A few weeks ago I was at the Cowichan Sportsplex with my son Kole, experimenting with some lighting arrangements and just checking out the scene in general. I had wanted to get started on doing photos of athletes, but not just during a game or event. I wanted to have the behind the scenes stuff.
It ended up being my lucky day. After I had packed up my lighting gear and camera Kole and I just played in the playground. We were almost about to leave when I noticed a very serious looking athlete roll in. I knew she must be a fairly elite level judging by the top-end equipment she was using. Then her coach arrived. I was intrigued. I didn't really want to go up to the lady and ask if I could take her picture but when her coach was there with her I felt I (along with my 3 year old son) would seem less of a threat :)
So after their workout was over Kole and I went over and introduced ourselves and they were happy to have some photos taken.
The coach (Peter Lawless) asked me if I knew who this athlete was. I sheepishly said no. He then went on to tell me she has set nine world records on the track and her name is Michelle Stilwell (http://www.mikeystilwell.com/).
Later Michelle asked if I'd be interested in coming back and doing some action shots of her and she'd wear her Team Canada kit. I was not going to turn this down!
So a few weeks passed and today Michelle was back in Duncan after flying all over North America doing speeches, PR stuff, etc...
I managed to get a few motion blur shots in focus, which is not very easy, at least for me. I like showing some motion for sports, otherwise you end up with a photo that looks like it could have been taken with the subject standing still. That to me is boring, unless it is a portrait, and that doesn't need to be blurred. That is unless it's a portrait of me, then it might actually look better...
The shot above has a lot of blur, the one below has much less, but you can still see a little blur from the spinning wheels.
Today Michelle was really working on her 100m sprints. After each run, she would stop and talk it over with Peter.
It was pretty hot out for this part of the world. 29 Celsius for Duncan is really warm. After the speed drills Michelle had time to just relax and tell me more about how she got into the sport. I really like to get people into this relaxed state as you can get some nice photos that don't look posed. The photo at the very top is Michelle just about to start munching on a bunch of blueberries (on her lap). It's always interesting to hear stories of how people get to where they are.
And this was just one more person who I met just because I had my camera with me and I wasn't afraid to ask. I wish Michelle all the best in her Olympic dreams and I'm sure this is a name I'll never forget!
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