2009 May « Scaughty’s PhotoBlog

Last Thursday was the MPSF Semifinals for Mens Volleyball. The No.1 ranked team UCI was playing No.5 USC. I really wanted to get a direct overhead shot of one of the UCI players serving. I had gone up in the catwalks prior to the start of the game to check out locations I could shoot from and found that none of the walkways were directly over the back line. I knew that I wasn’t allowed to shoot from up there too, but I didn’t know exactly where to set up the camera as a remote. About five minutes before the first game started I went back up and chose my position that I would be shooting from for the first game. Below, UCI’s sophomore outside hitter Jordan DuFault spikes the ball as three USC opponents attempt a block.

Canon 1D Mark IIn, 70-200mm @ 200mm, 320iso, f10, 1/250th

Below, from right to left, Carson Clark, Austin D’Amore, and Taylor Wilson stay close for a block attempt.

Canon 1D Mark IIn, 70-200mm @ 200mm, 320iso, f10, 1/250th

Below, Carson Clark gets high above the net for a kill.

Canon 1D Mark IIn, 70-200mm @ 200mm, 320iso, f10, 1/250th

The higher angle for volleyball is definitely my favorite. While shooting volleyball last year I had to discard tons of photos because players faces were covered by either hands or the top of the net. The backgrounds are also much cleaner while shooting from a higher angle and the shadows from using my strobes are also nice to have. Below, Taylor Wilson rises high above the net for a kill while a helpless USC players awaits below.

Canon 1D Mark IIn, 70-200mm @ 200mm, 320iso, f10, 1/250th

Due to a very rough start by UCI, they went on to lose the first game. I quickly repositioned my strobes and changed positions in the catwalks to where I able to get my overhead shot and be unnoticed at the same time. Below, different angle of Ryan Ammerman receiving the ball from USC.

Canon 1D Mark IIn, 70-200mm @ 125mm, 160iso, f11, 1/250th

The overhead shot didn’t turn out exactly how I planned. I knew that I wasn’t supposed to be up in the catwalks during the game so I chose a “safer” position where I most likely wouldn’t be caught. There was however a better place to shoot from but it was a little too risky for a high profile game. Below, Sophomore outside hitter Cory Yoder serves the ball to USC in the second game.

Canon 1D Mark IIn, 70-200mm @ 115mm, 160iso, f10, 1/250th

Once again UCI was beat by USC and lost the second game. I quickly readjusted my lights and as I was coming down from the catwalks I was greeting by one of the Bren Events Center Staff…shit. I guess I wasn’t sneaky enough this time and was caught. The Bren staff guy wasn’t mean about it but just told me that I wasn’t allowed to be up there during the game. I thanked him for letting me know and continued to shoot the third game from the upper balcony. Below, UCI’s Kevin Wynne goes for a kill between two USC opponents.

Canon 1D Mark IIn, 70-200mm @ 195mm, 320iso, f10, 1/250th

Below, UCI’s Austin D’Amore jumps above two USC defenders for a kill.

Canon 1D Mark IIn, 70-200mm @ 200mm, 320iso, f10, 1/250th

So to end this night, UCI lost to USC in 3 games. They made tons of uncharacteristic mistakes and their play that night was not a good representation of what they have achieved this whole season. Which is why they were still given the No.1 seed at the NCAA Championships in Provo, UT. Therefore, I will be driving out to Utah with the sports editor and associate sports editor to cover the games. Check back next week for the Championship coverage.

A couple weeks ago I went up to Mammoth with the UCI Snowboard team to shoot their last slope-style competition of the year. It was supposed to be a full weekend trip but turned into sleepless 24 hour adventure. Actually, I slept a lot in the car, so it was actually more sleepless for the two guys I rode up with, Daniel and Justin.

On my previous trip to Mammoth, I brought my two Sunpak 555’s for lighting. I found that it was hard to aim such small flashes, and this time decided to bring my White Lightning X1600’s. I also borrowed a vagabond portable power-pack from a friend to power the strobes. Besides the addition of my bigger strobes, I had all my usual equipment (camera, lenses, rented fisheye, light stands, pocketwizards, etc.)

Canon 1D Mark IIn, 50mm, 50iso, f1.8, 1/8000th

Anyways, we left Irvine at about 10pm on Friday night and like I said, I slept most of the way. We got there around 4am at which we brought our stuff into the rented condo and got ready to get a few hours of sleep before having to wake up at 7:30am.

After getting to the mountain the next morning and getting my free photographers ticket (the UCI snowboard team hooked me up), I gathered all my gear up and headed for the lift. Below, UCI snowboard team president Daniel Seo does some stretching in the parking lot before heading to the lift.

Canon 1D Mark IIn, 15mm, 250iso, f2.8, 1/2500th

I had so much equipment that I even had Daniel and Justin helping me carry stuff throughout the day, including my board as we walked over to the lift in the morning.

Canon 1D Mark IIn, 15mm, 250iso, f2.8, 1/3200th

Below, Daniel gets strapped in and ready for some practice runs before the competition.

Canon 1D Mark IIn, 15mm, 250iso, f2.8, 1/8000th

Below, Justin checks all his equipment and secures all his gear before getting off the lift.

Canon 1D Mark IIn, 15mm, 50iso, f2.8, 1/1600th

There were actually two parts to the terrain park. There was an upper part and a lower part. The upper part consisted of a few rails and two huge jumps, while the lower part of the park was where the competition was going to be held and had many more jumps and rails. I decided to set up at the upper part because the jumps were much bigger.

Once I got my lights set up, all I had to do was experiment with different angles and find what I liked. Below, two skiers do backflips synchronously.