Playmakers II

Mitch Klomp and Mattie Jesmain

One of the most difficult sports to photograph in my mind is running. I don't say this because I dislike the sport, I don't. It is just that there is very little photographic variety in the sport of running other than the lighting, backgrounds, and locations for the subjects.

I mean, how different is running from year to year or season to season? I consider it a challenge to make an image of cross country athletes that is unique. This year I thought I'd put both the boy and the girl runner into a single image. That, in and of itself was different.

Then I wanted to find a suitable background for the photo. I chose the sailboard beach at Lake Pueblo State Park. If you follow the Playmakers from year to year you may have already noticed that this is one of my favorite places to shoot these portraits. I have used Liberty Point above the park several times. For me the view from there just never gets old!

Mattie from Pueblo West High School and Mitch from Pueblo South High School were really good sports for this shoot. The sun was setting fast and it was getting a bit chilly so I had to be pretty quick to set up and get the photo I wanted.

I found a place on the beach that had the background that I wanted and I set my lights up. There are two lights for this image. One on either side. They are flashes mounted on lightstands and pointed directly at the runner. This made for some nice separation from the background and the light that was spilling over from each flash did a nice job of lighting the back of the opposing runner.

Casualties of this photo shoot.

The only problem with the section of beach that I chose was that it was only about three strides wide. After that you were in a bunch of mud. And to be honest, there was another problem and that was to be in the location that I needed to be in to make the photo, I had to stand in that mud.

I don't know what is in that mud, but it sure did a number on my shoes! The paper was kind enough to replace my shoes since they were pretty much un-wearable after that.

The runners measured their steps and after one stride would do what I call a leap-stride. I wanted the part of their stride where both of their feet were off of the ground. That really isn't that tough to do if you are just shooting one runner, but when you are trying to get two runners to do that at the same time, it becomes all about the timing.

The sun was setting and the light was going away fast so we were working pretty quick and Mattie and Mitch were very patient with me. I would have them do it a couple of times, then I'd make an adjustment and they would do it a few more times, and the cycle would repeat until I figured that we had lost the light necessary for the sky and background.

Both of these kids are skilled athletes and were able to do what I asked them which allowed me to not have to worry about them, but mostly about me and my shoes. Ha!

There are always things that you might do differently or something you'd wish you had thought of when you do a photo like this, and this situation was no different.

Next time I think I would try to do a better job of scouting my location so as to not lose another pair of shoes.