Trials of Photographing Netball

I know I've gone on before about what a challenge photographing netball is, the walls that are put up, and the experience of it isn't too different. Over the last week and a half I've taken photos at Parkville, Hisense Arena, and my local club. The easiest was my local club, and the hardest was at Parkville. Hisense Arena was a pleasure to photograph, but getting the accreditation wasn't easy and I'm not sure it is going to be something that I will be allowed to do again, well not soon.

Going to take photos of people playing netball at my club, was exhausting, but I don't have the hassles that I have at other venues there. The people running the centre know I have permission and I can just walk around and take photos. The exhausting part is that there are so many Macleod teams and they are all playing during the day, so you don't really get a break if you want to take photos of them all. I couldn't do all of them, but I did quite a few and will catch the ones I missed next time.

Going in to Parkville is a different matter. I hate the suspicion you are treated with as soon as you say you are there to take photos. You have to fill out a form, and get the other team to sign it. So silly, because the form doesn't say anything except that you were there taking photos on that particular day. It doesn't ask who you were photographing, what you are going to do with the photos or anything else. Even the signature from the other team doesn't tell them who they are. Not sure who it is meant to protect, not me that's for sure.

They also have this woman who runs around with a clipboard and makes sure everything is above board, but she is not a pleasant person. She was very abrasive and made me feel really bad because I didn't know the rules and, oh, because I was taking photos. I'm starting to understand why kids love photos of themselves, they don't get to see them very often because their parents aren't allowed to take them. Anyway, I found the woman to be really offensive and I made a compliant to the netball and they have organised it now so I don't have to get permission anymore and can just go in there to take photos of Banyule. I will have to take a copy of the permission letter with me because I know I will get asked for it.

Taking photos at Parkville presents a photographer with some interesting problems from a technical point of view as well, it is dark. There are lights, but not enough light to make the courts seem like daylight.  The ISO has to be pushed to the absolute maximum so you can get a fast shutter speed.  You need to use a fast shutter speed for netball.  I don't know where people get the idea that netball is a slow girls sport, I'm here to tell you that it is fast, especially a team that is good and has been playing for many years.  Flash is frowned upon, you can't have a flash going off in a players face, so you have to do the best you can.  It really does require different skills than is needed for photographing cycling. 

As I stated earlier I went to Hisense Arena and took photos of the Vixens last week.  It was tougher getting permission, and not anyone can rock on up and say they are there to take photos.   I had to get a special pass, or a temporary Media Accreditation pass.  It was waiting for me at the door and then I got to go in and down to the basement.  I had to find the media room and then I was introduced to Kate, who showed me around and took me up to the arena where I could take photos.

There is one whole section where the media are allowed, one side of the court.  It was fantastic.  I think I always imagined that we would be placed in one spot and we would have to stay there, but it wasn't like that at all.   We were allowed to move around on the that side of the court, but not behind the goals and not on the side where the players were.  I do remember reading that we were not allowed to approach the players.  We could go up into the stands to take photos, but I decided to stay put.  I really just wanted to observe what the other photographers were doing, so if I get to go again then I have more of an idea of what I can and can't do.

Kate told me that I would have trouble photographing them because of the speed.  That new photographers, or rather people new to photographing the Vixens find it really fast and have trouble.  I have to say I didn't.  I don't know if it is because I have done some netball before, and some of the teams I get to photograph for Banyule are also really fast, or whether the fact that I know the game and can often predict where the ball is going to go has helped.  I loved it.  I loved how fast it was.  I think I like a challenge and you certainly get that.  Probably the hardest part was taking photos of players that was close to me, the lens couldn't quite cope with it.  Doesn't matter, I got photos of the rest of the court.

My biggest obstacle for the evening was the umpire who kept walking down and standing in front of me.  So frustrating, but nothing I can do about it and something you have to work around.  So many times, what would have been a great shot was ruined because she was standing in part of the shot.  Oh well, I probably should have moved, but I quite liked my little spot.

I did get some great shots, well what I think are great, to the top photographers they are probably not, but I was really pleased with my first efforts.  Who knows if they will get better, but I will have to find a way to get some media accreditation.  I would really like to find a way to be able to keep taking photos of them.  A plan is hatching and will see what response I get for it.

I do want to thank the people from the ANZ Championships for organising the pass for me.  It was a great experience and I really enjoyed it.

Photos on the Back of the Bike

A few months ago it was suggested that perhaps I should attempt to take some photos while riding on the back of a motorbike. I can't pretend that I wasn't excited at the thought. Actually I was absolutely over the moon, and couldn't wait to try it.

Of course while the track season was still on the go, there was no need to think about it but now that the track season is over it is time to start giving it some serious thought. One of the major problems with photographing the road is how to get around so you don't have to stay in the same position the whole time.

Last year one of the first races I really photographed was the Wangaratta State Championships for the road. I spent the first day at the ramp photographing all the Blackburn riders in the gate and then going down into the ramp. It wasn't too exciting, especially when you consider that I did it with a Canon point and click.

The next day for the road race my daughters coach, Simon, suggested I go out onto the course and photograph the riders as they came up a big hill in the course. I'm not sure if the suggestion was to get me away from my daughter or because he thought I would be able to get some good shots, I have always hoped it was the second.

As I was heading out with a friend, another mother and friend, Jenny, asked if I would like to borrow her digital SLR. As if I would say no. After a quick lesson on how to use the camera I headed out.

We waited ages for the kids to come around the corner and start heading up the hill. I got lots of photos of the riders as they came towards to me. I was sort of stuck there in that one place and once they had all gone past there was really no where to go but back.

