INDOOR SWIMMING
February 8, 2006
Indoor swimming is a real challenge sometimes. Be sure to allow anywhere from 5 min. to 15 min. for your camera to warm up and get used to the humidity. I’ve had lenses fog badly if I’ve left them in the cold car for a while before coming into the pool area. The light in indoor pools is usually dim. For example, this photo was shot at 1000 ISO, 1/200th sec., f.2.8, 17mm, Nikon D2-H. I got this swimmer on a turn, so he was sharp at a 200th. “Panning” the camera is difficult because swimmers are bobbing up and down, but you can sometimes catch other peak action when a swimmer comes to the surface for air in the breaststroke and butterfly. This crop is “loose” because the whole idea of the assignment was to show this temporary tent above an otherwise outdoor pool.
Caption: Tyler Adams, 15, made his turn during a practice lap on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2006 at the Lexington Dolphins practice under a tent-covered pool at the Cumberland Hills neighborhood club in Lexington.
Rondo’s foot, Lofton’s mouth
February 8, 2006
Despite having Rajon Rondo’s foot land on his face, Tennessee’s Chris Lofton managed to hit this basket and make his foul shot on his way to his 31-point game against Kentucky last night. Rondo finished with 11 points and was 1-4 from the free-throw line. Shot with Canon 1D, 300mm at f 3.2, 500th sec. More photos can be seen in our game slide show here.
Universal Language of Smiles
February 3, 2006
When I first met Waghdan Aljayashee, an Iraqi girl who is staying in Lexington, I felt at a disadvantage because I don’t understand a word of Arabic. But I am fluent in the universal language of smiles and hers is one of the nicest I’ve seen anywhere. Since then I have learned a few words in Arabic and she has learned a few in English. But we still mostly get by on smiles and nods.
Yesterday, she had her first pediatrician visit where she was weighed, examined and vaccinated. She grimaced for the shots but—you guessed it—smiled through the rest. Next week she will have her first visit to Shriners Hospital for Children in Cincinnati, where she will get skin grafts to treat burn injuries on her chest. No doubt she will smile through that as well.
Spot News
February 1, 2006
Sometimes we hear about spot news events from our police and fire scanners. Sometimes we hear about spot news events from telephone tips to the newsroom. But sometimes spot news events just happen in front of us.
I was off work yesterday and was driving back to Lexington on U.S. 27 after a quick morning trip to Monticello, Ky. As I approached the bridge over the Kentucky River at the Garrard County/Jessamine County line, I ran into a long line of stopped traffic with police officers out of their cruisers walking along the road. Without a clue as to what was happening, I grabbed my cameras and talked to Kentucky State Trooper Bob Amon who informed me that a bank had been robbed in Lancaster and that the police had arrested the suspects just up the hill from the river. As law enforcement officers from various agencies pursued the bank robbers, the suspects had thrown some of the stolen money out their window. Several motorists got out of their cars and watched as police officers scoured the roadside picking up stolen money. Go to Kentucky.com to read the complete story. Charles Bertram
