Long time friends of mine will already be aware that I have a secret love affair with my camera. What I really love is action photography, specifically, high school or youth sporting events, because there's no better center of focus than a young person's sheer elation while competing in something they love. I find the cathartic release obtained through providing memories caught for eternity to young people I have met through coaching or family interactions both intoxicating and exhilarating. Unfortunately, this cursed pandemic put a large proverbial monkey-wrench in the youth sport gears over the past 2 years, but thankfully, schools have bravely risen to the challenge of post-pandemic activities and I recently found myself behind the lens again. To say I was pleased is the understatement of the decade.
The subject of the day was rugby, as it often is, and the location was a high school in my adopted home of Guelph where I have created some new friendships as an emergency supply teacher. The classroom conversations inevitably swing towards extracurriculars and I boldly surmised that I could "kill two birds with one stone" as the saying goes ... scratch my lens itch while providing the kiddos with some things for their "Gram" or other social medias.
Way, way back, I had always been amazed at the skill some display wielding an SLR, or something akin, and I was motivated to learn more when then principal Russ Atkinson asked me ... actually tasked me ... with running the Barrie Central Yearbook. Since I was already interested in photography and I now had to teach others how to be proficient, I concluded that I had better start learning more about the confounded device.
My dear old dad chose Nikkor when I was a young lad, and that skewed my opinion of which camera manufacturers were the best, so it made perfect sense to me to become a Nikon guy. When pressed by students in my Yearbook class, I really didn't have a plausible argument other than that was what I knew. We were blessed to have a number of Nikon models so many of my lessons were centered on the workings of Nikon, but also had a few Canon's donated to the program so I was able to become familiar with those. I've had a relatively small number of students bring their own Sony or Pentax in but I didn't use them so I can't really form an opinion, but I'd wager that all SLRs are inherently the same, other than buttons being in different locations somewhere on the camera body. One opinion I formed, rightly or wrongly, is that Canon lenses are top of the field, while Nikon bodies are the most desirable.
Near the end of my time teaching both photography and Yearbook that spanned Central to North, a few students brought in mirrorless models of various manufacturers, and since they were enthralled about this "new" trend, I let them teach me the value of it's system, according to them at least. Based solely on the relatively few opportunities I've had to use a mirrorless model, I think I still prefer my ol' SLR, but that's likely a comfort thing rather than a proficiency thing.
Getting back to the task at hand, the day was moderately warm, the sunshine brilliant, the excitement of the school high (since it was a home opener), and the commitment of the athletes was full on as I gleefully snapped to my heart's content during the Varsity Girl's, Jr Boy's and Sr Boy's friendlies. Considering the noticeable absence of rugby experience over the past 2 school years, the execution of both skills and knowledge was surprisingly high, and I must confess that I missed a few outstanding opportunities because I was busy being a fan. Trying to get back into the saddle, I had to perform some minor post-production tweaks to them to correct the small errors of judgement in camera settings as the sun conditions changed over the afternoon. Having said that, I was mostly pleased with my efforts.
The next challenge is to get the few Gigs of pics to the coaches so that they can figure out how they wish to share my work with the athletes. It was much easier when I was on staff at a school since I was already known to the parents and admin, plus I had access to the school network, but enlisting the assistance of a friend on staff to help me, uploading the lot to the school network was easy peasy. I chose not to post the lot on-line because I wasn't sure what that school's attitude was about their on-line presence. Giving the coaches access and letting them decide how to share them with the athletes seemed to be the most prudent choice.
After all was said and done, I don't mind admitting that I'm "Jonesing" for another opportunity! The rugby schedule seems to be at odds with the local forecast, and although I'm being altruistic, I'm not embracing the idea of snapping in the rain.
Maybe Ma Nature will change her mind ... fingers crossed.
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