On my last post I told you about the mishaps I had at the Texas Relays on Friday, but I didn’t talk about the pictures.
I was assigned to shoot three high school events – men’s high jump, women’s pole vault and men’s discus – for the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung. Though I had covered the Texas relays before, I haven’t had a lot of practice shooting track and field events.
I started with men’s high jump and stood in the official designated media area for that event. This is what I got:
It’s a good shot, peak action, nice sharpness, and I especially like how the official is intently watching, but there are a couple problems with this shot. The background is busy and you can’t see the athlete’s face. I shot in this spot for a little while, but then I looked around for a better vantage point.
I crossed the track to the media area set aside for the track runners. Let’s just say sometimes it pays to change your perspective.
Is it a perfect shot? No, but it’s A LOT better than the previous image. I’m actually pretty proud of this one. If only the guy in the background could have sat down during this shot… I concluded that the very best angle for high jump might be directly above the pole, but in an outdoor stadium, that’s very rarely a possibility.
Next up was women’s pole vault. I kind of enjoy shooting pole vaulting because there are so many variables to it. Everyone has a different style going over the pole. Some go feet first, some go head first, some face the ground, some face the sky, some look like divers doing twists and flips and others are less graceful and just sort of flop over the pole.
I’m convinced that there isn’t a “best spot” to shoot from for pole vaulting. It all depends on who you’re shooting. I started out sitting on the ground off to the side in front of the pole (the side where the athletes run before vaulting) and this is what I got:
It’s a really nice clean shot with good emotion. I like this shot a lot, but there’s one thing missing. This is not the girl I was assigned to shoot.
Again, I was in the spot they told me to shoot from, but I noticed that the girl I need didn’t face my direction very often. I moved to the other side of the vault, right behind where they land. The athletes were running directly toward me and landing in front of me. I was also standing right next to an entrance gate, so it was a fairly busy traffic area. But again, changing your perspective sometimes pays off:
This still isn’t the girl I was supposed to cover, but it was a good thing I moved because my athlete ended up having a rough time. I would have missed this moment had I been shooting from behind her.
Then there are those times when it seems like there’s just not a good angle, no matter where you go. My last event of the day was men’s discus. This event was outside the stadium in a smaller field that was completely surrounded by a cinder block wall. And the area where they were throwing was covered twice with a thick black net. If I wanted action, I had to shoot through the net with manual focus. I put my aperture on f8 to give me some wiggle room and did my best to shoot through the net. Here’s what I got:
All in all, despite the personal mishaps, I came away with some images I’m really happy with. I left the stadium flyin’ high!
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