The Saga Continues: Swimming, Part Two

Cameras and water don't mix too well, so shooting swimming for a second time was a little nerve wracking. Covering this water sport was a little out of the blue (a swimmer friend informed me at the end of the school day that I WAS covering this afternoon's meet--news to me). And no pun intended.

The horrors of the water photographer is the fogging up of equipment when first entering the steamy pool from the cold outside. Until now, I had been spared this awful fate. Until now.

The fate, granted, is not especially awful and the equipment de-fogs quickly, but not in time for the first several events. I got ready to shoot them, when I looked up at the viewfinder and was greeted with a pleasant blur of color behind an impenetrable mask of semi-transparent white. In other words, the lens was fogged. And there's nothing you can do, but wait.

Once the camera recovered from it's bout with the shock of cold air to heavy humidity, it was time to shoot, and I was hoping to improve upon my last shoot, in December.

Some of my favorites:

This isn't your traditional swimming picture, but this meet was loud and intense, a big one for the boys team. There's emotion to be found all over the pool.

This shot is one of my favorites. #1, there's a face--a critical element to any good sports shot. People like to see faces. #2 the way she's breaking the water, combined with the calm reflection ahead of her adds to a neat effect.

I find this next one pretty interesting. It's really a study in the properties of water, how, if you look closely, the individual droplets splashed up by her swimming each cast their own, individual shadow on her arm:

This is the kind of shot I've been trying to get for a while: divers jumping off the blocks. As I detailed in an earlier post, shooting the divers as they leave the blocks in the beginning of a race is a bad idea, as firing the flash at the wrong moment could mean being thrown out of the pool--if not in the pool. This shot was taken during a relay race:

Both guys and girls won this one, and the girls have not lost for years now. Hopefully that'll mean a trip for some to districts, and a trip for me to some "playoff swimming."

Some publicity for the blog

The blog has hit the bigtime, folks. Recently, "From Behind the Lens" was featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer's Chester County section. Thanks to the Inquirer for a well written and informative article! (Read the story)

The Police beat...

As mid term exam time rolled around again for Conestoga, this week was supposed to be a relatively Spoke-free and distraction-free week. Well, I was wrong. This time, the culprit was breaking news, and leaving books behind I dashed out the door to cover two breaking news stories.

The first breaking news came mid day on Saturday, when a witness called to report a possible bank robbery in progress at the PNC Bank on Rt. 30 in Devon. I arrived at the scene a few hours afterwards (walking there took longer than expected) to find a quiet bank, with a squad car out the back and an ominous sign out front:

Apparently I had missed the action, but a bank robbery is something different from the usual stories, so it was a refreshing change.

The second breaking news event of the week was on Wednesday, when construction crews called the police after digging up aged dynamite the day before, news reports say. Bomb squads were called in to deal with the dynamite. (Read the detailed police report) This sure is explosive news (the pun was irresistible) and warranted a drive down to the construction site.

The road was blocked by Paoli Fire Police, who were not letting anyone pass:

Not to be let down (and make the long drive for naught), we headed around and finally met up with the other end of the road, this time also blocked by fire police. However, the road was open to pedestrians, so off I went. It was roughly a mile (or at least it felt like that) before I came across any other sign that something had happened here. Sheriff's deputies had blocked off the road, and politely told me that the road is "indefinitely" closed.

None of these photos really are that exciting or tell the story that well. Perhaps the best shot of the day was after I walked back from the road block and found the fire police turning a driver away--really the only "action" that even begins to tell the story of the moment:

There wasn't much story here, either (bomb squads had burned the explosives far away, and the news helicopters circling overhead were the only ones who got the shot), but at least it's something to show for a long day--and long week--out responding to the breaking news.