Anyway, just got back from Philly where I was invited to shoot at the East Coast Extraveganza, which is a Roller Derby exhibition tournament to help teams change their standings right before the regional tournament selections are made. It was quite an event, and aside from shooting some random artsy stuff it helped me put some new equipment through the rigors it needed to get broken in.
(Nikon D3s, 2500ISO, Nikon 70-200VR2. 1/250th@F4 SB9000 Speedlight zoomed to 105mm to camera left set to 1/16th power superclamped to the lexan saftey glass around the hockey rink. Same setup on a second SB900 to the right side of the camera, except zoomed to 200mm. Both fired by Pocket Wizard.)
I did shoot more than just the Naptown girls this trip, in fact I shot 6 bouts in total. I'd never shot so many bouts in a row before, but it was easier than I anticipated. It probably helped having a beer after the 4th one straight, but who knows. The girls are always a pleasure to travel with, and I'd never been to such a large derby event before. I mean, in terms of people Naptown puts on a LARGE event, but having 20 teams all in one spot? It was absolutely amazing. Philly is a beautiful city and I wish I would have been able to see more of it. Fortunately for me, there are a lot of beautiful towns and a few projects have popped up recently that allow met to see some more of them very soon.
(Nikon D3s, 800ISO, Nikon 70-200F2.8VR2 with the TC20eIII 2x teleconverter. 1/1000th@F9)
Someone once asked me how I can afford to purchase and own up to date camera gear, and my answer was simply this. I don't keep the old stuff. My D3 was going to net me more money now than tomorrow, or next week, so purchasing the new body is relatively inexpensive. Figure if you only spent a thousand dollars every other year to have the most up to date camera body, would you do it? Yea, my D3 was very sentimental to me as it was a major accomplishment in technology and in my career for being able to own one. The tens of thousands of shots that I put on it helped make my living, further my craft, or were shot for pure enjoyment. But by selling that D3, I made way for a new Nikon D3s at a fraction of the cost of purchasing it outright. My buddy Scott down at Roberts Distributors here in Indianapolis has me always on mind when it comes to deals that come in. I can't say I always take the deals he finds me, but when he finds me a deal I always go in to check it out. I buy almost all of my equipment from Roberts, as does Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and many more. If it's good enough for them, I suppose it'll do for me... In the end, is the D3s everything I had hoped for? Yes, and then some. It's a pretty amazing camera that feels like an old glove as it's identical to the D3 in almost every way except some very important ones. Those ways that it's not identical though? I've got some neat projects coming up for that, so stay tuned.
(Nikon D700 200ISO, Nikon 18-35F3.5-4.5@18mm. 1/400th@F22)
Unfortunately there's not much more than Derby photos that I can post from the last week or two as I don't want to scoop the publications or organizations that I've been shooting for. What the Naptown Roller Girls did was amazing in Philly though, and they deserve every bit of credit anyone wants to send them for their accomplishments. Very soon though I've got a lot of content coming down the pipe that I'm very excited to talk about. Lets just say I'll give you the following keywords to think about. Motorcycles, Beer, Music, Going Green, and Sunsets. Much Much more soon.
(Nikon D3s, 2500ISO, Nikon 70-200VR2. 1/250th@F4 SB9000 Speedlight zoomed to 105mm to camera left set to 1/16th power superclamped to the lexan saftey glass around the hockey rink. Same setup on a second SB900 to the right side of the camera, except zoomed to 200mm. Both fired by Pocket Wizard.)
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