Midwest Classic Wrestling Meet

A buddy of mine called me last week to see if I could help him cover the Midwest Classic wrestling meet at the University of Indianapolis on Saturday (1.6.07). It had been a while since I had photographed sports of any kind but I thought this would be a fun way to get back into it on a semi-professional level. My Canon 350D (XT) isn't what anyone would call a pro camera but I was excited to see what it could do in that setting. I made almost 500 photographs in the six hours we were there and everything worked beautifully. Since I only have two lenses for that camera so far (the 50mm f1.8 and the 17-85mm f4.0 USM IS), I borrowed my friend's Canon 70-200mm f2.8L. That was a fun lens to use! Beforehand, he rigged two Dynalite 1,000w/s strobes in the rafters that we each controlled using radio slaves attached to the hotshoes of our cameras. This worked out really well, except for us occasionally shooting at almost the same time. Whoever fired first got the light. The other guy got a really dark frame. Out of 500 shots, I think it only happened to me about five or six times. That's not bad since each of us were covering two mats that were in constant use.

I converted them to b&w because it reminds me of when I used to shoot sports on film... back in the day. Remember film? Black and white? Tri-X? TMAX3200? Anyone? Ah, yes, the stink of stopbath and fix on my hands. Those were the days...

Anyhoo, here are a few examples:

Happy New Year!

I hope this find everyone well and happy! I'm taking advantage of the holiday and uploading some long-forgotten images.

Here are a few random images from a hike up The Sangre de Cristo mountains in southern Colorado. I didn't realize it at the time but this is one of the longest mountain chains on Earth. It stretches from Poncha Pass, Colorado, in the north to Glorieta Pass, New Mexico, in the south. There are ten peaks over 14,000' high in the range, more than two dozen over 13,000'.



I was excited to see some snow remaining above the timberline, even in the first days of August. I can only imagine how deep it was during the winter.



One of those icy cold mountain streams they talk about in beer commercials. We filtered some of it to refill our water packs. Very refreshing!



An afternoon storm. This thing rolled in quickly! We were pelted with sleet but the most disturbing thing was the lightning. That's really nerve-racking when you're so high up and there's not much else for it to hit but you!



Just before sunset. Once the sun drops below the mountain tops, things get dark quickly. You can see a little smoke from our campfire at the lower left.



Sunrise the next morning. "Run to light from shadow / Sun gives me no rest / A promise offered in the east / Broken in the west" —Peart



Randal, Dad, and me heading out for the summit. Temperatures were still in the 40s but we knew the climb ahead was going to heat us up. We still had about 800 ft. left to go before we crossed the pass.



I was in awe of the vast landscape. Dad forged ahead...



This is what passed for a "trail" close to the pass. Breathing was difficult as we approached 13,500 ft. I can't imagine climbing Everest!



Finally, the summit. Well, the summit for us, anyway. We crossed the pass and headed down the other side. The wind up there was ferocious!



Looking back on where we'd been. It was amazing to see two lakes (one above the other) this high up a mountain.



A similar photo as one above, only this time we're heading down. I think I'd rather go up twice than down once. My legs and feet took such a pounding and my knees were so sore by the time we reached the bottom. I think I'm done mountain climbing for a while.



Looking west during the sunrise. I could really get used to this kind of scenery!

Pike's Peak Redux

Seeing as how I haven't had time to shoot much these past several months, I thought it might be time to actually look at some of the Pike's Peak photos that I've been ignoring. I started this blog with a couple images from that mountain but simply ran out of time to upload any more. The drive up was breath-taking. I don't think I had ever been to that altitude before, at least not outside a pressurized airplane cabin. I didn't notice the thin air so much during the drive up but when we arrived at the top, I got out of the car and bent over to pick something up... that's when it hit me and I almost blacked out. Whew. It's a weird feeling to be standing still and be out of breath. Home for me is at 800 feet. Being quickly transported to over 14,000 feet is a bit of a shock to the system.

Most of these were taken with my little Nikon 880. I didn't feel like lugging anything heavier around if I wasn't really close to the car. Wimpy, I know.




Here we're looking down the south face of the mountain toward Colorado Springs. The view in every direction was amazing.



End of the line! Here are the buffers for the cog train. That is one stop I'd hate to miss!



Can you hear me now? Never one to be out of touch, Dad makes a cell call at more than two-and-a-half miles above sea level.



Ansel Adams takes another photo. Not sure about the crouch. Look for his retrospective, coming soon to a coffee table near you.



Isn't he just a little slice of sexy? Now I know where I got my good looks.



The Pike's Peak drive for us was very interesting. There are signs all over warning drivers to use low gears and stay off the brakes as much as possible. That's fine for you people with gasoline engines. Diesels don't have throttles like gas-powered cars, so there's nothing to stop air from entering the cylinders — no matter which gear I selected, we just went faster and faster! Thank goodness my brakes took the extra heat well and kept us from flying off the side of the mountain! On the plus side, the turbo spooled up quickly and was a lot louder at that altitude. Like music to my ears!



One of the many hairpin turns on the mountain. If you're a fan of racing (or a fan of insane driving), you owe it to yourself to watch the video of Ari Vatanen's record-breaking run in a Peugeot 405 T16 in 1988. We took it somewhat slower and didn't four-wheel drift nearly as much.

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2674471



And here's another photo of Crystal Reservoir, very similar to the one posted (way) below. However, the processing and treatment are much different.