Bicycle Race

I photographed the "Tour De Mason Lake" bicycle ride.  This was a benefit for the Karen Hilburn Breast and Cervical Cancer Fund.  This was my first time photographing bicycles.    Given the previous theme of this blog, I believe I have now come full circle.

Kids Fishing Derby 4-H benefit

This was pretty straight forward, photograph kids catching captive fish. The main issue was that the light was coming from the lake and the participants were mostly facing away from the light. No matter though, because I could not get between the participants and the light without going swimming.   The light got a bit better later in the assignment.  When I did finally get between the subjects and the light my own shadow started getting in the way.  My wide angle zoom proved to be the best lens for this job. I did not like walking out onto the wobbly dock with all my expensive camera gear.

    Albert Swalander, 14 of Elma leans over the dock to dislodge a hook from the mouth of a rainbow trout.  The small trout took his bait. Free pancake and sausage breakfast served to participants. At the “Free Youth Fishing Day” at Panhandle Lake 4-H camp on Sunday, June 7^th, 2015 in Shelton Washington ~Shawna Whelan © 2015

      Mom Jamie Morgan in the center juggles two fish at once.  The fish were both caught at the same time by her children Lucy Morgan, 7 and Owen Morgan 5, they are from Olympia.At the “Free Youth Fishing Day” at Panhandle Lake 4-H camp on Sunday, June 7^th, 2015 in Shelton Washington ~Shawna Whelan © 2015

     Joe McClanahan of Olympia helps Maeve McClanahan age 2, reel in a trout she just hooked. At the “Free Youth Fishing Day” at Panhandle Lake 4-H camp on Sunday, June 7^th, 2015 in Shelton Washington ~Shawna Whelan © 2015

Shelton Performing Arts Center

I was given the theater for the entire month of May.  I felt like I got to know a lot of the high school students.  I learned a lot about metering and I got to crawl around back stage.  Here are a few photos from different theater jobs.

Goldsborough Creek Run

A couple of pictures from the Goldsborough Creek run during the Forest Festival.  It felt really good to nail these two shots.

   Sarah Johnson gives it everything she’s got as she crosses the finish line, she took  first place for women in the 7 mile run “Sarah Johnson, a Shelton native, set a new record in the 7 mile female run division with a time of 41:06, beating the previous record of 45:08 set in 2008 by Caroline White from Tacoma”

      Race champion Andrew Prentice of Olympia crosses the finish line for the 7 mile run “Andrew Prentice set a new record of 38:51, beating his previous record set in 2008 of 39.22.  Andrew is from Olympia” 

I have 16 pictures in this week's paper including two front page pictures.

From left 4^th degree Knights of Columbus Members, John Boux,  Willam Smith and Jim Kellogg take off their hats and pray during the remembrance ceremony.  At the Veterans Remembrance at Presented by the Allyn Community Association, North Mason Chamber of Commerce and the Port of Allyn  and held at the  Allyn Waterfront Park in Allyn on Memorial Day 2015.   

Busy, busy May

I was given a lot of theater jobs in advance so I decided now was the time to strike and get the 70-200mm f2.8 lens that I've been wanting for a couple of years.   I've been given excellent access to the theater and I'm having a good time.

I have six color pictures in this week's paper including the front page.

Piano prodigy Umi Garrett plays piano at the Shelton Performing Arts Center on May 13th

Eatonville resident David Wuller plays his fiddle with a group of friends on Saturday at Bluegrass in The Forest
held at Shelton High School on May 16th

Some spot news

I had never photographed in a theater before this month so this month has been a learning experience for me.  I learned that I need to use spot metering in the theater.  I used shutter priority set to 1/125 and ISO 800.  Then I had to wait until the meter in my viewfinder read a f stop rather than flashing "LO" at me.  I never really paid much attention to that meter before.  I tried to get the highest F stop I could get for each shot.  I went to rehearsal for both the musical and the piano performance so I could figure out the lighting in advance.

I really like my new medium angle zoom lens, it focuses fast and accurately and it's 2.8.  It outshines my wide angle Sigma 2.8 lens due to its accurate focus.  In comparison the Sigma struggles a bit with focus.  Image stabilization on the Sigma still makes it a better lens for me then the Nikkor wide angle zoom.

Mother's Day Dash

This was my second time photographing a running event.  The first time was just last October and it was a bit of a disaster.  I studied and studied how to approach the subject, I rode my bike around the race course a few days ahead of time and I thought I was prepared, but I was not.

Getting a camera to focus on a runner is not easy.  My camera auto-focus was all over the place, focusing on flying arms and legs, focusing on things in the background, anything but focus on the runners face.    Three runners got past me before I managed to get one shot that was in focus.  Manual focus was not an option because I was using my zoom with a small focus wheel and the subjects were moving fast.

