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Are you ready for some football?

Devoted followers of this blog (that’s all of you, right?) will know I have had a couple of attempts at photographing football (the American version as opposed to the one that uses a foot to kick a ball). This involved preseason training camp for the Chicago Bears but not a real game. For my first attempt at a live, unplanned action, I did not have a professional game. It was time for High School.

My nephew plays for his high school JV team and they had a game when we were going to be visiting so I took my camera along – like I wouldn’t have done so anyway! I checked that there wouldn’t be a problem photographing at a school event and was reassured that it would be fine.

First something about the surroundings. There was a fence around the field that no-one was to enter. This limited me from some of the things I wanted to do but wasn’t too big a deal. Second, this game was taking place in October in Syracuse NY. This is not a combination that you select for good weather. While I wasn’t bothered about the rain, the lack of light would be an issue.

More of a problem initially was keeping track of what is going on. When watching football on TV I have little trouble keeping track of how the plays are developing. Doing it from the side of the field is a surprisingly different experience. For a while, I could easily lose the ball completely. A bit of practice and this improved considerably.

When the game started out, there was plenty of light and I could get the shutter speeds I was looking for. As the game progressed, the light faded a lot. I kept ramping up the ISO to compensate but it was still a struggle to get a high enough shutter speed. Eventually the lights came on but they were only some compensation. Even at the higher end of the ISO range I was happy to try, the shutter speeds were getting low. Consequently, some of the later shots were as much luck as judgement!

I shot a lot of images during the game. You don’t get a chance to decide in advance whether a play will be any good. Moreover, it is hard to see at a given time whether the key components of the shot are there. I got plenty of shots with some dynamic movement from the players but no visible ball. Without the ball, they really could be anything. Off to the trash with them!

I wandered around the field to try different angles. Starting at the side was fine and I could try some shots along the line of scrimmage. I could also move up and down with the play as the teams advanced. Later I tried shooting from both ends of the field. That provided some quite satisfying angles but you also ran the risk of being at the wrong end when something happened or you saw the back of everything – again, no ball to be seen.

I was not alone on the sidelines. Several parents of the players were also trying to get shots. Between all of us, we probably managed to get a fair few that would be of use. It was fun to talk to them as the game moved on to compare notes on what we were trying to get and what we had got so far.

When I ran through the pictures afterwards, I wondered whether any of them would be useful to the team. You can see some interesting things about the way players lined up and engaged with the other team. You also get to record all of the penalties that the officials missed!

I had a great time (and stayed a lot warmer than the rest of the family since I was always on the move). I would certainly like to try it again although next time it would be nice to have a bit more light to play with. It was the penultimate game of the season for my nephew’s team I guess I won’t see them play again until next year. Oh yes, they won so well done Jamesville Dewitt!

Something Fishy

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Let’s get the statements of the obvious out of the way first. Yes, I am a bit of a “gear head”. I am quite partial to stuff! Does this mean that I sometimes get things that I don’t necessarily “need”? Yes, of course. Having got past that, let’s move on.

One thing I have been pondering for a while on the lens front was a fish-eye. Not something that is needed on a regular basis but something that has its moments. Canon had a couple of fishes that I was looking at. They had the 8mm fish and the 15mm fish, both of which had things that interested me. Which one was better for me? My two main bodies are 1.3 crops but I do have a couple of APS-C sensor cameras which have the 1.6 crop. All of this impacts the effect. Besides, when buying lenses, who knows whether I will have a full frame camera at some point.

The result of all of these variables was that I never bought a fish-eye at all. I just pondered what I should do at length and did nothing in the mean time. Imagine, then, my delight when Canon announced the introduction of the 8-15mm fish-eye zoom. Have they been bugging my thoughts to find out what I want? I guess so. That reminds me, I must start thinking more about other things I want them to develop!

Of course, the announcement of a new lens does not mean the availability of a new lens. Recently, it seems the announcement can be far ahead of the delivery. Obviously the issues in Japan resulting from the earthquake and tsunami have had a major impact but I suspect there is more to it than that. Anyway, the thing is finally in the wild. My friend Jim Koepnick was the first person I saw to have one. They would appear in stores and be gone almost as fast. No biggie since it wasn’t like I had been struggling without it. Once they were regularly in store I placed my order.

