Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/11/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Dan (DRB) writes: | I have a few pics to show -- comments and suggestions appreciated! | | http://www.drbphoto.com/leica/l2/ | | I'm especially interested in how other photographers might cover this event. | Swim meets are pretty boring - you get cliche pictures (like these) and they | all end up looking the same. The crowd was non-existant, the coaches | lukewarm, and the other swimmers preoccupied with work (it is, after all, | MIT). Without the benefit of an Ikelite housing, how would you spice up the | assignment? You mention you were on assignment. From whom? I am little bit concerned about your attitude in approaching the event. Swim meets are not boring to the competitors. Cliché pictures are because swimming is pretty much a ritualized event - same take off - same strokes - efficiency of the process and strength determines the winner. The only real thing you can do is experiment with pixes from different angles. But my main concern is that when I was in J-school (many year ago) - they pounded into our heads that "names make news." Names meant the names of local folks. Pixes were pixes of local folks. The local and small regional newspapers that survive today make good use of that motto. Several photographers from a regional newspaper thought they were grossly underpaid and under appreciated. They quit the newspaper and set up a business to take pixes of local (high school and college) games. They are currently making a good living selling these pixes to the parents of the participants. When I worked for the L.A. Times, they were delighted to give folks an 8x10 of their pix which had been published in the paper. The point is that while this type of pix might not win you a big award, they are very important to the competitors. Plus, if you really want to have fun, start interviewing the competitors and taking pixes. (The other thing that was banged into my head in J-school was that everybody has a story - it is the presentation that makes it interesting). Regards, Will Larsen - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html