JamFest Pittsburgh

Here are a few pics form the JamFest Cheer/Dance competition last April. Our work flow for the events was:

Custom white balance.
Set ISO for about 1600 or 3200
Shutter was at 1/400th of a second, depending on where you were on the performance floor. Really bad light falloff along the edges, so we would sometimes drop the shutter speed to lower, but that would then produce blur...so it's a lose lose situation.
Everything was shot in JPG, medium or small....less than 2MB files was the goal.

After the 3 minute competition, we would pull the cards and put them into a card reader connected to a laptop. We would select the team name in the software then that program would download the images from the cards and put them up on an on-site server. I think the software also created low resolution images for display on the web pages that the parents/competitors would use to buy products.

Once the images were available (probably 3-10 minutes) they could be purchased in 8"x10" collages printed on Dye Sublimation printers at the event.

Viewing stations (35 laptops with the sales software and images/products to purchase)

Printer stations with technicians to create the products for sale.

From the crowds viewpoint. I was located on the floor, directly in front of the performance mat.

Award time and all the dancer and cheerleader from a particular session attending.

More from the awards session.

Ground level and up close with one of the cheer teams.

Cheer Ltd. at Robert Morris University

UPDATE: Pictures have been uploaded to the sales web site. DO NOT BUY FROM THE SALES WEB SITE. EMAIL me with the photo ID located under each image. In this period of change, I am selling the edited .jpg file, NOT PRINTS and this is an interim band-aid. Thank you.
brent (at) thenextlevelphoto (dot) com


Here are a few pictures from the competition last Sunday. I took over 2,200 pictures, narrowed them to less than half, maybe more like a third. Then I had to cull them down to about 60 then again down to these six. They are not my best work. But I will try to justify it by saying this was my first time taking pictures of an indoor cheer and dance competition. I hope I get much better the next time I get the chance.

The sales site will have the UNEDITED images up later today.
DO NOT PURCHASE THEM DIRECTLY FROM THE SALES SITE.
DO NOT PURCHASE THEM DIRECTLY FROM THE SALES SITE.
DO NOT PURCHASE THEM DIRECTLY FROM THE SALES SITE.

DIRECTIONS TO PURCHASE:
1) Browse the pictures.
2) Make note of the image number BELOW the picture.
3) Put the picture #'s in an EMAIL message to me.
brent ( at ) thenextlevelphoto ( dot ) com
4) I will reply with a few more directions.
5) You will be purchasing the actual file, NOT PRINTS.

DO NOT PURCHASE THEM DIRECTLY FROM THE SALES SITE.
DO NOT PURCHASE THEM DIRECTLY FROM THE SALES SITE.
DO NOT PURCHASE THEM DIRECTLY FROM THE SALES SITE.

Technical Difficulties

NOTE: This post was written over 3 days..it might not be grammatically correct.

I would be remiss if I didn't add a bit of technical background today.

As I go through the pictures from the Cheer Ltd. competition and I remember the parents that sat next to me with their own cameras I have to reflect on what I think I know.

Preface: Human eyes see light very differently than an electronic camera sensor. A professional photographer has moderately to significantly different expectations than most people with or without a camera.

The first thing I look at when entering a venue is the light. Without light, we cannot take pictures. Secondly, I look at the backgrounds. Are they colorful, cluttered, dark, bright....lots of variables to have to deal with. Sometimes moving a few feet one way or another can make or break a picture. Even to the point by moving to a different location altogether to change a background. In many cases, you have no option of changing locations and have to work with what you have been given. Third, the subject. Is it fast paced, slow, colorful, drab or highly detailed? Add all this up and you have a venue. An opportunity. For success....or failure.

In the 2,200+ images I took Sunday, I will end up with only a few hundred or less acceptable images. Of those few hundred I could probably narrow them down even more to about 10 that are really good and possibly 1 or 2 that I think are worthy of saying...yeah...I took that picture.

Is that good or bad? Well, I have vastly different expectations for an image than many people I know. To ME, a great image has a perfectly clear subject. The sharpness of the subject is so I can count the eyelashes or the way they tie their shoes. Anything less is essentially unacceptable TO ME. I want to see the facial expression and emotion for the task at hand. Cheer and dance have great expressions. But the serious difficulties at these events are they held indoors, with poor light for cameras. We professional photographers don't get to use cameras with flash. Parents can get away with it, we cannot.

Add to the dark venues the incredibly fast pace and active jumping, dancing, tumbles, basket tosses, scorpions and.....lions tigers and bears..oh my!