The images were good, well not bad and it really started the whole ball rolling with me getting into photography again. Of course, then the track season started and the problems I had with photographing the road race and time trial were no longer problems. However, with the road season starting again now, the problems from Wangaratta are with me again.

There isn't a lot of point, I think, of standing around in the one place waiting for the riders. It makes the photos all the same, and is a bit boring for me. I need to be able to get around. So after Simon suggested using the motorbike, I've been waiting for an opportunity to go out and try it, and at last today I had a go.

It was a training ride up the 1 and 20. We took Simon's motorbike and followed the kids to the Basin and then up the hill. It was interesting because there were things I knew that I would be able to do and things that I didn't. First of all you can't use a big lens on the bike, you are too close to the riders and you only end up with head shots. I also found I couldn't turn around or twist as much as I would like. Not having a rack or anything on the back also made it a little scary. I didn't want to be turning around too much and then have Simon accelerate and me go over the back. I think you need the security of something like a rack behind you.

Once I changed the lens to a smaller one, and I imagine when I get myself set up better I will take 2 cameras with me with 2 different lens so I am ready for anything, then I was able to take better photos. I put the camera on as high a shutter speed as I could because I wanted to reduce the risk of blur, with me moving, the riders moving, I knew that it would have to be fast. I've tried taking photos out of the van window on training rides and it is hard. So with a faster shutter speed and a smaller lens I was able to get shots in focus and of more than just their heads. It seemed like I had started to find my way.

Another aspect of going out on the bike is that you can stop anywhere. I know you can do that in a car, but sometimes you can't. The other day when we went up Baw Baw I was driving my car and there were spots I wanted to take photos and no where to pull over off the road to stop, so I had to drive up a bit and then walk back, whereas with the bike there is always space to stop. With that option it is good to be able to pick several locations that you know you will be able to stop and get shots of the riders.

The motorbike is also much easier to maneuver around the riders. They are louder so the riders can hear them. I found with the car, the roads on mountains can be narrow and you can get stuck behind a bunch before it is safe to get around them, whereas with the bike there didn't seem to be much of a problem. Also, as I was just a passenger, I could concentrate on what I had to do. It was by far the best way to take photos of them and I look forward to being allowed to do it in races. I will need some more practice, but think there will be plenty of opportunity for that.

I have to say, I haven't been on a bike for so many years and it was great to go on it again. Riding a motorbike is quite an experience. One of things we do see a lot when out there is other motorbikes. I can't help thinking it might be a lot of fun to photograph them one day as they race, the speed with which they travel would be a challenge. Mmm one day perhaps. Simon kept pointing out the bikes with the suggestions that they were the type of bike we need. It has been suggested that his bike doesn't have enough power for doing this type of photography. Well time will tell, the old cliche.

Catching Up

I've been thinking about this blog for a while and trying to work out what direction I should go with it. It tends to be more about photography, and I'm fine with that and imagine I will continue in that vein, but about photography in what way?

I started a whole article on Sports Photography and how to shoot it, you know another how to article, because I did find it difficult when I first started. Not that I was new to the camera or taking photos but that particular type of photography. It really is different to what I'm used to doing.

So maybe this blog should be about my adventures as a sports photographer and the ups and the downs. How I'm experimenting and what I'm trying that is new. What I love photographing and maybe what I find a boring. Maybe not so much of the last part.

Last Sunday I went to Castlemaine, the Victorian Junior and Master Criterium Championships were on. For those that don't know, my car was written off by AAMI last week for hail damage and I really didn't think I was going to make it to the crits, but a very dear friend of mine, Sandra, lent me her car and I was able to go.

I haven't photographed many crits, I did the Jayco Bay crits in January, and once Sunday photographed some of the races at St Kilda. I really enjoy photographing crits, and so far think it is by far my favourite type of racing to take shots of. You can usually walk around the circuit and take photos at lots of different angles. On the inside of the corner, the outsite, sitting right on the corner, coming into the straight etc. There is so much more variety.

Also, as the races are longer, can be anything up to an hour, there is the opportunity to try different things and if it doesn't work, you can still get lots of shots of the racing. One of my favourite things right now is to turn down the shutter speed and do some panning, especially of them going around a corner. I like to have lots of blur, but the face still in focus. I believe that you should always be able to see the face, and see the expression, or the concentration, whatever, but the face always has to be in focus, otherwise, for me, it is a delete, enter shot.

I love this photo. It would have to be the stand out photo of the day for me. The only thing that maybe would have made it better would have been if I hadn't cut the bottom of the wheels off. I love the speed that the image shows. You can tell he was moving fast. I like that the background is completely blurred. I really like the way most of his body is also moving, or the appearance of it because it is out of focus, but his face is in focus. I just think it is a fantastic shot and one I'm really proud of.

Many years ago I belonged to a camera club, just my local one. I could never get the perfect shot. I ended up quitting because I found the restrictions to be to confining and sometimes an image was good, because it broke the rules, not always, but sometimes. I hated that everything had to be, to the rules. I find myself unable to follow many of the rules in sports photography, but it is too hard to apply them, you just have to shoot, with some knowledge of what you are doing and hope it works. I do find there are certain things I try to get and for the most part I do get them.

This image certainly doesn't follow any rules and was taken the wrong way. I should have had the camera in landscape, but was getting ready to photograph individual riders as they got close to me. Then again it is nice to see the riders standing up, and you can see how tough they would finding the climb, but you also get a sense of where they are riding. The bit of road in the foreground shows how steep it is, the background tells we were in a rural town.

So perhaps a photo doesn't have to be perfect to tell a story. Though right now I will had taken the time to photograph a building that saw in Castlemaine, will have to do that next time I'm there.