2010 Mt. SAC Relays - Day 3

In April, I spent three days out in Walnut, California covering the Mt. San Antonio College Relays. This was actually the 52nd running and my 5th year covering the event. It's nice because you get a mix of high school, college and elite/Olympic athletes.

Former NFL's fastest man, Willie Gault

Los Angeles native, Allyson Felix after running the anchor in the 4x100m for Team USA.

Miki Barber crossing the finish line in the 200m dash.

Here's the article that ran in the local newspaper.

2010 Mt. SAC Relays - Day 2

In April, I spent three days out in Walnut, California covering the Mt. San Antonio College Relays. This was actually the 52nd running and my 5th year covering the event. It's nice because you get a mix of high school, college and elite/Olympic athletes.

Some selections from day 2 of the relays...

2010 Mt. SAC Relays - Day 1

In April, I spent three days out in Walnut, California covering the Mt. San Antonio College Relays. This was actually the 52nd running and my 5th year covering the event. It's nice because you get a mix of high school, college and elite/Olympic athletes. I'll start with some photos from the Steeplechase on the first day.

First is my remote setup (on right). Bryan's camera is the one wrapped in the Glad bag dunce cap.

Brian Allan Bode

We had a relaxing Easter Sunday at home. Just a few friends and family. Our good friend Brian Allan Bode provided the entertainment. Bode is a talented singer/songwriter/engineer who plays guitar, piano drums and others unknown. The weather was nice so I decided to take some portraits on film. The following was captured with my Rolleiflex 2.8F on Fuji Acros 100 (pushed to 400). Developed while watching the Masters with a cold CL (Danny's method).

Check out my reflection in the Gas Cans.

Did some playing around with some Nik film effects...

Spring, 2010 Piano Performance

Jessica performed a couple of songs in March at the Rhythm 'n You Spring performance (video clip below). It was standing room only, our largest turnout to date. Had approximately 19 performers, some original compositions and duets with parents. Below is a group photo minus a few late-comers.

Remote setup

Some of you have asked to see how the glass cameras were set up and how they are actuated. In a nutshell, the camera is mounted with a Bogen Magic Arm and fired with a Pocket Wizard Multimax transceiver. The Multimax is configured to sync remotely with the strobes. Each strobe is configured in its own zone (A, B, C, D). With this setup, it gives us control from the ground level as to which light or combination of lights we want to fire. The photos below illustrate the camera setup.

The black shield below the lens is called a gobo. This prevents light from ghosting/reflecting back into the camera.

Matt's 24 second clock cam

Front view of the setup with a view...

Matt and I testing the setup

Works like a charm ;-)

2010 Big West Conference Tournament

This year marked my fourth and final year of covering the Big West tournament at the Anaheim Arena. Next year the tournament will move to the Honda Center. The Anaheim arena is a great venue for basketball, in addition to the hospitality and latitude we had to install our strobes. A lot of you have heard us talk about the infamous ceiling at the arena. Many a photographer have gotten lost up there over the years. Since this was our last hurrah, I shot shot some video so everyone can see what we've been talking about. The initial climb up the scaffolding is approximately 25 feet in the darkness. Most who know me, know I hate heights, so this used to really freak me out. However, after four years I kind of got used to it. Sorry about the "Blair Witch" POV, but hopefully you'll enjoy the footage.

A few setup photos:

Highlighted in red is one of four pods where we mount the strobes

This is a view of the climb down into the pod

Strobes mounted on the rail of the pod. Notice the other pod across the way. Each set of lights are hoisted up to the pods in a bag.

Anaheim Arena (aka, Anaheim Convention Center) from Michael Foo on Vimeo.

Here's the story that ran in a local newspaper.

 

The crew from the final Big West Tournament at the Anaheim Arena. From left to right, Reed Saxon (Associated Press), Grant Brown, Matt Brown, Bryan Crowe, and Michael Foo.

Shoot the Moon right between the eyes

Had the first clear and warm night of the year. Came home from dinner at around 21:00 and it was about 70 degrees and crystal clear. The moon was a couple days from full, but it looked awesome none the less. Since my friend Danny was recently bending my ear about the moon, I set up the rig to see what it's all about. Shot with a Nikon D3 at 560mm.

Bodie State Historic Park

These are some shots from October, 2009. The day was clear (too clear), warm, but very windy. Unfortunately, the timing worked out so we arrived at mid-day. Shot with my Hasselblad CFi 50mm on Kodak Plus-X, developed in Xtol and scanned.

"And now my comrades all are gone;
Naught remains to toast.
They have left me here in my misery,
Like some poor wandering ghost."

 

Will work for Food

I had a gig shooting women's college basketball last weekend. The venue is a true dungeon, so I needed to set up strobes. I took Jessica and Cheri with me to help set up and tear down. It was well worth the cost of a Subway sandwich and desert (shown below).

Vivian Maier (1926-2009)

Photographer John Maloof hit the jackpot at an antique furniture auction in Chicago. He acquired 40,000 medium format negatives from photographer Vivian Maier, an obscure French street photographer. Just over a third of the film was exposed undeveloped rolls. John is busy developing and scanning the remaining film. I spoke to him and his long term plan is to possibly publish a book of her work. There is some fantastic content. Check out the link below.

http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com

BTW, Vivian shot a Rolleiflex!

Digital Outing

Headed out early this morning with my friend Danny to capture some images. We had no set plan, so we just started driving. Ended up stopping by Long Beach for a short time and then ended up in San Pedro. I had some film with me, but opted to shoot a digital body with the Zeiss 21mm f/2.8. I love this lens!