When a cheerleader or dancer begins a tumbling run, it's easy to put your focus points in him or her and take pictures. But when they jump to perform a flip, they are no longer in the middle of your frame and the camera refocuses on a point that is usually the bleachers in the back. Which is much different than what you wanted....that...is the reality of the sport. Add in a dozen other dancers running in front of each other, passing combining and separating and it makes for a terribly difficult situation to get the perfect picture. Remember, the camera doesn't know you are following a subject, it only looks for contrast where you point it.

Note: Most anyone can take a picture of a cheerleader standing waiting for her run. But I challenge you to get a shot of her coming out of her tucked back flip and be able to see her eyes as she spots the landing. Not once, but every time! I know I can't do it....yet. (After the first round of these pictures, I have a dozen girls coming out of their back flips spotting the landing. But because of the slow shutter speeds, their faces are blurred enough so the pictures are not usable. I have the timing, just not the equipment to capture it.)

Another fun part of shooting indoor with available light. The lights in gyms actually change color. From blue to reddish. Humans don't see the color shift too much. But cameras do and they see it well. My camera can take 8 pictures in one second. I saw the color shift several times. Red skin, blue skin...it's so much fun. Kind of like a Dr. Seuss book. I can't do it justice, but Guy Rhodes can..and did on this old link. www.sportsshooter.com

Sunday cheer pics coming in a few hours.

Steel City Regional Championships

I had the pleasure of attending the Cheer Ltd. Steel City Regional Championships today at Robert Morris University. I've only been to one other cheer competition and that was at Charleroi High School last year. The biggest difference between the two was I took pictures this time and boy is this an incredibly fast paced sport.

I have always had an appreciation for this sport. But I wasn't totally prepared to shoot all day. I was there to get pictures of Tiffany, my daughters former teammate at Potter & Raccoon. Today, I got there early since I figured it would be jam packed. When I arrived, I found out there wasn't an event photographer so I secured a good shooting location....well, a few thousand pictures later, some tears were shed, a few hearts broken, screams of joy and some true happiness accompanied the trophy's and medals.

I'll get a few pictures up on the blog tomorrow and the rest will be on the sales site by Tuesday afternoon or sooner.

To all the competitors....GREAT JOB!!!

Difference of opinions

After I finished a home project this week I decided to put some of my prints in frames and hang them on the wall in our stairwell. I already had the frames and a lot of prints in sitting in envelopes in a box. The frames are the very simple, very cheap plastic frames you find at a local pharmacy/convenience store in your neighborhood. Most of my prints were 8x12's and the frames were 8x10.

Oops.

I ended up selecting a dozen or so prints that I could trim down to 8x10 size and put into the frames. On the wall, I measured out the start and end frame locations and did my division, then I marked the nail holes. Well, lets just say I got very lucky. I didn't take into account the width of the frames and really by pure luck, I was able to fit the frames in/on the wall side by side.....but only if they were portrait oriented (up and down). The landscape (side to side) frames won't fit on that line on that side of the wall. So I decided to put the landscape frames on the other side of the staircase.

At the bottom of the staircase is our entry way, (where I lay some marble tiles), is an 8 foot wide wall that is about 10 feet tall. I have great plans for that wall, but for now, I will put some pictures there. Actually, three pictures, in one frame. This framed picture set is what the Potter & Raccoon Red Devil Senior Cheerleaders received from me this year. Here is my daughters version.



Yes she's a cheerleader and no, the pictures aren't really that cheery. Sure, it has caused some consternation among the viewers of the picture set. Honestly, I like the fact that those images of her are different. I like different. I also like that it brings about discussion among those that are not afraid to voice their opinions. It doesn't hurt my feelings that viewers don't like it, but not everyone is willing to say how they feel. Well, not to my face anyway. So thus continues my foray into the world of art. It is subjective after all.

Football, Week 10 (finally) Senior Bowl 2008

Here are a few shots of the Senior Bowl played at McGuffey.

Extra point attempt


Mutual congratulations


All sisters with a spirit of cheer


Pile up on the 50


Thank you....and good night

Football, Week 9 (finally)

Here are the long belated pictures of the football game between Potter and Raccoon and Beaver Bobcats. (Senior Bowl will be posted tomorrow).

Almost


The spirit comes from within


The great escape


Ready for my close up Mr. Demille


Seniors in the spotlight


Last hurrah

Football, Week 9/10

Okay, I finally updated the web galleries with the football games against Beaver Bobcats on Oct. 25 and the Senior Bowl on Nov. 1st.

