launched. Fortunately i was still in auto-iso mode and the ISO was being adjusted down for proper exposure. The ISO still ended up waaaay to high and caused some unnecessary noise in the shots. I varied between shutter and aperture priority and shutter speeds were 125-400 most if the time and aperture at 11-22. This is ok but i never realized the ISO was set the way it was until too late. Ok, slump over, move on… Next up, Andy McKee at Workplay and then I’m going to wade a river with my expensive camera and shoot some Cahaba Lilys.
May 25, 2010
Ok, I’m in a slump
April 17, 2010
Sloss Furnace 4-17-10
My daughter had a friend home for the weekend recently and since they are both into ghosts and all these ghost hunting shows we thought we’d just drive by Sloss Furnace and just see what it looked like. An episode of Ghost Adventures had been filmed there and they just wanted to get a look at it. There is someone named Zak Bagans who is on the show and my daughter found where he apparently put his signature, and added hers. I’ve lived here all my life and had no idea it was a historical landmark and was open and you could tour the place! I knew they had events there from time to time but i thought it was just standing there rusting. The whole thing is open and you can climb down into the bowels of the place! They say it’s haunted, i don’t know. Lucky we were there in the middle of the day. They say you can go at night and tour it but you have to pay $50/hour for security.
It’s really a very interesting place, really creepy down in the tunnels. That’s where the nastys are. I wasn’t really prepared for a photo trip, just had my 18-200 vr. It did pretty well but being hand-held made me have to use pretty hight ISOs. I really would like to go back sometime with a tripod and take my time. Later in the day when the light is not so harsh would be better too. Now may be the time to pony up for that 12-24 fisheye lens also. There were times when i just couldn’t open up as wide as i wanted to. Some of these shots were taken down in the tunnels where they say ghosts hang out. Enjoy!
March 2, 2010
February 27, 2010
Georgia vs South Carolina 2/26/10
This was the second game of the night for me. My day was already 17 hours long and the Aleve was wearing off so i only shot two periods. Got a few good ones, but I’ll get a chance to shoot both of these teams again Saturday. I’m planning on shooting three games Saturday starting at 2pm. See you there. If anyone would like a copy of any of these shots please contact me via email. Thanks for looking.
Alabama vs. Tennessee 2/26/10
What is the ultimate sin of a sports photographer you ask? Getting caught up in the action and completely forgetting you have a camera. This happened at least once in this game. Alabama was putting on the pressure in the Tennessee end and a juicy rebound was just laying in front of the crease. The Tennessee goalie made a couple of point-blank saves and i thought, Wow! what a save! Hey look! I had a camera! I could have taken a picture of that! Jeez. I’ve been asked several times to help with off-ice officiating but I always turn it down because i know i would just blow at it. I get wrapped up in the game. This was a fun one to watch, big crowd, pep band, lot’s of action. Alabama wins 6-3 and moves on in the playoffs. If anyone would like a copy of any of these shots please contact me via email. Thanks for looking. 
November 14, 2009
UA vs FLSt. 11-13-09
It was a very nice crowd for hockey on a Friday night. Alabama crowds are usually attending High School football on Friday nights but I think the regular season is over for most schools and the playoffs have begun. No spectacular shots tonight but a few good ones. There is a pretty good sequence of Sam Fullone being hooked down. The Frozen Tide won 5-2. Enjoy!
