Monday, November 29, 2010

Hilltopper Invite



Whew, Hilltopper Invite was needless to say chaotic and very traumatic because of the heat inside the pool. Swimmers were being pulled out of the pool after races because they couldn't breathe, parents complaining, and several people shedding off their layers once entering Preston.

Finally was able to shoot the divers as they were competing. I wasn't ecstatic about the pictures but at the same time I was able to get some decent ones. Just have to edit and upload the last day of the invite and them all the pictures will be uploaded.

Hopefully I can before Saturday because there's another meet this weekend. I need a longer break than Thanksgiving to catch up with everything - Christmas, please come soon!

All diver pictures can be seen here

All swimmer edits can be seen here

Monday, November 15, 2010

New Business Card





Taking recent advice, I am moving away from handing out just regular business cards and creating something that parents, clients, or potential employers can hang up anywhere and just remember my name with a 4x6 picture of my work. I think it will be more effective than a business card because it is something different.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Xavier Meet



Well I think the coaching staff and swim team would disagree with me when I say that this was a very fun meet. Actually, the team broke nine pool records - so perhaps they wouldn't disagree with me.

We swam at Xavier University - beautiful campus and a very nice day in Cincinnati. It was entertaining traveling from Georgia Tech's pool which held the '96 Olympics to this pool - to an extravagant four 25-yard lane pool at Xavier, capable of barely holding two swim teams and their parents comfortably.

A major advantage for me only having four lanes because I was finally able to basically sit in one place and be able to photograph everyone. My lens was as perfect as it could get with only a lane in between our two swimmers. The only trouble that I felt I had was my focusing problem again and that became really frustrating during the meet because I felt like I could have gotten the picture, only if it had focused on what I wanted it to focus on initially.

However, it in the long run and after a very long bus ride home. I was successfully able to get many pictures that I am happy with. And I will definitely shoot in a four lane pool again over a 10 lane any day!

Pictures are up and available for purchase

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

The End Is Near

So Mr. B so graciously gave our class an offer.

He can either cut out the last assignment he just gave us and throw in a time to build our portfolios, write cover letters and resumes and send them out to five employers that we would like to work for.

Only a couple of problems with that whole idea. I had found a really good story that I was excited about because I finally found one that had more conflict in it than any person should ever have in their life and I don't really think I have a variety of images to present a strong portfolio. Right now, I have a plethora of swimming pictures of both collegiate and Olympian athletes but that's all there is folks.

Oy, all of this graduation stuff and where am I going to be in my life is already scaring me enough because I am beginning to doubt that I chose the right major. Sure, I love photography still and shooting sports is definitely my passion. But I am not good at all the other stuff - portraits (I can't do the lighting correctly), features (always seem to miss the moment), stories (never have enough time to develop the conflict in it), art (eh, don't really shoot it enough)..

No, I am not just feeling sorry for myself nor am I giving myself criticism to fish for compliments. I know what I am good at and I know what I'm not. Whether it is because I have the resources to make myself better or not isn't the question to me. I've always gone by "it's not the equipment, it's the photographer" so maybe my cliche is just biting me in the rear this time.

I'll figure something out. I hope, my resume doesn't seem as strong as it could but that's what Mr. B has planned for the last couple of weeks in the semester.

Sports Illustrated, be looking for my work! Because here it comes!

Anyone know their mailing address?