I have to say, I love the thing. It feels great in the hand and, despite what I have heard from some reviews, I have had no issues with the lens cap. It is also a chance for me to start learning what can be done with such a lens. There are the obvious effects you can get and the access to a lot of width in tight spaces. However, it can also create interesting effects by changing the angle at which you hold it.

I went out in the city to give some time to experimentation. I ended up in Millennium Park which is a slightly odd place to play with a fish since many of the features already have a slightly “fishy” look to them anyway. Of course, that does sometimes allow the subject to be more tolerant of some distorting effects. It was a fun place to shoot since it is always busy and getting close and using the fish provides some options as well as making surrounding people disappear into the background quite quickly.

I also played around with a couple of effects. There is a metal frame across the lawn at the Pritzker Pavilion. By tilting the camera down, I could really emphasise the curvature but by tilting it up, the frame became almost totally flat. Something to remember. I also played around with slightly rotating the camera. This made the edge of the frame level and the receding horizon appears to turn up dramatically. Not something to overdo but still a concept to remember for the future.

I am certainly happy that I have added the fish to the arsenal. Now I have to make sure I make good use of it without slipping over the edge into using it when I shouldn’t. Hopefully my friends will warn me if that is the case. That, and I have to remember to keep myself out of my own shots!

Diamond Head Hike

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Just beyond Waikiki in Honolulu rises the remains of an extinct volcano. Diamond Head is the most obvious geological feature in the vicinity of the city and is a famous landmark. The crater (not such to be honest whether it counts as a crater or caldera but who is keeping score?) is home to a park. You can drive in to the park through a tunnel and then park up to climb to the top.

We took the advice of the guide books and went early in the day. Given how hot we got, I hate to think what those who went later in the day and had the midday sun to deal with felt like. It is quite an exertion. I don’t consider myself an athlete but I am not too out of shape either. This was quite a climb. There is a trail that is well maintained and the final stages include several flights of stairs – some quite steep.

When we reached the top, we were both pretty relieved to be there. It was worth it since the view across the city was very good. We enjoyed it a lot and anyone who suggests that our extended viewing was an excuse to take a rest can’t prove anything. The trip down was a lot better than the climb up!

Aerial Waterfall Adventure

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One thing you won’t be short of if taking a tour of Kauai is waterfalls. You have an island that has a lot of high terrain and a regularity of rainfall (including the wettest place on the planet) so that means there is lots of water making its way from the high ground to the sea. Sometimes that means taking the quickest route – off the edge.

Some of these falls can be seen from ground level and that is certainly worth doing. However, taking to the air gives you two advantages. First, you are above the terrain and can get a better view of the falls themselves. Second, since you are no longer constrained by the location of roads or trails, you have access to the more remote locations which also tend to be the sites of the more interesting falls.

We saw a lot of falls while we were up in the helicopter. Some of them we had seen on the ground but plenty of others we hadn’t. In truth, we saw so many we lost track of them. In some locations the water was running down in multiple locations so you couldn’t even say which bit was “The” fall. Others were a bit more obvious.

In the end, who cares. They all looked amazing. The scale of the scenery is such that a photograph can never truly convey what it was like to be there but hopefully they provide a taste.

Ziplining

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Recently, I bought myself a GoPro camera. They seem to be ubiquitous these days showing up on TV shows on a regular basis to provide the footage from unusual angles or mounted on fast moving items. They make good cockpit cameras as well and are really very affordable.

As part of the Kauai trip, we spent a few hours riding zip lines at Princeville Ranch Adventures. I took the GoPro along with us in case a good opportunity came up to use it. I was not alone as another person in our group had one. Originally, I had intended to get a head strap for the camera for use on the lines. Unfortunately, I didn’t order one in time before we left and couldn’t get one locally. GoPro stuff seems to sell out very quickly so I guess I am not alone in liking the gear.

As it was, I think this proved to be a lucky break. Since I didn’t have a mount, my only option was to handhold the camera. Since it has a very wide field of view, this can be done without needing too much accuracy in pointing. I could also then point the camera in any direction I wanted. Having a fixed wide view is not always ideal but it seemed to work pretty well.

