COMM 3530 Digital Photo Journalism : Hard News

This weekend I shot some images at the Sand Hollow Marathon. As a former participant and running enthusiast, I enjoyed being out around Sand Hollow & the Hurricane area during such amazing weather - the day was perfect. As a marathoner, I wanted to capture a certain story, so...I drove nearly 40.6 miles of the 26.2-mile course (trying to capture that perfect story). Had I stayed in one place the entire time, I would have found the happy medium and anchor. Instead, I discovered that between my limited ability to take pictures and my 18-55mm and 75-300mm lenses, I never found the happy medium between shooting both the face and the body - as I followed the runners. I was able to get either their faces with the long zoom lens or the bodies with the short zoom. The other interesting fact was that most the runners only "posed for the camera" when I had the more menacing, long zoom out. While posing was great, by the time they would flash a peace sign, flex their muscles, or stick out tongues, they were too close to catch it on the long zoom (posing way too fast for me to pull focus and get the shot).

I loved the picture of the whole body hand cyclist. The man is an American hero - losing a limb while serving our country. I got a some images showing his amputated leg (They are not posted because I did not feel they were necessary to the telling of the story). If you look closely at the picture, you see a missing limb, it's just not the focus of my shot. Having talked to many hand cyclists, they don't ride for pity but rather to be an inspiration. I felt that image captured the moment perfectly.

What I loved and hated about shooting action vs. studio pictures, is that during action shots, nothing can be redone. Candid moments are what tell the story; if you miss the moment, it is gone. In studio work, you can recreate the moment and have more control over the variables; giving a greater chance of making the perfect shot.

I am NOT exaggerating to make a point but... I can truly say that at the end of 6 hours of marathon shooting, I was as much - if not more - mentally exhausted as I was when I ran the marathon. I have accomplished a lot of activities that have required intense mental focus for long periods of time; but the art and science of photography - for 6 hours - was just as exhausting as any other accomplishment.

Unless indicated, I used my 75-300mm lens