About the Perils of Photography!

We don't think about it too much, but outdoor action photography sometimes lead us into the path of danger! You know how it is ... that perfect angle, with good light, is usually captured from a precarious position. And, occasionally close to, or even in, the direct line of action.

It was a big day in our area, yesterday, with several large events. There were two that I wanted to shoot.

I made it to the Loop The Lake foot race early in the day. Here's a photo of the first group of runners passing by my shooting position. Its the only image I've processed so far - for reasons that will become clear shortly.

I picked a spot where there was good light and a decent background (free of telephone poles, cables, cars, houses, etc) - but the competitors were running uphill and therefore not exactly happy to see me pointing a camera at them! Apologies for that, guys, but you have to admit, the expressions of effort really reflect the challenge that you were facing! I will get the rest of the photos up this week.

After going home to download the files and reformat my card, I headed out to the Lakeside Event where paragliders and hang gliders launch from the top of Mt Swansea, and aim to land on targets on the beach at James Chabot Park beside Lake Windermere. I wanted to shoot from the launch site for a couple of reasons: (1) Most, if not all, people taking photos would be lakeside because it takes time and physical effort to get to the launch site, and (2) I much prefer being in the fresh air and quiet of the alpine environment over the crowds, noise and chaos of a "beach" event.

Long story short, the wind was a bit variable and, while I'd chosen a shooting position well to the side of the launch line, a "perfect storm" resulted in this series of events:

Paraglider taking advantage of a good gust - you can see the windsock in the background - in theory, he should've been moving diagonally away from me to launch into the wind:

A split second later an unexpected eddy changed his trajectory:

I don't remember taking the photo above, but I do remember a teeth-jarring blow to the back of my head (his knee hitting my skull - I must've already been ducking to give him more room to jump over me, but he stumbled) then the sickening sight of my camera in mid-flight and bouncing once on the scree slope. Then I was tumbling, landing face down on the gravel. I didn't feel a thing. I know this thought went through my head:

"How am I going to explain this to the insurance company?! The camera cannot have survived that!"

It took me a few seconds to get my breath back and stand up. Meanwhile, my camera took this photo during its leap down the mountainside, eventually coming to rest 30m+ away:

One of the event vollies kindly hiked down to retrieve the camera for me. This is what it looked like:

Unbelievably, it seems to still work just fine! After dusting it off (I didn't dare separate the lens from the body - still haven't!), I took this photo with it - Max and Katja launching:

I took a few more photos, but my left shoulder and ribs were stiffening up to the point where I was having difficulty lifting the camera. So I decided discretion was the better part of valour, and hiked down for my 4x4 lift back to my car (thanks, Dave!).

So, I didn't get nearly as many photos at the Lakeside Event as I'd have liked. Next year!

I am also missing a two-day equestrian event in the valley, which I'm really bummed about. But such is life. At least I'm in one piece (I think!) and my camera is, as far as I know, still fully operational.

I'll get both the Loop The Lake and the Lakeside Event's photos up as soon as I can!

Refreshed Website!

It has been a challenging few days! Smugmug, where I host my photo website, introduced a new platform last week.

Granted, they said we had as long as we wanted to switch over to a new format but that, eventually, they would put the hammer down and force a change. So, of course, I had to dive in!

"Intuitive" they said it was. Well, apparently I'm not intuitive! But I eventually figured most of it out ... and it was unveiled today, less than an hour ago!

Please visit tanyadeleeuw.smugmug.com and let me know what you think! They say it will work fine on any system - mobile, tablet, laptop, desktop, PC or Mac or Other ...

Do you like the new look, or not?

Is it easy to navigate, or tricky?

Did it load quickly, or slowly?

Anything that I should add, or remove?

The biggest change I made was to remove all watermarks. If you find a gallery I missed that's still showing watermarks, please let me know so that I can fix that!

Onwards and upwards!

Cherries!

Ah, Friday! Double-ah, because its a long weekend!

Went for a walk around the block this afternoon. On the way off our property, our bright red cherries caught my eye.