This time was different.  This time I set my camera on a single focus point that I felt should line up with a runners face with my camera in the portrait position.  I also used a battery grip to make it easy to do so much shooting in portrait mode.  My battery grip also has a button and a dial for moving the focus point around.

Every shot of every runner was in perfect focus today.

The front runners were spread out so I had time to change my position enough to give every runner a different background.  I also had the foresight to photograph every single runner as they passed me at the start of the race.  I did that so I could have an easier time matching runners clothing to their bib numbers later if need be.  Last but not least, I took a picture of every page on the roster.

In what I felt was my best photo of the day, one of the subjects was not wearing a bib.  I went through my pictures from the start of the race and then I found her wearing her bib.  Her bib was on a shirt that she had shed and tied around her waist at some point during the race.  If I had not been able to find her bib number in my earlier pictures and then match it to the pictures I took of the roster, I would not have gotten her name.  If I had not gotten her name, I could not have submitted her picture.

Getting Busy

From Left Melissa and Frank Dare watch the concert as golden light from the stained glass window above the pulpit shines down onto them at  “Awaken Thy Spirit” a spring concert event held at St Edward Catholic Church in Shelton on Sunday May 3^rd.

For reasons I can't disclose, May is going to be a really busy month for me and most of it will be spent in a dark theater  May will be busy enough that I decided it was the time to strike and buy that lens I've been dreaming of.   Maybe I'll need a tax write off after this month.

Yes I bought the 70-200 f/2.8 with VR.  I saved a bundle by getting the older VR rather than the VRII. When I need to focus on things that are 5 feet way I'll just use my other fast lens, my Sigma 17-18 mm f 2.8 with VR.

This week I photographed two concerts so my images are somewhat similar, but the lighting was very different.  The first concert was in a elementary school gym with horrible lighting.  The second was in a large church that was a bit dim, but still had all kinds of interesting lighting.

I was really happy with my church pictures but they were not given much room when they were printed. 

Cassie Reinbolt volunteers to play her harp for a photographer before the concert “Awaken Thy Spirit” a spring concert event held at St Edward Catholic Church in Shelton on Sunday May 3^rd.

Artistic director Elizabeth Berndt of the Harstine Island Community Choir conducts while mass is performed by Anna’s Bay Chorale, Harstine Island Community Choir and Kitsap Community Chorale “Awaken Thy Spirit” a spring concert event held at St Edward Catholic Church in Shelton on Sunday May 3^rd.

Music teacher  Bradley McNeill, plays the keyboard and conducts while children sing and parents watch at the Second Grade Spring Concert held at Bordeaux Elementary School in Shelton on Thursday April 30^th

Make-a-Wish

Last week I photographed a Make-A-Wish foundation party.  This was an intimate event held at a family home.  There were no real technical challenges for this assignment.  I was shooting outdoors in overcast weather.  I mostly used my 50mm 1.8 prime lens.  I was able to move around freely and get as close to or as far away from my subjects as I wanted to so the fixed focal length was not a liability.

A couple of weeks ago I was requested to stop cropping my images so "aggressively" and to give my pictures some room to breath.

Taxing season

        ƒ/7.1

 

80.0 mm

1/500

 

320              

Flash (off, did not fire)

I've been practicing on the soccer fields near home.  Yes, I still want that 70-200mm f/2.8 but for outdoor sports I really don't need it.  I've started stopping down so I can get a better focus.  Soccer players move fast and it's hard to focus on them, increasing the depth of field helps a bit.  So even if my lens was 2.8 all the way through, I probably would not have tried to get this shot at f/2.8

So this week I got a good soccer shot but then the problem was getting the cut line information. I Facebook friended some soccer players who told me they knew the names of everyone in the league and I could get all the info I needed from them after the game.  Great!  That meant I was free to just shoot and maybe get a good shot rather than miss the good shots due to having to run around and collect names.  

Then it turned out that no one who I talked to knew the name of the team they played for.  I mean folks did not know the name of their own teams!  And I was unable to get the name of the player in red.  This was frustrating, I was able to get just barely enough cut line info for the shot to print.  I was pleasantly surprised to see my photo on the front page. I thought that any soccer picture I took would get buried back in the sports section.

Hopefully all this hard work will get me some new friends in the local Hispanic community.  Maybe next time getting cut line information will be easier. 

Last week one of my pictures from a school board meeting made it into the paper.  I did not think the photo was worth submitting because it was not visually exciting, but it was the news so my spouse convinced me to submit the picture.  My spouse did right.

Next week I shoot my first wedding.  A wedding is a big  important event and I'm nervous, but the event should happen in a predictable and set order.  I think the bride will be easier to follow than a soccer ball.

I finally got my taxes done, the AARP does taxes for free, even for the self employed.  I have so many equipment needs that it might be a few years before my income exceeds my expenses.