I spent most of my Marathon Monday sweating while speed-walking up and down Beacons street. The weather was the news, of course- 86* peaks, and that’s not considering how it felt to be on radiating pavement for 26.2 miles. Coolidge Corner (just before the 24-mile marker) was my base camp, which was perfect because my apartment is three blocks away.
The scanner kept me up to date on how people were faring at the finish, and it was not good. EMTs sounded overwhelmed, and there were many calls of “we will get to you as soon as we can.” BAA organizers did a great job ensuring there was enough shade, water, ice and medical personnel to keep this race somewhat safe.
My favorite image never made the Herald but that’s how it goes. I spent some time trying to directly show the temperature and runners by working a large elevated sign that alternated between the temperature and the time. I put my 1DsII with a 24mm on top of a monopod and triggered it by cable release as I held it WAY above my head to get the high sign nicely in the foreground. When runners came every minute or so I missed several shots due to poor framing (it’s dang hard to hold that camera steady up there, let alone work the voodoo of framing from on top of a monopod) or the display showing the time as the runner ran by. Things got easier when the pack came along, but it still took several tries to get the framing/timing right. Still, it always feels great to put together an image you had pre-visualized.
Here are a few of my images from the hottest Marathon Monday in years. All shot on a 1Ds2 and 24 ƒ/1.4L and 1D3 with 70-200 ƒ/2.8L with or without a 1.4x converter.
Prepare yourself for yet more hockey. On Monday I shot the Beanpot Championship for BU Photo Services. It was a fantastic game, despite the BU loss with 6.4 seconds left in overtime. My heart was pounding for the last minutes of the third and for the entirety of the OT- whew!
I set up a remote on the 9th level media ring- a D3 and old manual focus 400 ƒ/3.5 trained on the goal BU would attack for two periods. I triggered it via a microswitch taped to the zoom barrel of my 200-400 that I shot with from the stands, or handheld the wizard when I shot from the ice-level. I focused about 3′ behind where I really should have, but lesson learned. I was most happy that it triggered at all in the huge TD Garden after hearing horror stories from other photographers. I got a few moments from two different angles, which is always cool and a little eerie.
Last weekend I went north (WAY north) to ski at Smuggler’s Notch in Vermont with my girlfriend and 15 others. We rented a condo about five minutes from the mountain and a fantastic time was had by all. They hadn’t gotten much new snow, but what remained was great. I must return to Smuggs when they have enough snow to open some of their crazier trails. It’s a world away from Mt. Sunapee’s relatively tame slopes, and well worth the four hour drive!
Finally, a few frames from a walk around Cambridge at sunset. I wanted to capture how beautiful it was and how people were out appreciating the day.
Here are some images from the last week or so. BU Photo has me doing a lot of hockey, the Herald put me on a BC – NC State basketball game (I forgot how hard basketball shooting is!), and I had a great weekend in New Hampshire skiing at Mt. Sunapee with my girlfriend.
I recently started working for BU Photo Services, a great group of photographers who keep their lenses trained on University life for a range of publications. I will be covering hockey action for the next few weeks as the Beanpot approaches, and who knows what after that. In the meantime, I’ve loved the opportunity to get back into Walter Brown Arena and Agganis, this time with proper equipment, to cover men’s and women’s hockey.
The creative director, Melody Ko, has a great vision for taking sports (and all) coverage to the next level. She’s encouraged me to take advantage of my access to place remote cameras and experiment, which is the best thing a photographer can possibly hear. It’s great to have such a publication behind you when you push for access.
This weekend was Wintefest 2012, a huge alumni/student gathering with ice sculpting, Quidditch (appropriate, as I just started reading the Harry Potter series start-to-finish), rock climbing, concerts and of course, hockey. I shot both Agganis games with D3 bodies and the exceptional 200-400 ƒ/4 VR. I’m considering investing in scratch-off tickets to finance a switch to Nikon…
After 1,900+ .NEF frames and 11 hours of shooting, I went home to edit for another three hours before getting up and going in to BU Photo to edit more and hand my files over. All in all, it was a great weekend and a fun reintroduction to shooting hockey and remotes. Here’s to more great shooting!
One of the many things I love about photojournalism is meeting new people. On a feature hunt for the Boston Herald yesterday, I drove through Saugus and came across a man putting up Christmas lights on his house. From across the street it made a nice, graphic image, and I went to go and talk to him. He invited me into his house and told me some of his story. He’s an unemployed Merchant Marine who survived an April 14, 2009 pirate attack off of the coast of Somalia. He had been robbed in August and lost most of his possessions. Through and through, he seemed a kind person. We talked politics and life for a little bit, and we went our separate ways. All in a day’s work.
In other news, I’ve spent some time at the Occupy Boston encampment. Tensions are rising and wouldn’t be surprised if in coming weeks there is a D.C./NYC/L.A. style eviction or confrontation. Yikes.
The media scene was crazy. There were more hail-marys, more pushes and shoves and more confrontations than usual. As I had no publication I was shooting for, I didn’t go all-out to make my photos. However, for those on deadline, sometimes the crowd pushed back.
I will end with this adorable photo of a girl running through a Christmas tree farm. She went from gleeful smile to a look of absolute contempt as she saw me taking her picture. Her parents and I cracked up, but the girl was furious. Still, I think it made for a nice moment, while it lasted.