I believe these are "pin" cherries. They are very tart!

Haven't had my camera out for at least a week ... it felt good!

Flickering Aspens

I've always loved the way the light flickers in the leaves aspen trees when the breeze blows.

Trying to capture this in a still photograph is another thing altogether - but today, I gave it a try:

What do you think?

Taken with Canon 1D Mk IV camera with Canon 24-70 2.8L lens, f22, 1/5 sec, iso 50, 70mm, tripod.

As it is blazing hot today and I'm hiding inside (after roasting outside for about 15 mins to take several frames), I thought I'd play around in post processing, too:

(Silver Efex Pro 2 Full Contrast & Structure with a few of my own tweaks, green colour filter at 44%, toned with coffee #13, image border type #11).

Canadian Downhill Mountain Bike Championships - Panorama, BC, July 2013

After scouting the course on Thursday, I was up early this morning to get to Panorama Resort and up the mountain before the course was closed and readied for the start of the Canadian Downhill Mountain Bike Championships.

Unfortunately, the powers-that-be neglected to update the website, which advised that the racing started at 10am. I arrived at about 8am only to find that it had been pushed back to noon, which was irritating, but it gave me plenty of time to hike up to my chosen spot, get my heart and breathing rates back to normal, then do some test shooting.

I enjoyed the spare time hanging around and enjoying being alone in the forest, too!

Panorama's Bike-Patroller-Trail-Blazer

I was surprised that no-one else chose my spot - most went to the rock garden a few seconds above the wooden ramp that I picked, or the root/rock drop about 30 seconds above that. Not that I minded! I had the place to myself for the most part, and had plenty of space to play around with my radiopoppers and off-camera flash, which I was using for the first time at this type of event.

The first few photos in the Canadian Downhill Mountain Bike Championships 2013 are up on my website - I'll be adding more photos asap. Apologies to the handful of people who I missed - next time!

Scouting!

Scouting = visit to location in advance of an event, to see what shooting angles, lighting, action-catching opportunities there will be available to you on the big day.

Today involved a visit to Panorama Resort here in the Columbia Valley of Southeastern British Columbia, where the 2013 Canadian Downhill Mountain Bike Championships will be held this weekend, July 13 and 14.

We took the Mile One chairlift halfway up the mountain, then hiked down the trail that the riders will be navigating over the next few days. The weekend's action promises to be awesome, because we could barely walk down the trail - never mind ride a bike down it!

Of course, I had my camera with me, so had to take photos of the spectacular scenery around me - it was the perfect summer's day in the mountains!

High resolution versions may be viewed here. Stay tuned for action shots early next week!

Radiopopper Flash!

At last, after having had them for a few weeks, I've finally got to play with my Radiopoppers today!

I got myself a second-hand set a while ago but, with a family wedding along with overseas and long-distance visitors, I haven't had the chance to try them out. Well, that's my excuse - a healthy dose of "fear" might be thrown in there, too!  ;-P

For you non-photogs out there, these gadgets, which consist of a transmitter that attaches to the top of the camera where the flash normally goes, and a receiver that attaches to the flash, allow me to use a flash to light my subject - with the flash unit located up to 1200 feet away from the camera position! They worked a treat!

My usual targets, at the moment, are our resident Rufous Hummingbirds. They weren't too obliging today, only showing themselves a couple of times - they must have young that they're spending all their time tending, instead of gorging on our sweet-water - but I managed to get a few frames.

Speaking of our sugar water, check out our fancy new feeder - my Dad and his Fiancee kindly bought it for us as a thank-you for having them stay during the wedding - and after I destroyed our cheapie version by putting too-warm water in it! The bottle is glass, and the lid of the base with the "flowers" on it, is metal - lovely!

These shots are, as usual, heavily cropped. Flash (Canon 580 EX II) at 1/32 sec, lens: Canon 70-200mm 2.8L at 200mm, camera: Canon 1DmkIV at 1/250 sec, iso 100, f2.8. High resolution images may be viewed here.