Let's try this again

Justin Kline pops over a wave as he knee boards on the Mississinewa Reservoir. Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

I was out on a boat again Wednesday. When some of the editors at the office looked at the stuff I shot on Saturday for our Howard County Living magazine article, they realized there was a problem.

No one I shot who was in the water doing any sort of surfing behind the boat was wearing a life vest. In violation of state law. Doh!!

I didn't think of it, I'm not a boat person. Don't own one, occasionally spend time on the water, not enough to remember all the rules though. Showing someone not wearing a life vest in a photo, on the cover of a magazine no less, wouldn't make us look good. Big no-no.

The person doing the story, lifestyle editor Erin Shultz found someone she knew who was out on their boat so we could get some more art. She and I went back to the same area I was at on Saturday to meet up with the subjects.

I shot some kids and adults tubing, and the owner of the boat, Justin Kline doing some knee boarding. And everyone was wearing their necessary life vests. Fantastic!

Even though I wasn't scheduled to work, spending three more hours on a boat isn't a bad thing to be called in to do. And the art turned out great. Got some flips from the tube rides and some big air of the knee boarding.

And we now aren't advocating that anyone should break a state law.



The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

The Need for Speed (On 2 Wheels)

Niccolo Canepa gets a little air as he accelerates leaving the first s-curve at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during rookie open testing.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Got a chance to shoot one of the Moto GP practice days at the Indianapolis Speedway this week. Very interesting experience.

After five years of shooting the Indy 500, I am definitely a converted gearhead. This wasn't always the case.

When I was at Ball State, I was able to do my required internship experience by shooting for Reuters wire service the summer of 1996, before my senior year.

It wasn't an exciting experience. As interns (unpaid) we were basically cannon fodder for Reuters. We were assigned to a turn and spent all day there shooting cars as they went by. For much of the time that meant we just got photos of cars passing by. If a car happened to wreck in our turn, then that definitely increased our chances of seeing our picture used in some way.

I didn't see a wreck the whole month, not that one is ever happy to see a wreck, but when that's the only thing one is assigned to do it can make a photographer stir crazy. And that was back when the month seemed stretched out much more, now practice and qualifying is much more compressed.

My memories from that month were hanging out with the other photographers and the heavy, HEAVY rain that we got. I remember sitting in my car in a flooded field, eating ding dongs and drinking MGD (there's a taste combination).

The first few years I was in Kokomo, I wasn't interested in shooting the Indy 500. I thought it was just standing in a turn. More of the same, how wrong I was. The 500 brings out several hundred thousand fans just on race day alone. It's an interesting study of humanity on such a huge scale, to me it transcends the sports aspect of it. I've been pretty successful in the five years I've shot the race, improving my images each year I think, which always makes a photographer happy.

All of this experience has made me look forward to the upcoming inaugural Moto GP race this September. The last cycle race at the Speedway was in 1909, the year the track opened. That's amazing, 99 years ago. And the cycles move much, much quicker than they did back then.

The track was open for several rookie competitors in the Moto GP circuit to learn the track and get some time in on their bikes.

The speeds are little different from the Indy cars, the cycles going a little slower on some parts of the track, particularly going through the s-curves. But considering the cycles are a smaller target, it makes it just as difficult to shoot as a larger car.

I shot the above image as the cycle came out of the s-curve near turn one and Niccolo Canepa gunned it heading into the next curve. Nearly all the riders got a little bit of front tire air which always looks pretty cool. I stood and waited as each rider came by because I knew I wanted a good shot of a cycle, with the "flying wing" on the wall behind it as a possible centerpiece for the article. And I got lucky that Canepa popped a good one right in front of me.

Head to my Sportsshooter page to see more images from the practice session.

As I sometimes say, I'd rather be lucky than good. Shooting 10 frames a second certainly doesn't hurt either.


The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer. Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.