I had the opportunity to photograph David Doubilet, one of the world’s top underwater photographers who primarily shoots for National Geographic, at the McCoy Center in New Albany last week. Doubilet shared several dozen of his favorite photos to the local middle school kids. He explained the significance of each photo, whether it be a rare mating session between sea turtles or a previously unphotographed species of aquatic life. Not just an eye candy lecture, he tried teaching a lesson as well. He warned the kids about never buying shark fin soup, as the harvesting of sharks for the Japanese delicacy has led to their near-existence. To back his claim, he showed an image of a giant shark on a Japanese dock with its fins cut off. Between giggles and oohs and aahs, his message was heard.
It was amazing to listen to the passion Mr. Doubilet has for sea life, and how me managed to turn that love of the ocean into a successful photography career. He started snorkeling when he was eight, and began taking a camera with him wrapped in a plastic bag before he was even a teenager. 50 years later, Doubilet has shot 40 assignments for National Geographic, including numerous cover shots. What I liked most was his passion to try to change the marine world with his pictures. It didn’t take more than a few minutes of seeing his pictures to realize that he has succeeded.
On an assignment related note, I shot the second image at the very beginning of the lecture. Immediately after hitting the shutter button, the spotlight on Doubilet went out. Dark. Fortunately, after shooting a few of his photos, he moved away from the back of the podium, so I could get the silhouette shot. I’d like to think it was just one photographer looking out for another. Thanks David!
Several local kids from New Albany took part in the Jensen-Schmidt Tennis Academy for children with Down Syndrome at the Wickertree Tennis Club. Tennis pros and other volunteers helped more than a dozen kids go through various tennis skill drills. This was one of those feel-good stories that make my job worthwhile. The kids had a great time, and I didn’t want to stop taking pictures.
The Delaware senior center has some great programs for keeping seniors active. I shot the ceramics and wood carving classes a few months ago, and last week I sat in on the line dancing class. They did classic line dances to everything from “Leroy Brown” to the “Irish Cha Cha” and even “YMCA.” I found out they have weekly Wii tournaments as well, so I’ll be on the lookout for that photo soon.
In the MLS Eastern Conference championship game at Crew Stadium last night, the hardest working team in soccer, i.e. the Crew, defeated the Chicago Fire 2-1 to advance to the MLS Cup Final. The game didn’t start out in the team’s favor, as former Crew player Brian McBride scored the first goal of the game. The Crew fought back in the second half with goals from Chad Marshall and Eddie Gaven.
Once the game was over, the supporters went nuts. The players went nuts. Even the photographers went nuts. Half ran over to shoot the team. Half stayed back to shoot the fans. I was part of the latter group. It didn’t really matter in the end as the players came over to the sideline and eventually ended up getting swallowed by the front row of rowdy supporters.
A tighter edit of these photos is over at my SportsShooter page. Here is a slideshow of everything else.
*If you’re having trouble viewing the slideshow using Firefox on a Mac, try opening it up in Safari instead. Something is wacky with Flash and FF right now. I’m working on a fix.
Nov. 11 is Veterans Day here in the States, so to honor them, the kids at Winchester Trail Elementary held a convocation with special presentations and singing. Members of the VFW Post 10523 were on hand to present the colors at the start of the convocation. They were also handed a stack of hand-written thank you cards for their service to our country.
One of the cards reads, “Dear Veterans, Thank you for serving and fighting for our countries rights to be free people. Your friend, Jana.”
The costumes continue. On Monday Johnstown held its annual Lions Club Halloween costume contest. With pirates, ninjas, witches and princesses running around, I thought these two tikes shared a humorous moment. The 3-year-old on the left with the superhuman muscles cracked me up.
I had two assignments on Saturday that featured crazy Columbusites wearing costumes a week before Halloween. The first was the Great Pumpkin Run where The Flash lined up alongside mortal residents of Grandview for the annual 5K run. I didn’t hear by how much he broke the course record, but I’m guessing it was a substantial margin.
The second was a pet costume contest in Gahanna where pet owners couldn’t let their pups have all the fun.
I have another Halloween-related assignment tonight, so the it looks like the ghoulishness will continue all week.
The Dublin Coffman girls soccer team did its best to hold off Upper Arlington for well over 100 minutes on Saturday, but couldn’t stop the Golden Bears from scoring in the second overtime. After two sudden death goals by UA were questionably waved off by officials in the second overtime, there was no doubt the third time the ball hit the back of the net. UA won 2-1 to claim the Div. 1 district championship.
I had some pretty sweet light for most of the first half of the mid-afternoon game, but it went away for the second half and both overtimes. Regardless, the afternoon start was a nice change from the harshness of stadium lights that I’m getting used to.
This week’s football game was by far the wettest I’ve shot. The downpour began sometime mid-afternoon and didn’t let up until after halftime. The few brief dry periods in the second half didn’t matter much since I and everything I brought with me were completely soaked.
As an aside, if you’re a photographer looking to buy rain gear, don’t buy Tenba. Anything heavier than a slight drizzle, and you’re gear is soaked. I hope ThinkTank will soon come out with something that fits lenses shorter than 400mm.
As far as the game went, it was a blowout. In the first meeting of Worthington Kilbourne and Thomas Worthington, Kilbourne came out on top 43-3. As expected, considering the conditions, it was a very sloppy game.
I held back from submitting this wildart photo last week. Apparently there is a street hockey league in Columbus that should make for a pretty cool project. Unfortunately they had the weekend off, so I’ll be heading out to shoot them next Sunday. Watch for some multimedia on this sport in the next few weeks.
