I hope the recent swath of black and white images on the blog have not dampened your mood any.
Well, this one is back to the usual photojournalism. Sports photography, no less.
Yay action shots. I’ve never been an overly ambition sports shooter, but working for the university through college and till now, I’ve really had to do a significant amount of it. My modest Nikkor 80-200/2.8D has been called on to do some things barely at the edge of its capabilities of light and range and DOF.
But sometimes it is the limitations that we have placed upon us that teach us more than the actual advantages.
I do not believe that a photographer is as only good as his/her equipment. I feel that the 80-200/2.8D (that’s the push-pull version) has not limited me; rather, it has taught me to wait for images and move myself. Have I missed shots that a 400mm could have gotten? Sure, but so what?
Cameras now can wail away at 9 frames per second, no big deal. But, I still find myself using a lot of single shot or very short bursts. I don’t think I’ve ever really gained anything from having to go through 70 shots of a 10-second run from goal-line to goal line.
Starting my world with a semi-pro 3 frame per second camera really has taught me a lot. Farther back, shooting with film, even more so.
In the end, the moral of the story is that the grass still flies the same, chewed up in a heated tackle, whether it is shot one or two frames or 19. And I don’t have to edit down so many in post.
Stay tuned…
-Noah D.