From the footage I shot that day, I have put together a short video of the ziplining adventure. I don’t think it is going to win any awards and those people I know who are real editors will, no doubt, cringe at the quality of my cutting but it is a vacation memento at the end of the day so I am not going to get too bothered about it. Besides, as Vincent Laforet said in a recent interview, when you need editing done properly, get a proper editor to do it. You can’t do everything!

Here is the video. Hope it gives you a bit of a feel for a great day out.

Waimea from the Air

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For those of you following the posts closely – aren’t you all? – I previously reported on Waimea Canyon as seen from the ground, sometimes while wearing disintegrating hiking boots! I also mentioned that we were going back in a slightly faster form of transportation.

I have posted already about the article I was writing about Mauna Loa Helicopters, the company that we were using for our trip. I won’t duplicate much from the article – if you are interested, you can still see that piece here. Instead, I will just give you a selection of shots taken from the helicopter. We flew across the canyon later in the afternoon so the light was lower and a lot more attractive.

That time of day is also a time when clouds can start to build up so we did get some cloud cover as we flew in. However, that did not detract in any way from how amazing the place looked. Sometimes high overlooks provide a vantage point that doesn’t look too dissimilar from the view from a helicopter when you are flying in the canyon. However, I can assure you that the variety of views and the sights that are inaccessible from the road are one of the things that makes the flight so worthwhile. Having no doors only enhances the experience (and the photography!).

We spotted a number of locations we had seen previously. The rocky outcrop we came out onto was one we could see and the full falls that we had been near the top of were so much more impressive from this angle.

If money and time were no object, I would try this trip a number of times and at different times of day. There must be an ever changing variety of effects to see given the chance!

Waimea Canyon

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The Grand Canyon of the Pacific – that is one of the names that is given to Waimea Canyon on Kauai. It is a dramatic geological formation that runs through the middle of the island. The drive there is not a short one but it certainly is worthwhile. The scenery is dramatic and there are plenty of good locations close to the road from which to take it all in.

Over and above the easily accessible areas, there are plenty of hiking options available to take advantage of and, despite the fact the peak of the tourist season had passed, there were still a lot of people taking a walk through the wilds.

Our hiking activities did not necessarily go according to plan. We had picked a couple of trails that we wanted to explore, one before lunch and one after. We got to the first trail quite early as a result of starting out from the hotel promptly. There was an option to drive the first section if you had a 4×4 but we skipped that and trekked off. After the track ended and we were on the trail itself, we descended the hillside. All of this descending is one of those things you can’t help but be aware of when you know you are going to be coming back up the same way!

A little while later one of my boots suddenly felt like something was stuck on it. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Instead, the sole of the boot was coming away from the rest of the boot. No option but to turn around and head back to the car. The climb back up was just as I had imagined it would be. Meanwhile, the second boot was starting to disintegrate as well. These were boots I had owned for many years but hadn’t used for a while. I guess the material had aged and couldn’t hold together any longer. The separation of the sole got worse and we headed back up and one sole was gone by the time we reached the car and the other was almost done.

A change of shoes and we now went for a second effort. The time we had taken meant the sun was a bit higher in the sky and the temperature was a bit higher. We passed bits of the sole of my boots as we went and then got into new territory. Eventually we came out on an exposed area of rock with some excellent views of the surrounding canyon. A bit more of a descent and we came to the top of some waterfalls.

The return trip was a bit more effort than we were really ready for. The climb up was a steady effort but the higher sun was now making us a lot warmer. That, combined with having already made a round trip for part of the hike, meant we were feeling absolutely wiped out by the time the car came into welcome view. A short drive to a cafe and we ate and drank like we hadn’t seen food and drink for days! Needless to say, our enthusiasm for the second – harder – hike had waned and so we spent the rest of the time checking out overlooks closer to the road and enjoying the views from there.

Some of the overlooks had been bypassed on the way up but checking them out as we went back down the roads was very worthwhile. Some stunning scenery and some better views than from the very top of the canyon. We also watched a few of the touring helicopters which was part of our plan for the following day. I shall tell more about that in a coming post!

Surfing in Paradise

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If I were to ask you what sport you would associate with Hawaii, it might depend on your age as to what you choose. If you are a bit older, it might be ocean going canoeing (is that how you spell it?) that you think of, perhaps accompanied by the theme to a 70s TV police show. However, if you aren’t in that group, your choice is more likely to be surfing.

