Chillin' (and Thawin') with Peter Read Miller

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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2004-04-27

Chillin' (and Thawin') with Peter Read Miller
Not a single horse was photographed at the Peter Read Miller Workshop

By Allen Murabayashi

Photo by Allen Murabayashi

Peter Read Miller cracks a smile during a portrait session while Robert Stevens, Tom Quinn, Jeff Riley, Carl Palazzolo, Shelley Levine, Derek Regensburger and Stephen Scharf look on.

Ten SportsShooter.com members participated this past weekend in Peter Read Miller's Working With Artists workshop in Denver, Colorado entitled 'INTENSE MOMENTS: Photographing Sports.'

The erratic weather that characterizes the Mile High City provided an inspirational backdrop for the 2nd annual Peter Read Miller Sports Photography Workshop, held in conjunction with the Denver non-profit, Working With Artists. With nearly $200,000 of equipment generously on loan from Canon USA, Mamiya America, Dynalite, Roberts Imaging and Apple Computer, sixteen participants from around the US and Canada (including ten SportsShooter.com members) marched up a mountainside near Denver to shoot mountain biking as the temperature plunged, and a heavy snow blanketed the city. With raincoats, Aqua-tech covers, and trash bags, shivering hands desperately fumbled to photograph a local racing team in adverse conditions that claimed the life of one Profoto head. But we remained undeterred, and the first day helped to establish the gung-ho attitude for the rest of the workshop.

Over the next three days, we photographed the Colorado state championship basketball team, a Colorado Crush pro arena football game (yes, that is John Elway standing next to you), a Colorado Rapids MLS game, a CSU track meet, and attended mini seminars in portrait lighting, and Photoshop color correction. Eric Allin of Canon USA provided a thorough introduction to the Canon 1D, and stayed with the group for the duration of the workshop to offer assistance. The Mark II even made an appearance (Peter generously gave the Mark II girls the weekend off much to our chagrin). Even the numerous Nikon shooters had an opportunity to check-out 1D's and long glass, ranging from 300mm f/2.8 to 600mm f/4. The "oohs" and "ahs" from participants only increased as the weather changed from snowy to sunny, and sunburn became du jour under SportsShooter caps.

Before many of the events, Peter showed relevant work from his prolific 30-year career at Sports Illustrated, providing inspiration to the group. The digital support team collected CF cards at the end of each day, and worked through the night to burn CD's for each participant. Like the inaugural year, Peter reviewed nearly every frame that we shot, and provided daily slideshows of the best, and sometimes worst, of our work. One-on-one portfolio reviews with Peter provided further critiques for each student, whether they were working professionals, or aspiring hobbyists. And of course, we consumed copious amounts of alcohol and shared battle stories with Peter at the end of each night, including the harrowing tale of Tom Quinn's D100 and 70-200mm VR, which were destroyed by a rabid pack of large arena football players.

Photo by Allen Murabayashi

Jeff Riley tries on an Aqua tech rain cover while Tom Quinn and Peter Read Miller look on.

Like many SportsShooter-related events, names were finally matched with faces, and we had numerous opportunities to share our portfolios with one another. The camaraderie of the SportsShooter community continued in Denver, as it has in many cities around the country. Tim Anderson, managing editor from Camera Arts magazine, covered the entire workshop for an article in an up-coming issue, which will feature some of the our work, as well as behind-the-scenes photos.

The hands-on approach and small class size make Peter's workshop unique in its genre. And the access to equipment (from long glass to remote set-ups) for use while shooting professional sporting events was enough to prompt many students to declare their intentions to return next year, despite this year's long waiting list.

Finally, after two consecutive years of awful football pictures, Peter could only describe me as "arena football-challenged," and jokingly encouraged me to make an early reservation for next year's workshop... Where do I sign up?

To see the students work from the 2nd annual Peter Read Miller Sports Photography Workshop, click on the following links:

Jim Burgess: http://www.sportsshooter.com/jimburgess

Jan Langsner: http://www.sportsshooter.com/jlphotog
http://www.sportsshooter.com/jlphotog/prm

Allen Murabayashi: http://www.sportsshooter.com/allen

Stephen Scharf: http://www.sportsshooter.com/pumacat

Thomas B. Shea: http://www.sportsshooter.com/tomshea

Robert G. Stevens: http://www.sportsshooter.com/robsteve/prm

SportsShooter.com members who attended the workshop included: Todd Bissonette, Jim Burgess, Jan Langsner, Jon Mahoney, Allen Murabayashi, Tom Quinn, Jeff Riley, Stephen Scharf, Tom Shea and Robert Stevens.

Related Links:

Working With Artists

Peter Read Miller's member page

Allen Murabayashi's member page