Tuesday 15 December 2009

Omega Dubai Ladies Masters

The Dubai Ladies Masters finished on Saturday, which in itself is unusual, (tournaments usually finish on a Sunday). I was hoping to see the sun during the week there but the weather was against us. There was a sandstorm on the first day, a bit of sun on the second but the rest of the week was overcast with showers!!! According to the locals out there, it usually only rains a handful of times a year, so this was bad luck for us. Still the cloud cover did provide a rest from the strong shadows under golf caps and visors so I managed to get some good stock shots of players.
One thing I noticed was that the 400mm that I use for most of my golf shots, was lacking length. The fairways are quite wide at the Majilis course so you can be quite a distance away from some of the players. This is OK as you can pick and choose where you shoot, but I am not a great fan of harsh cropping. I think that possibly the 500mm F4 canon lenses is gives you more flexibility for some of the bigger courses as it allows you to be a little bit further away from the subject with the added bonus that it is a heck of a lot lighter, (about 2KG), than the 400mm f2.8 that I have. At least it gives me something to put on my christmas list, although at just under £5400 I am not sure Santa will stretch to that this year :)

Talking of Chirstmas, In-Kyung Kim of Korea (above) received an early Christmas present of € 70K when she won the tournament by a 2 shot margin from Michelle Wie and Maria Hjorth from Sweden. Not bad for a week's work.

Speaking of work, I am off to La Manga (Spain) on Thursday to cover the final qualifying school for the LET. Again I was hoping for some sun, but so far the first day of the first stage of qualifying has been cancelled due to terrible rain storms. I am also getting told that it is very cold there as well. I'll keep you posted.

Saturday 5 December 2009

Graduation Ceremony Photography

I've just returned from a graduation ceremony, where I spent the evening taking their formal graduation shots. It is a bit of a change from shooting sharks last week but that is one of my favourite parts of being a photographer, you can get a lot of variety in your work.
I use a simple portable set up for this sort of "half length" shot with 2 500W flash heads, that, even on half power, will let you shoot at 1/125 @ f9 - f11, ISO 100. The aperture lets you get enough depth of field on the subject whilst simultaneously blurring the background. I use a Lastolite background on a stand so I can carry the whole setup, plus camera bag from which ever car park I can get into, (It usually involves a walk of several hundred meters).
I'm off to Dubai on Monday for the Duabai Ladies Masters golf tournament, the last event on the Ladies European Tour's schedule. Dubai is somewhwere that I really enjoy shooting. In the last few years the building surrounding the Majilis Course have grown and it sometimes feels like you are on a golf course in the middle of a sea of skyscrapers. The heat at this time of year is also a bonus, especially given the weather that we have had in the England this last week.