See the video
I spent a day in early January at the Winter Schooling Hunter Show held at the Thoroughbred Training Center near Mocksville, NC. All through the previous week, the weather forecast hadn’t been too encouraging, and a relatively small turnout was expected. I planned to cover the event in my usual way but I also wanted to try a bit of video in the quieter moments. I have an Olympus SP-350, a small point-and-shoot digital camera capable of adequate video quality, but it lacks any real controls. The zoom is jerky and practically unworkable, and the video is limited to 20 seconds per clip. It can’t really be used for serious video work, not only because of the controls, but also because after about 5 clips it displays a message “Battery Empty”. All the other functions continue to work, but the video recording mode simply shuts down. After about 10 minutes of sulking it might work for a while until the battery empties itself again. The sample video was recorded at the show, with the camera set at 640×480 at 30 frames per second, its highest quality setting. Despite all the limitations I was happy with the results. When burned onto a DVD and played on a regular TV, the result is surprisingly good for such a tiny camera.
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Duncan
Charlotte Rollin' Bobcats wheelchair basketball
Photography, as with life, is full of surprises and I was priviledged to experience a pleasant one a few weeks ago. Triad Trackers Wheelchair Basketball team played an away game against Charlotte Rollin’ Bobcats at the Academy Rec Center in Concorde, NC. I arrived at half-time of the 1st game of a double-header. After setting up the camera, with fast zoom lens and tripod, I took a few shots, but soon realized the lighting was impossible. Bright sun was shining directly through a row of skylights along one side of the Rec Center, lighting the court from one end to the other with blinding rectangles of light and leaving the rest of the court in seeming darkness.
Triad Trackers wheelchair basketball
I packed my camera away thinking that was the end of my day, photographically speaking. But then I noticed the bright areas were slowly creeping across the court towards the bleachers on the opposite side. I waited patiently for the hot spots to move off the court. This didn’t happen until the 2nd game, but when it did the most amazing indoor lighting fell into place. For more than half a game the effect was like a giant diffuser giving me bright, soft, directional light instead of the fairly dull overhead lighting typical of an indoor court. I went ahead and covered the game in my usual way looking for nice action shots but with a bit more freedom than normal. Later while processing the images I was delighted to find a few gems that I wasn’t really expecting – portriats, in sharp focus and highlights in the eye.
See the rest of the pictures from this game.
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Duncan Moody
www.sabelaimages.com