Birds in Flight
I went to Glenn Hilton Park again for a little while to continue learning the new Sigma 150-500mm lens. There are a lot of really nice wildlife photo opportunities in the park on most days, and it's really a great place to take advantage of a lens like this. Over at DPChallenge.com this week, there is a "Birds in Flight" photo competition so I thought I might be able to pick up a shot or two that I could enter into that competition. The above photo is a fair but I had hoped to get something a little better. Maybe if time permits I will be able to get back down there for a while early one morning this week and see what finds its way into my viewfinder... I still haven't taken the time to play around with the new 100mm macro lens or the 85mm f/1.8 yet, but that will come soon enough... I have had a really heavy work schedule lately, so time off is precious at the moment :)
Some New Lenses
I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase a few new lenses for my camera bag this week. One of the new lenses is a Sigma 150-500mm telephoto zoom lens. I decided to take it to the park for a while late this afternoon and give it a try. I was quite impressed with the results. This lens is rather large and heavy, so I mounted it on my monopod and took a walk around the park...
There are always a lot of ducks and geese at the park, and today was no exception. I shot quite a few photos while testing out the new big lens. This lens has the OS function (optical stabilization) which helps out a lot with camera shake at slower shutter speeds. I had good sunlight today, so I didn't really get a great opportunity to try out the lens hand-held in low light, but I will do that soon...
First Snow of 2011
I decided to go to Union Square for a little while this afternoon while it was snowing. With my luck, the snow died down about the time I arrived so I just piddled around with the camera a little and shot a few photos just for fun. It was cold... about 23°F and the snow was in the process of changing to freezing rain. There was another photographer out there with a few models shooting photos of them doing various crazy and fun things in the snow, so I watched them for a while before packing the bag and coming back home.
It felt good to get the tripod back out. I haven't taken the initiative to shoot much serious stuff outside of my newspaper work for quite a while now. I think the new year might push me a little harder to get back to my roots and primary interests in photography... We'll see what happens...
A New Season
I typically love the switch-over from football to basketball season. It's usually starting to get cold outside by now and the move back indoors is a welcome one. I covered my first basketball game of the season at Lenoir-Rhyne University this evening. Lenoir-Rhyne, however, is the absolute worst place to photograph basketball that I have to work in my local area. There are two major problems for me when it comes to getting great photographs in this gym. The light is pathetic. To make that matter worse, they turn off half the lights in the gym (the lights over the bleachers on both sides) before the game starts to create some sort mood-enhancing scenario that I have yet to understand. They only do this for the men's game of the double headers. The women must not qualify for the same 'benefit'. But that's good for me because I can get better photographs of the women's games. The men's photos just have to suffer the poor light. This year, I won't be able to take up my normal shooting spot on the baseline either. I usually only get to work one half of the game because the cheerleaders occupy the other end of the court, so I have to get everything I might need in one half of the game. This year I will be held to shooting from the corners. We have dancing girls on the opposite end of the gym from the cheerleaders this season, so I can't get anywhere near the basket now. I believe that I'm going to offer LRU basketball to other photographers this season as much as possible. Hopefully my seniority as a stringer will afford me this luxury this season :)
Vacationing in November
November has been a fun month, but it's over now... We went to Oahu for 8 days, came home for a week, and then went to Myrtle Beach for a couple more days... I took the above photo at the Ripley's Aquarium at Boardwalk at the Beach in Myrtle Beach... The trip to Hawaii was long-awaited and had been planned for over a year, but the trip to Myrtle Beach was just a little extra. I tagged along with Tonya because she was going down for three days of software training. I spent those three days just wandering around and shopping at the beach. Being at Myrtle Beach during the off season is a little different. No lines, no crowds. Quite nice actually! If you wanna see some of my photos from the Hawaii trip, the links are below:
Hawaii Photo Gallery on Flickr
I'm not sure where we will be going next, but I'm thinking Gatlinburg, TN might be happening before too long...
B-17
I made a brief visit to the Hickory Aviation Museum this afternoon to check out the B-17 and B-24 traveling exhibit. I have never had the opportunity to see a B-17 up close so I didn't wanna miss this one. This exhibit is going on today, Sunday, and for a few more hours Monday morning. There is also a P-51 Mustang on site. You can purchase rides in these historical planes as well. I think the 30-minute rides in the bombers costs $425 per person. The P-51 ride is $2200 for 30 minutes, but if you are a bargain hunter, you can get a full hour for only $3200!
Today’s Photojournalism Lesson
I had to cover a press conference this afternoon at the local police station. Our chief of police was making a statement and fielding a few questions from reporters regarding a local missing child case that is still unresolved. My assignment was no big deal... I just made a few 'talking head' shots of the chief at the podium. I did, however, learn quite a few important things about journalism during this process. Some of these lessons I actually knew already, but they were hammered home this afternoon.
#1 - Television media personnel's feces have no scent.
I guess there is a hierarchy in the media and TV is apparently at the top of the food chain. They will push you out of the way without second thoughts. They don't care if you get your job done. I actually issued a pleasant 'buck you fuddy" to one of them today when they asked me to move out of my space. I didn't catch any heat from the rest of them.
#2 - The way TV media personnel treat law enforcement is probably the PRIMARY reason that law enforcement is reluctant to cooperate with the media.
I listened to a reporter grill our police chief with questions that I believed were for the purpose of making the department look bad. I believe the chief felt the same way based on his responses. He held his composure much better than I would have...
I guess the role of the media is to create the sensationalism when the answers they are looking for aren't provided. I decided to watch the newscast from this reporter's station tonight just to see if the BS I saw in the press conference actually made it to production, and it did not. I guess this is why I would never make it as a journalist. I can't throw away the aspect of being respectful people in my path each day. I guess my stories would just present the factual information without a sensational spin to suit someone's personal views. I have yet to learn that journalism is only loosely based on facts these days...
The 2010 Shootout
Today's weather was very nice for golf. I spent the afternoon covering the 2010 Dale Jarrett Shootout down at Rock Barn. This event is usually pretty interesting with the variety of players who are involved. This year's field was a little short compared to most but the action was still entertaining. From the world of racing, we had Dale Jarrett, Kyle Petty, Kevin Harvick, and Elliott Saddler in the field. In the above photo, Dale Jarret chips up onto the 18th green of the Jones course...
I'll be back down tomorrow to cover the first day of the Pro-Am and work some features on Fred Couples...
2010 Greater Hickory Classic
The Greater Hickory Classic week of golf kicked off today with a qualifier and the Greater Hickory High School Classic at Rock Barn. In recent years, this tournament week seems to have become a rain magnet. We have been in a long dry spell here, and haven't had any significant rain in about a month. It pissed down rain all day today and it was really hard at times. This particular photo doesn't really give a good feel for how hard it was raining at the moment, but it was really coming down... In the above photo, Hickory's JT Poston tees off at the 10th hole of the Jackson Course at Rock Barn to begin the 9-hole Greater Hickory High School Classic at Rock Barn...
The Harvest Folk Festival
The last weekend in September is always a good one, especially when the weather is nice. The Murray's Mill Harvest Folk Festival usually draws a nice crowd each year, and this year was no exception. I went down for a couple hours this afternoon because the weather forecast calls for rain tomorrow. I always enjoy photographing the people who are participating in the civil war reenactments...
In the above photo, Casey Buchanan and Timothy Dees stand guard at the mill...
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