The sales site has been updated and I will get a few pictures on the blog this weekend. I kind of FUBARed the order this week, not to mention I am a couple of weeks late on the update. Sorry.

Face painting

Okay, so I didn't get the football pictures from the Beaver game up yet....I do however have cheerleader face painting.....

Getting the logo applied


Reaction at first look


Matching lip color


Eyelid applique


Cell phone pic


Mirror mirror


Monochrome in red

Daily observation

It's snowing here in Pittsburgh. I have my computer on a desk and I look out two windows in the corner. Right now, all I see is grey (gray?) sky and white flakes falling. Not sure if it will accumulate, but even if it does it won't stay. We are suppose to get temps in the 50's in a few days.

In all honesty, the weather doesn't bother me. But I am going a little bonkers trying to come up with a few ideas to shoot in this kind of weather.

Instead of taking pictures, I am going through the pictures of the Potter & Raccoon Red Devils v. Beaver Bobcats game a few days ago.

Football, Week 8

Here are some pictures from the Potter & Raccoon football game against Burgettstown Lions. The sales site is updated as well as the web galleries with cheer, football and a few crowd shots. (I can't wait until I can consolidate all these pages into one place.....).

This was also my first of two back to back night games and I forgot how amazingly difficult it is to get good pictures at night.....UGH!

Mixed reaction


Light pocket


Glimmer girls


All smiles


Wrap it up


Ride 'em into the ground

Football, Week 7

NOTE: The sales site is updated and the web site gallery should be updated by tomorrow (Thur 10/16).

Sigh...only two more regular season games to go and the Senior bowl.

I got the opportunity to shoot another game at Quaker Valley. I don't know what it is, but the light in that facility is nothing short of magical. I am sure much of it is that the facility runs north-south and the grandstand is on the west side so the sun is almost always behind me when I shoot. It's artificial turf so unless it's actually raining, you can lay down on the ground for a different perspective when shooting.

Because I was contracted to get pictures for the Baden Volunteer Fire Department's 100th Anniversary, I was only able to take in the Nuts & Bolts game and a few minutes of the Termite game.

One major issue with all photographers is that after you shoot an activity over and over, it's tough to find something truly mind blowing. Sure, the action changes, but most likely it's the same player or group of players that are making the plays. I have been looking to make different pictures lately. But I still need to work off the roster, in which I realized isn't accurate...UGH. A few players are not playing now and some have changes numbers. NOT GOOD!

Anyway, here are a few shots from the Potter and Raccoon v. Quaker Valley football game.

From down low


Tackle


Going for a ride


High kick

A six year journey

Last Saturday was a milestone and the beginning of an end.

We arrived in Pennsylvania in the spring of 2003. A new town, a new state and a new chapter in our lives. My kids were just beginning their foray into the world and I did what all parents do, I got involved.

I signed my daughter up for cheerleading in the town's youth football club. That year was our first year being involved in an organized activity and it was an eye opening experience. So many activities, sights, sounds emotions and expectations.

Forward to last Saturday. My daughter has reached the end of her youth football cheerleader career. She is a "senior" since she is at the age where birthdays determine eligibility. Next year, she will be too old to participate. Difficult to think, that she is getting that old.

I was looking at the group picture and I got a little teary eyed. I know that next year, there will be a new group of incredibly proud and somewhat nostalgic parents looking at pictures of their senior....and wondering where the time went.

I am truly so happy and incredibly proud to be a parent of a P&R cheerleader and a part of the organization known as Potter and Raccoon Football. There are some people in that organization that put in so much time and effort to make the experience a magical moment. I thank them from the depths of my heart for these last two years that we have been a part of your lives and this organization.

Football, Week 6

The homecoming game for Potter & Raccoon was against the McGuffey Eagles. Here are some shots from the game.

Say cheese


Two beautiful smiles brighten the day


Pardon me


Under the watchful eye


Attitude


Catch?

Gallery has been updated

The gallery has been updated with pictures from the Potter and Raccoon Red Devils v. Avella Eagles football game and the 2nd Annual 2008 P&R Powderpuff Game.

The Powderpuff games has several entries, cheer (football players), football (midget v termite cheerleaders), crowd, and Parent v Player game.

The sales site will be updated late tonight.

Powderpuff game 2008

Potter and Raccoon's 2nd annual Powderpuff football/cheer game and Parents versus Players.
I will have more pictures on the gallery page tomorrow...well sometime Friday anyway.

Runs like a deer


Pyramid


dem boyz got moves!


Working it


Coach cheering on the cheerleaders


Nice catch


Run Joe, run


Where's the action