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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
The REAL question is....
Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 10:52 AM on 09.30.09 |
| ->> Forget about Nikon and Canon...I wanna know just how much did it cost Bruce Ely to have the water truck dump it's 6000 gallon load load on that cross country course. Great shots!!! |
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Erik Markov, Photographer
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Kokomo | IN | | Posted: 11:03 AM on 09.30.09 |
->> Isn't he a "photo god?" Couldn't he just make it rain?
I kid. :) |
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Gerry Melendez, Photographer
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Columbia | SC | USA | Posted: 11:23 AM on 09.30.09 |
->> Man,
How come I didn't think of that before. Gallons of water, dammit! Forget the light kit. Wait... Bruce had both. Anyway, I kid. Great work! |
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Debra L Rothenberg, Photographer
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New York | NY | USA | Posted: 11:33 AM on 09.30.09 |
->> I wonder what he (and his equipment) looked like after
Great shots indeed! |
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Scott Serio, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Colora | MD | USA | Posted: 11:54 AM on 09.30.09 |
| ->> Deus Ex Machina is a good thing...WOW. And he lit it too! Crazy. |
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Bruce Ely, Photographer
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Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 12:12 PM on 09.30.09 |
->> Chuck - Water is super cheap here in Oregon. it's always falling from the sky.
A few folks have emailed me to ask about the situation. So, here is how it all happened ...
I had shot the event about 4 years ago for the Sidelines column. That time I was super rushed because I had to get to Eugene for a college football game. Four groups of runners come through the puddle, but I only had time to shoot one group and then hit the road. I was happy with what I had, but knew I wanted to get back there some day.
Jamie Francis and I were out in Astoria shooting our new column on high school football. I knew that the running event was the same weekend and just down the road from Astoria. Perfect. Since I am not shooting college football this year, I was able to spend more time out there.
One of the things I wanted to try was to set up a light. The last time I shot it, I was frustrated with the lighting. It was back lit with the sun popping through the trees. When the runners would fall in the mud, they would just fall into shadow. The scene was just too contrasty. Ugly really. If anyone knows me and my photography skills, they know I am stupid with lighting. Not my specialty. I knew I wanted to keep it simple. I borrowed a friend's (chrisryanphoto.com) alien bee light and portable power pack. I used a super clamp to attach it to a sturdy branch and used a pocket wizard to fire the strobe. You can see the location in one of the pictures in my gallery.
I really should have had someone take a picture of me. I'm sure some parents out there have plenty since I was probably in everyones shots. I was wearing hip wadders and a rain coat. To waterproof the camera, I used a aquatech rain cover with lots of gaffers tape. By the end, I was pretty dirty.
As the runners would go by I would try to shoot. Obviously there would be huge amounts of muddy water hitting me and the front of the lens. Each time this happened (lots) I would turn around and grab kleenex (learned this after first attempt) out of my pocket and dry the front of the lens off. I really had little idea of what I was shooting. The rain cover fogged up and was muddy. It was really more of an educated guess of where and when to point the camera.
I didn't shoot this for the paper. They didn't have room. |
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Marc F. Henning, Photographer
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Bentonville | AR | USA | Posted: 12:55 PM on 09.30.09 |
->> super clamping a light to a tree. that's awesome. a "Green" light stand.
what a cool event too. wish they would mix it up like that here with the cross country. nice photos Bruce.
marc |
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John Howley, Photographer
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Circleville | OH | USA | Posted: 1:00 PM on 09.30.09 |
->> "I didn't shoot this for the paper. They didn't have room."
You would think it would be possible to dump one of the shots of some college running back that runs every week for something as unique as these shots. Oh well.
That looks like it would have been a lot of fun to shoot and you did a really nice job with it. |
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Scott Serio, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Colora | MD | USA | Posted: 1:12 PM on 09.30.09 |
->> Sometimes...no matter what other folks do with it...we might get lucky enough to have one of those "That's why I do this" moments. Those moments are rare. In the old days we had to wait to get back, soup the film, half-ass dry it and finally get to see it. Now we just hit thereview button. I am guessing this was one of those moments for you Bruce, and that is all that matters. Granted an ESPN double-truck doesn't hurt, but just being reminded what it is like to love what you do and making really nice images is a very good thing.
I made one last month. I won't link it because the contest is still up, but I got that feeling too. At that moment all I could think as I looked at the LCD was, "Damn, that is why I do this, now I remember."
Nice work. |
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Jeff Mills, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Columbus | OH | USA | Posted: 2:56 PM on 09.30.09 |
->> This is exactly what Cross Country should be!
I've been shooting a ton of it this season and on the courses around here we are lucky if there is as much as a hill. Every time I've thought to myself why can't they have a water obstacle or something exciting, not only from a photographic standpoint, but its also got to be a blast for the runners.
So I say bring on the mud pits, giant boulder fields, lightening sand, ROUS's any anything else they can throw at them.
They'd see the turn out at races go up 10 fold I bet. |
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Michael Granse, Photographer
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Urbana | IL | USA | Posted: 3:42 PM on 09.30.09 |
| ->> The ROUS's are too much of a liability from an insurance standpoint, though their existence remains somewhat in doubt. They would, however, bring Cross Country into the realm of revenue generating sports. |
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Adam Vogler, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Kansas City | Mo. | USA | Posted: 4:15 PM on 09.30.09 |
| ->> I can already see the "what do I need for" threads on the Fire Swamp Invitational. |
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Nick Doan, Photographer, Assistant
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Scottsdale | AZ | USA | Posted: 9:41 PM on 09.30.09 |
->> Michael,
Rodents Of Unusual Size?
!!
Lol, that was awesome work Mr. Ely. Inspiring! |
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Chris Peterson, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Columbia Falls | MT | USA | Posted: 10:00 PM on 09.30.09 |
->> Bruce, you need one of these:
http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=...
This coat is made for upland game hunting, but it has a cool feature: The inside pocket has silk cloth attached. It's GREAT for cleaning off a lens. Plus the big pouch in the back is great for holding extra gear.
You can load shotgun shells AND tons of photo gear in this sucker. |
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Matt Cashore, Photographer
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South Bend | IN | USA | Posted: 11:18 AM on 10.01.09 |
| ->> Well, Bruce's paper might not have had space for it, but SI sure did...two full pages to be exact...I just grabbed my copy out of the mailbox. Way to go on a nice "Leading Off" Bruce! |
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Richard Uhlhorn, Photographer
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Chelan Falls | WA | USA | Posted: 12:07 PM on 10.01.09 |
| ->> Wish our XC races were as crazy as that. |
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Daniel Berman, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Seattle | WA | US | Posted: 7:00 PM on 10.01.09 |
| ->> Which photo made the SI doubletruck? |
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Scott McCall, Photographer
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Orlando | FL | USA | Posted: 7:46 PM on 10.01.09 |
->> "the courses around here we are lucky if there is as much as a hill"
Jeff I feel your pain. Not much in the way of a bump, much less a hill in central Florida. My two older kids run XC and sometimes I secretly wish a gator or some other form of wildlife here would create a kind of hazard on the course for excitement. Now that's what I call a water hazard.
disclaimer: only kidding about the gator thing....I hope my kids could outrun a gator in a race :-) |
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