Trying something different.

I got a job, well I got paid to take photos.  Something different, as opposed to taking photos and then hoping people will buy them.  The first, is something I know I would like to do again.

I was asked to photograph a football game.  I have never photographed football before and I told the client that.  She seemed happy to let me try and see what I came up.

My first thoughts were that my lenses wouldn't be large enough.  Football fields are large and the play happens all over the field.  You need a large lens to get the shots that happen on the other side, as it turns out the players always seem to be on the other side.  My 200mm was OK, but a 300 or 400 would have been ideal.

Following the action was much the same as it is in netball, you know all the players are after the ball.  Though, having said that, the strange thing with football is that the ball is an odd shape and does tend to be unpredictable as to where it might go.  Which also left me wondering if that is why the ball is that shape, so we, the spectators, get a good laugh watching people trying to get the ball, very entertaining.

I tried moving around to various places to take photos, but it didn't really seem to make that much of a difference.  I remembered that my tripod was in the boot, so after taking some half time shots in the dressing room I got out my tripod and set it up in one spot.  It was brilliant. 

People have said to me that I should use a monopod for photographing the cycling, but I stand up, I sit down, I kneel down, my height changes all the time and I think a monopod would be more of a hindrance than a help.  For the football I could stay in one position and not moving up and down, so it didn't matter.  If I were to photograph the football again, I would definitely go for this option.  Perhaps a monopod might be less awkward, though I think a new head on my current monopod would be better, a ball and release system of some sort that enables you to move the camera quickly would be good.

I'm sure you can tell from the photos that it was a gloomy day.  It had been raining quite a bit in the morning, and the sky was still threatening to let down more.  I am not keen to take photos in the rain.  Not because I don't want to get wet, but because I don't want the camera to get wet.  The camera is no good to me if it gets wet and stops working.

When it starts raining, my first thoughts are, "keep the camera dry".  I have also started taking lots of plastic bags with me to keep it dry and some electrical tape.  The best thing is to be able to have someone with an umbrella over me.   When we saw that it was raining, my husband decided he wouldn't be riding his bike that day and said he would come with me.  I was so glad he did.  It didn't rain a lot, but rained enough and he was there with the umbrella and did a great job of keeping it dry.  Thanks Dave.

As I was at the football for one specific person, I had to concentrate on getting photos of her mainly.  Though, I also thought, that I wouldn't just stand there when she wasn't in the action, and did take photos of the game as well.  I took a lot of photos, again, one of the lovely things about digital, it really doesn't matter.

I am sure I missed some of the things she may have liked me to have photos of.  I didn't do it on purpose, it was more my inexperience at not knowing what was going to happen.  Once you start photographing a particular sport and get used to it, you start to understand what is happening and, more importantly perhaps, understand the proceedure of what is going to happen.  Once you know that, then you know what to photograph, you know where to go.  Nothing beats spending time practicing the sport you want to become good at photographing. 

If I were going to do more football, I would need to get a bigger lens, or a teleconverter for my current lens.  I haven't used one yet, but I think it is probably the next thing I need to seriously think about getting.  You need to get as close to the action as possible.  When you can't physically get close, then you want the camera to be able to do it for you, big lens.  For the cycling I haven't felt like I needed one, occasionally for netball I've thought it would be good, but for football, definite bonus.  I might start saving, after I pay for  . . .

It was a great experience to be able to go and take photos of Belinda's 250th game.  I am so glad she asked me.  It has opened up the possibility to me, that I can do more than just photograph cycling and netball.  It is good to experiment and try different things.  Continously learning new skills is a good thing.  You never know what it might lead to.  I should also thank Jarrod for giving my name to Belinda.  Thanks Jarrod.

Women and Sports

This argument is such an old one. Why is it that women are not really given the same amount of attention in sport as men are?

I really thought, maybe, just maybe, things were starting to change. However, last week I went to the newsagency to find some magazines with sporting images in them to use in the kids art classes that I teach. We are looking at movement in images and I thought sporting images, would be perfect.

So I checked out all the magazines and was disappointed that there was not one on women's sport. I'm not saying that you can't buy them, but at the newsagency I looked there weren't any. Lots of magazines covering men's sport, like soccer, cricket, and other stuff. I asked if there were mags that covered all sport and he showed me one. Again, there were almost no women in it.

I ended up getting 3 magazines that had some good images for the kids to draw, but had to apologise to all the girls in the class that I was unable to find images for them of women doing sport.
So now where do I go, I have images myself, I take photographes of women on bikes all the time, but I still don't understand why it is so hard to find women playing sport. I know they do it, we all do. We have some very successful sports women in this country, and still they get overshadowed constantly by the men.

There are people out there doing what they can to help women in their sporting endeavors. One such group is the WomensCycling.net, they make a point of following women's cycling and reporting on their racing. If you want to find out about which women are riding where, then their blog is the place for you. It is really good and great to see only women being covered.

I'd like to say that I do the same, but I don't, however I do try and be fair. Though, it is hard when you go to a race meet and see that the girls/women race in less races, or race shorter distances and don't get the same amount of prize money. On big event nights, like the Revolution nights, I've also seen music played right through the women's races, which I found really rude, it showed a lack of respect to the women. It was like the organisers were saying that the women weren't as important, and if they don't think they are important then what message does that send to the audience.

Last weekend we saw a big weekend of cycling. Friday night was the madison and Sid Patterson Grand Prix. There was a invitational race, but only for the j17 boys, no girls. Whereas on Saturday night at Revolution 6 the Future stars were invited, both girls and boys, good to see.

It is also interesting to note that the most entertaining race of the night, and the one most people seemed to be talking about the next day, was the sprint between Anna Meares and Nathan Carrigan-Matella.
The race had all the things you would expect to see in Match Sprinting. They were track standing, Anna was forcing him up the track and there was head butting, a great race. Unfortunately Anna didn't win it, but she helped make it very entertaining and everyone had a great time watching it.

I'm also pleased to say that one of my favourite photos from the evening was from a women's race. It was the Keirin and the woman leading here, Fatehah Mustapa, went on to win the race. I love the way she is coming out the fog or the blur. I have been getting a few of these that work. It is taking a lot of practice, but hopefully they will get better.

The answer to the question posed here, I don't know, I suppose if we all start supporting women's sport a lot more, then the powers that be will have to start taking it more seriously as well, and I can't help wondering why men aren't more interested in watching women wearing lycra.