Seeing the light...

(Pueblo East High School basketball player, Maleah Gregory protects the ball.)

For years I have had to shoot high school basketball in some pretty dimly lit gyms. Until recently I have struggled with how to do it without throwing my back out from carrying all the sports arena lights to each assignment. I would have to schedule extra time to drag all the lights, stands and cords into the gym, set them up and hope that no one complained about them. Ever since the paper gained the ability to place color images on nearly any page, I have had to go the extra mile to make it work.

Then I found the Strobist blog (http://strobist.blogspot.com). The blog is run by Baltimore Sun staff photographer Dave Hobby and is a wealth of information for photographers interested in making stronger photos with off-camera stobes. Dave and other "Strobists" share ideas and techniques on ways to light subjects with speedlights placed anywhere but on the hotshoe of the camera. After more than 20 years in this business I still look to learn new things and the strobist has been a great help.

Dave and his blog helped me discover that I could light a gym and make some pretty strong images without lugging all that gear. (Dave, my back thanks you!) I now use a couple Nikon SB-800 strobes mounted on a couple of Bogen clamps and triggered by two Pocket Wizard recievers (the transmitter is on the camera).



(A Pueblo County High School Player and an Alamosa High School Player battle for a loose ball recently in the County Gym.)

The two samples shown here were shot recently in two of the darkest dungeons around. The lighting is amazingly simple and it has increased my ratio of good to bad images dramatically.

I mount my strobes at the top of the key on one end and point them at the other end of the court. I cross light the court by pointing the strobe toward the opposite corner with the light crossing at the top of the key on the far end of the court. I have had some very good results with this lighting setup. Where I use to loathe going into the school's gyms to shoot basketball, I now look forward to the opportunity. A good number of the games we cover take place in the Events Center at the Colorado State Fair which is an arena where we have permanent strobes in place and little worries as to the lighting which is great. However, now that I am learning new lighting techniques I look forward to every opportunity I have to take this show (and my speedights) on the road.

Thanks Strobist!

Tubing twosome

Isn't snow great? I know, I know it isn't something that everyone looks forward to. I have to admit that I am a fan of the cold white stuff that falls from the sky during the winter months. I enjoy playing in it and it certainly gives me plenty of opportunity to make some fun images.

The other day I was driving down the street when I passed a spot on the west side of town that is just full of hills. Usually these hills are a popular place for motorcross motorcycle riding. I noticed several cars parked off of the side of the road and looking a little further I saw several sledders sliding down these hills which were now covered with snow.

I made a quick call to my boss to ask if they would be able to use a feature photo. I was told that there may be space and to go ahead and shoot whatever I saw. So I headed to where I saw the sledders.

When I got there I saw a group of both adults and kids sledding down a hill that had a small jump built about half way down the slope. Bingo! I find that the photos only get better when sledders get airborne. It is the out of control factor that exponentially improves sledding photos. Not only do I not know what kind of photos I will get but you never really know what the sledders will do once they take to the air.

I watched as several kids and adults slid down the hill toward the jump for a lift off. I shot them sliding and flying on their sleds and tubes. At one point I watched one father/son pair head down the hill side by side toward the jump. I thought this could be a good photo and a huge wreck. It was both.

The two hit the jump and all I could see was tubes and feet. Sometimes you don't need to see faces to get the idea of what is going on in a photo. In this case I think it is actually a bit funnier if you can't see them, because then your imagination takes over the humor level increases.

At least that is how I see it...