One Game at a Time

Dave and I headed over to Water Polo before the baseball game ended. It was Dave's first water polo game (and just my third) so it was pretty enjoyable. There were a lot of Terrapin fans there, including some members of the Maryland pep band. Today's matchups were pretty good and put the cap on a great season for the Terps.

We arrived just before the third period and took our position towards the side of the pool where the Terps shot. Dave used his D3 and 300mm while I remained on my D200 and 400mm lens. The reach on the 400mm is great but at times it's just too close for water polo. A 300mm lens (or the full frame sensor on the D3) would make a big difference.

The lighting in the recreation center was great because the sun was still out. At night the light isn't great but it's still workable at ISO 1600. I noticed that Dave went to Auto-ISO for some shots. I like to stay static on my settings and vary my shutter speed if necessary.

The colors from Dave's shots were really vibrant. I think his white balance was off though. I need to do some work to figure out how to correctly adjust my white balance. I just set it to the incandescent pre-set and that works pretty well most of the time. But this afternoon's light was a blend of sunlight through the windows and overhead incandescent light. It'd be good to figure out how to actually do that.

I took a lot of notes using my recorder and they helped in my write-up. UM doesn't provide much of a box score for water polo and the article doesn't give too many details about who scored what and when. Having the recorder was a really great tool.

Please go read my article and view our photos of the Terrapins vs Michigan water polo match.

Sitting down and post-processing 2 baseball games and a water polo match on Saturday evening took a lot of work. But I got through the roughly 1,000 photos and got them uploaded to Flickr, DC Sports Box, and my media mirror. I wasn't able to write any articles or update my blog but I felt good that I was able to stay on top of the games. I figure that if I was actually a professional photographer it wouldn't be my job to write articles but I would be expected to produce my photos in a timely manner. In that regard I was pretty happy with myself.

But it was around 1:30am before Julie and I finally went to bed and my body was aching from tugging around all my lenses today. I can't wait for my new wheels to arrive on my Think Tank. Lifting that pack is horrible and it really put a strain on my neck and back muscles today.

As I went to bed I contemplated sleeping in on Sunday morning or getting up and going to the water polo game. If I slept in my body would like me better but then I would miss a game and more importantly I would miss some time. I thought that i I forced myself to get up and go to the game I would then be up to maybe crank out an article before the afternoon baseball game.

It ended up working. I dragged myself out of bed Sunday morning after about 6 hours of sleep and headed off to the recreation center for the water polo match. This time I had warm lenses because I brought my case in from my car last night. I just used the 400/2.8 lens on the D200. There was considerably more light in the pool area than last night because of the large number of windows that are present.

The match went quickly and we were even treated to an extra 2 periods of overtime. Maryland lost to Hartwick 16-17 in overtime, and you can view all my pictures at the DC Sports Box.

During the baseball games today Greg Fiume asked me if I was planning on heading over to Water Polo this evening. Since I don't track the Water Polo schedule I wasn't aware there was a game. And since Julie was up at her brother's house this afternoon I figured "why not."

I left Game #3 of Maryland vs Hofstra early and headed home to swap out some memory cards. I was freezing and really looking for an excuse to leave early. After being outside for nearly 6 hours in 40 degree temperatures and 20 - 30 mph winds I needed the comfort of indoors for 10 minutes. I also wanted to grab a quick bite to eat before heading back out.

I moved my photos over to my laptop and headed back to campus after indulging in a quick piece of dark chocolate. Over to the campus recreation center and the student parking lot behind it. I looked at the long climb I had ahead of me with my Think Tank pack and thought "I can't wait for those new wheels to arrive".

As I walked up towards the front desk I started thinking of what I would say to the receptionist. I didn't know where I should go or what hassle they would give me. I told her I was there for the water polo match and she sent me down to the spectator section. Good thing I brought my long lens.

I couldn't shoot the first half of the match because I had to wait for my lenses to warm up from being outdoors all day and being cold. The front element was fogged on both of them and it took about 25 minutes before everything was ready to go.

I took several shots and watched how the game was played. I've never watched a water polo game before so this was a first for me. Unfortunately the Terps lost 10-9 to Indiana in Day 1 of the 2008 Elite Six Tournament. As usual you can find my photos on the DC Sports Box.