Whitewater Camera Housing

(Matt Ogburn, of Colorado Springs does his thing in hole number 3 in the Pueblo Whitewater Park during the Pueblo Chile & Frijole Festival recently)

I finally got the chance to get my Ewa-Marine underwater housing out during the Pueblo Chile & Frijole Festival held recently here in Pueblo. I have used it a few times in swimming pools once briefly at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail and once in the ocean during a vacation to Pensacola Beach, Florida.

I am still perfecting my skills for using it. The housing is basically a $500 Ziplock bag on steriods that I slide either my Nikon D200 or D2H into before sealing it closed with a clamp system. I have to admit that more often than not I work on the fly. I grab cameras, lenses, batteries and disks out of my bag as I walk or run from my truck to an assignment. This isn't a good way to work if I need to get my camera into a housing such as my Ewa-Marine. It takes a while to get everything "just so" and set up before I can start shooting with it. So if I am going to use it I need to be a bit better at planning for it.

The housing gives me the best results when I use my 20-35mm zoom. It fits that lens like a glove. I have used my 14mm lens, I just need to adjust for it when I do. The lens doesn't snap into place like the 20-35mm does so I have to press the lens housing back against the camera as I shoot to get the best possible results. I am also hoping to give my 10.5mm lens a try too. I will post those results here when I get the chance.

At some point in the future I would like to get my hands on the same kind of housing that surf photographers use while shooting from the water. Unfortunately I can't justify the expense for the limited amount of usage I would have for such a piece of equipment. The housings cost more than the cameras they protect. So for now I will just continue to "zip" mine up and get into the water that way.

With water levels in the river receeding I may get the chance to try it again if we continue to have favorable temperatures and people will come out to surf.

Til next time...

WET & WILD...

(©2006 Bryan Kelsen for Paddler Magazine)

Whitewater season is coming to a close in Colorado. The water is receeding and with a few exceptions the paddling season is all but over. I have to say though that it was a great spring and summer of boater images for me. I was able to get to several different venues to record images of some of the best athletes in the sport of whitewater kayaking

I am learning more and more with each passing season as to new ways to get the images that I am after. And I already have an entire list of things I want to try as soon as the snow starts to melt in the spring and the flows start to rise again.

Whitewater kayaking is one of the most interesting sports that I have ever come across. I would also say that I have never run across a sport where more of the athletes carry cameras and document competitions and river outings. Part of it is because professional kayaking isn't a sport where very many of the athletes can actually make a living. So they supliment their income by shooting pictures of each other doing the latest trick or hucking off of the biggest drop.

I beleive that the other reason why there is a history of self-coverage by the boaters is that the hoards of media that cover such things as the NFL or the NBA haven't been flocking to kayaking competitions to get cover images for SI or ESPN The Magazine. There are some athletes who have become as adept behind the camera as they have on the water. A very good example of this is professional kayaker Tanya Shuman. Her images appear in a large number of publications either as editorial content or advertisment.

I have spent a great deal of time looking at her work and others to refine my skills in the world of whitewater kayaking. I have to admit that the one thing that they have over me is the great amount of traveling that they do to. I on the other hand work a 40-hour a week job as a newspaper photojournalist here in Southern Colorado. So I am pretty much limited to this region. But my intent is to learn the region, its rivers, creeks and dainages so that I have a knowledge base to draw from when I go out to photograph boaters.

The season may be over around here for this year, but I am already excited about all the possibilities for photos in the spring of 2007.

Stay tuned.

I was framed!

(Local ballet dancer, Misty Allenback, poses for a portrait in the studios at The Pueblo Chieftain.)

The assignment was to make a portrait of a local girl who had been selected to go to a prominant school of dance in Philadelphia. She showed up with a smile, her toe-shoes and leotard. From there it was up to me. I wanted to do something simple yet unique. I know that the whole "photo in a photo" thing has been done over and over, but luckily not here. I was able to talk fellow photographer, Mike Sweeney, into giving me a hand in the studio. He was the one holding the frame upright. I managed to scrounge up some wire from the custodians and we attached it to the frame at one end and the small end of a monopod on the other. Mike did a great job of holding the frame in place while I shot through it.

