I was shooting again on Saturday although there wasn't much (officially) going on around town. Winter can be tough and given we don't have a "real" Canadian winter, I can't even go for the standard sledding/snowman-making/car-stuck-in-a-snowdrift standalone shot.But there was speedskating, rugby, soccer and hockey. And, of course, some highland dancing at a Robbie Burns party. (And I was not offered a Lagavulin or a Glenfiddich.)
The speedskating was new for me to shoot and I was hopeful of the possibilities in terms of sports photography: predictable locations + high speeds + emotional faces + the chance of wipeouts.
These are two shots we didn't run in the paper but that I liked. The top one shows a girl wiping out on a corner that she would wipe out again on the rerun. I like this shot because she is fully airborne with a blade that looks to be in the face of the local girl in red. The irony of this, though, is that the girl falling was fine, the girl in red won the heat but the tall, obscured boy in blue also bailed on the corner and flew into the wall almost head first. He was OK but had his arm in a sling after. But the best part is the Worksafe BC sign in the background. Safe, mmhmm.The second shot shows a sweet wipeout where one kid took an illegal inside line and cut off another and crashed 'em both. Neither were hurt at all but at least one kid in the hour-or-less I was there cut his leg and I saw at least half a dozen train wrecks.
Fun, dangerous sport to shoot.
Then, of course, there's WHL hockey.I got to the Bruins game after the 7 p.m. start time, rushed inside hoping to get a quick shot that would work for the paper so I could get home. Shooting the Bruins is a great way to ruin a Saturday night. It is kind of fun to be in the atmosphere where kids are enjoying themselves and I shoot it so rarely I always forget how high the level of hockey is.
As I arrived I went to the usual spot by the Zamboni entrance but it was clogged with competition so I went behind the net. As I pulled the camera out, the game was just 30 seconds old and a tilt at centre ice began.
In the age of digital photography it is obviously easy to shoot a crapload quickly and hope for the best. In one period I took 271 photos, which is not unusual. What is unusual is that the photo we used in the paper was just the 18th one (all of which were in that fight). This first shot was about 25th or so in that sequence and I liked it as it showed some nice movement.
I could have literally been in and out of that arena in less than five minutes if I knew that was "the" shot we'd use.But it was worth staying and I actually preferred this second shot, which showed Soudek and the puck in front of the net just before he banged it off the keeper over to Howse who scored the first of the game.
So what's more dangerous, speed skating or hockey? After a Saturday of shooting sports I'd say the answer is . . . rugby.