Did I go surfing while in Hawaii? Ah, no. Did lots of other people go surfing while we were there? Oh yes. Half the vehicles we passed seemed to have a board on the roof or so it seemed. There were plenty of places to try your skills since most beaches seemed to have breaking surf in some areas. The large numbers of reefs might, of course, make some of those areas a touch risky.

Anyway, I didn’t spend a lot of time tracking down the surfers. Instead, we saw a bunch of people closer inshore not always on full surf boards. Here are some shots of the action we saw. One day I will have to make more of an effort to go out and shoot some surfing since it makes some great shots!

Na’Pali Coast

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One of the most stunning areas of the island of Kauai is the northwest coast, known as the Na’Pali coast. Unfortunately, (or fortunately depending on your point of view!) this part of the island is really hard to access. There are no roads that go out to the coast. There are hiking trails to get you there but these do require a fair amount of commitment on your part if you want to get there.

You can get boat trips to take you along the coast. These trips are not particularly cheap but they do appear to provide an interesting experience. We chose not to take one on this trip. Originally it was part of the plan but the week was starting to get a little overloaded and this was supposed to be a vacation.

We did, however, have a plan for seeing the coast and this, I would suggest, is probably the best way to see it. Go by air! There are many helicopter operators on the island that provide sightseeing flights. You can research which ones are of interest to you and why. We went with Mauna Loa Helicopters. They have smaller aircraft which we could charter for just ourselves. No need to share the ride with anyone else. Also, they are one of only tour operators that provide flights with the doors off. This certainly makes for a better photographic experience.

The tour covered the whole island but here I shall focus on the Na’Pali coast. You can choose the time of day for making the trip and this coast was the primary reason for me choosing a later afternoon flight. We had a 4:30 departure from Lihue and the flight lasted a little over an hour. Sunset was about 6:30 so, by the time we reached the Na’Pali coast, we were well into the gorgeous light.

The time of day can be a bit of a lottery since clouds can build up later in the day. Indeed, while we were further inland, there was a lot of cloud around that flattened out the light in some areas. Once, we reached the coast, however, the sky was clear and the light was gorgeous. To drop across the coast and see the beautiful scenery was a stunning experience. While I was shooting a lot on this trip, I did make the effort every once in a while to put the camera down and just soak in the outstanding views.

We ran along the coast and explored some of the deeper canyons and valleys that were on the coast. We saw the rock formation known as the Cathedrals. There were isolated beaches accessible only from the water and lots of cave along the rocky coastline. We even saw one of the tour boats. That was great because it reminded you of the scale of everything you were seeing.

Kauai is a beautiful island and the Na’Pali coast is one of the most beautiful parts. If you are there, I strongly recommend and aerial tour. It may be expensive but, if you have made the effort to go that far, don’t miss out on this experience.

Spouting Horn

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During our time on Kauai, we spent a fair amount of time with things planned to do and lots of activities lined up. However, it was a vacation so having a bit of time to gently amble about the place and look at the pretty stuff was still part of the schedule. One day we took a trip to the south side of the island to see what was down there. This side of the island is more heavily developed for tourism but it did have some cool stuff to see.

One such feature is Spouting Horn. This is a hole through the rock that funnels incoming waves and forces them out of a blowhole. Depending on the tide and the strength of the waves, this can produce a waterspout of over 50 feet. Apparently, there used to be more than one spout with the other one producing a far larger plume. However, this sprayed salt water onto a small part of the local plantation and reduced the crop yield so the plantation owner had explosives dropped in the hole and now it doesn’t do much at all.

There is another hole nearby that produces a sighing sound as the waves come in. You can read the local legends while you are there about the creature trapped under the rock and why it is unhappy. While I suspect this isn’t entirely true, it certainly does make quite a groaning sound as the water comes in which adds to the overall effect.

There is a plateau of rock in this area around the blowholes and they are certainly not keen on you going out there. The books are full of stories of people getting swept off by a higher than average wave or even getting swept into the blowholes themselves. Knowing had unpredictable the see can be, I don’t doubt this can and has happened. I am not so desperate to be close that I am going to try out getting closer. It all looked pretty good from the viewing platform. However, one chap was out there while we were there taking a look around. I hope he found it enjoyable. I think he lived.