I used three lights on my subject and one on the frame. Three of the four lights had softboxes with grids on them and the fourth I used as hair light. Our newly renovated studio was almost too small to be able to shoot this photo. I had to use a wide angle lens and scoot all the way to the back wall to get things framed as I wanted them. I was happy with how things turned out because the lighting and the gray backdrop gave the image a 3D effect making it look almost like a window box. I have since thought that it would be kind of fun to do the same kind of image and instead of having the frame surrounded by black, that it would be neat to use a photo of an actual wall in someone's home. Then it would look like a photo hanging in the family's livingroom or tv room. Maybe next to a black velvet painting of four dogs playing poker.

Til' I feel like writing again...

Prep Football Kicks off!

(Pueblo South High School linebacker, Gio Zanotelli, sacks the quarterback for a loss during the season opener against Centennial High School.)

High school football season has started here in Colorado. I was assigned to shoot a game on Thursday night, and another one Friday night in Pueblo's Dutch Clark Stadium. It isn't a bad place for football unless you want to shoot pictures at a Friday night game. This time of year there is still decent light in the first quarter and actually up to about halftime when things begin to get really dark.

I have to admit that I would be one of the first people to sign a petition to have all high school football games played on Saturday afternoons. Unfortunately no such petition exists and would most likely only be signed by me and a couple of other photographers.

So I will work to do the best I can with the situation and the tools that I have. I have done some research and have a few ideas on what I may try. I have been shooting so far with my Nikon D2h, and 300mm f2.8 lens, and an SB-800. I have been using alkaline batteries, but that will change soon as I move to rechargable batteries or a battery pack for the flash. This will allow me to shoot a burst of several frames and have the full amount of light for each image.

I was originally worried that this wouldn't work due to the camera's slow sync shutter speed 1/250th. However, I found out (because I rarely read camera manuals, it is much easier to call Ron Taniwaki at Nikon Professional Services and say "How does this thing work?") that there is a way to get the camera to sync at all shutter speeds when using the SB-800. At which point I hit myself in the head with my monopod and said "DUH!"

So far I have been using the flash as more fill than main light. However, that will change soon as the sun begins to set earlier and earlier throughout the fall. I actually have several SB-800s and have been thinking that I will use all three of them to light the action on the field. Stay tuned for the results of my on-field photographic experiment.

In the midst of the fair

It is that time of year again. The time when I trade my street shoes and Levis for Ropers and Wranglers. That can only mean that the PRCA rodeo is at the Colorado State Fair. Over the years the rodeo, (and for that matter, the fair) has changed. There used to be matinee performances of the fair on weekends which I still long for. However, I don't think that they will return anytime soon due to higher attendance figures at night performances. So when I go to shoot rodeo at the fair now I have to go out to the grandstand a day or two before the rodeo and hang some sports strobes to light the action. Otherwise the entire grandstand and arena may as well be lit by one lightbulb hanging from a wire.

I use a couple of superclamps and three 100ft extension cords along with some gaffer's tape and Pocket Wizard radio remotes to trigger the lights while shooting in the roughstock arena. The lights are clamped to the rail of the seats in the second level of the grandstand and I cross light the arena by pointing them to the opposite end of the chutes. I also have learned through experience that one of the most important things to remember to take to the rodeo is a rain jacket and some trash bags to use to cover the strobes. The trash bags keep the rain and dirt out of the lights, for the most part.

I miss being able to shoot rodeo during daylight performances. I think I miss a lot of good images since in an 8-second ride I most likely get only two frames. It just takes too long for the lights to recycle for me to get any more than that. I just have to be ready and anticipate what is going to happen next. Hell, I don't always know what "I" am going to do next let alone a cowboy on a crazed animal!

Tonight is the last night of the rodeo but the fair continues for 6 more days. I could shoot rodeo every night if you'd let me. After tonight it will be back to the true excitement at the fair. Looking for the stand that sells the deep-fried TWINKIES!!!!

Til' next time...

Who am I?

Let me introduce myself.
My name is Bryan Kelsen. I am many things, a husband, a father, a hockey player, a comedian, a cyclist, a kayaker, and a photographer.

I am originally from Iowa and now live and work in Pueblo, Colorado. I graduated with a degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of Iowa. I work for the daily newspaper here, The Pueblo Chieftain, which is a morning paper with a circulation of approximately 50,000. I have been working there for the past 19 years. I am also a freelance photographer specializing in editorial images, action sports and portraiture.

The reason that I decided to put this blog together is to give prospective clients, students and interested readers the opportuninty to get a "behind-the-scenes" look at my work as a newspaper and freelance photographer.

So buckle-up, hang on, and enjoy the ride.