Skateboard NI - 2nd Annual Jam at Bridges skateboard park

I was invited (ok - I blagged an invite) to photograph this skateboard event in Belfast courtesy of Skateboard NI. This was my first time shooting skateboarding and that raised the issues of timing and knowing when to shoot to catch the tricks/stunts. This was balanced against the fact that it was so bright and sunny that there was no way I would be using flash, so I could (if i wanted to) get into "spray and pray" mode.

I caught this shot when I was getting my settings right (generally shooting at 1/1600 - 1/2000, f2.8 - f3.5 and ISO at 200-400) having noticed this guy jumping up and over the rim of the main bowl in the park. I legged it down and was lucky that he did it again.

The event involved three/four sections staged at different parts of the park. Each had slightly different demands in terms of finding the right angles and avoiding street lights, fences and so on. Some of the angels involved getting in the way of flying skateboards and I managed to get hit three times. The last, on my right knee, was pretty damn painful and involved a day of icepacks and painkillers to clear it up.

The under 16's competition was impressive; the over 16's competition was simply mad. Bodies hit the ground, boards were broken, tricks were tried over and over again until they worked. The sheer dedication of the skaters was something else - lots of bruises and only one (thankfully) trip to hospital in an ambulance.

The best shots definitely came when I was prepared (or stupid enough) to get as close to the action as possible and as close to the tricks as I could get. I ended up with a mix of close stuff (above) using a 24-70mm lens and shots taken using a 70-200mm lens (below).

The other thing which seemed to work well was to get low and shoot up, although this was what got me whacked all three times. Only afterwards did it dawn on me that I was also risking some pretty expensive camera gear for the sake of a half-decent shot.

All in all, another interesting experience and one which I would be quite happy to repeat if given the opportunity.

2013 365-27

Weather is here. Lots of it. Very hot and sticky weather. Have a few things lined up for this weekend, so hoping to get some good shots.

1/07/13

If you saw last week's post, you'll have seen one of the shots from the graduation shoot that I did with my daughter. Today was the big day (for real) and I could have posted up my photo of Sir David Attenborough who was receiving an honorary degree at the same ceremony. That's my very clever and hard-working daughter in the middle, with the dark hair and glasses.

2/07/13

It's time for Muffin the dog to appear again. Muffin has a collection of rubber chickens all of which have no heads. The average life expectancy for a rubber chicken seems to be around one month. Muffin takes this length of time to remove the heads and the squeakers. She seems happier with them that way.

3/07/13

Dinner with Sarah and Ellen at a new Indonesian restaurant called Happy Angel. The highlight of my meal (and that says a lot about the quality of the food) was my attempt at using the menu to make my own happy angel origami piece.

4/07/13

I've posted several of the roadside memorials photos that I've been taking on this blog. I came across this one on the Lagan Weir this afternoon and wonder if it is a memorial to a young man who fell from the weir into the River Lagan and drowned after an evening's drinking in the nearby Odyssey complex.

5/07/13

I came back to the Lagan Weir to take a couple of shots of the numerous padlocks which have been placed there - an homage to the whole bridges/padlocks thing that seems to go on in other european cities. I'm going to check these from time to time to see if the philistines of Belfast City Council cut them off.

6/07/13

I've gone along to spectate and photograph the annual Belfast Pride parade. This year I thought I'd do something different and actually take part with the Belfast Roller Derby squad. A fantastic day out and a real advertisement for the best that Belfast has to offer. My travelling companions gave me plenty of opportunities for great shots. I picked this one, as the ladies got painted with their rainbows before the parade began. This is Rachel and her face and eyes just look amazing.

7/07/13

Bridges skateboard park this afternoon for the 2nd annual Skateboard NI jam. It was hot with very little shade, but yielded some great action shots. No problem with shooting at high shutter speeds without lights today. Main discovery from the day was that skateboards are much more dangerous than both roller derby and BMX. I got hit three times by rogue boards; once in the chest and once on each knee. The last one to my left knee was the worst and needed icepacks, anti-inflamatories and painkillers in order to get my knee back to its original shape and size.