Police Coast Guard - Sea Sports Carnival
My off day was burnt for the sake of the annual "Sea Sports Carnival". While it sounds like a great event to attend, actually, it is no more than an overhyped water sports contest. Water sports meaning "human powered water sports". No water skiing or jetboating or the like.
It had to be my team's off day, so in the end the whole entire group was forced to go to "make up the crowd". I mean, it it were something worth going to, there wouldn't be any problem drawing people to the event. Unfortunately this is not the case. As the morning started the whole lot of us were just languishing at the seats on the jetty.
Before the first event was even over, I looked around and noticed that half of everyone requested to "support" the event had already dissapeared! In this case, I just played with my camera and took a few shots before it was lunch break.
It really wasn't a good day to take photographs. It was raining, the lighting conditions were poor for daylight and in general, the mood just sucked. Even my photography skills took a nose dive today. I snapped about 520 photos. And in the end, I had more than 400 blur photographs. How sad and miserable is that? In the end, I can still cough up an acceptable photo gallery of sorts.
I ended up boarding one of the safety boats for the day to take photographs. My team was assigned to do "duty" for 3 safety boats and I chose the one that would be following the participants throughout to get a better vantage view point. It was an inflatable rugger dinghy powered by a 200 horsepower outboard motor engine. So when it basically revs up when it goes at top speed.
Today, the shortcomings of my equipment became absolutely clear. Not just me, the lousy photographer, but the equipment I own is rather sub-standard as well. Its true when they say that super expensive telephoto lenses and super expensive camera bodies exist for only two times of photographers: Sports and Photojournalists. My zoom lens cannot zoom far enough, my shutter lag is too long, 3 frames per second is pathetic, and overall my photographs were an absolute disaster.
I had brought along a monopod to be attached to my camera. All the while I was afraid that I might just drop the entire contraption into the sea. What really killed all my pictures today was the vibration of the boat. Basically I zoom very far and try to capture my subjects. And because of the very slight, but because of the very very very fast and constant vibration of the boat, all my photographs look like they are shot out of focus. A monopod on solid ground makes it easy to get nice photographs with long zoom lenses. Unfortunately in this case, it only served to transfer a tremendou amount of imperceptible vibration to my camera lens.
I thought that I would come home to plenty of good photographs. But this was not to be so as almost every one of my photographs were just lacking in the necessary focus. Not just out of focus, but very "soft" as well. It was as though I shot the entire even through a soft lens filter. I did my best, so I'll take this as a learning lesson - time to spend good money on expensive Vibration Reduction lenses. I just wonder if the VR capabilities on such lenses can really help like in my case - shooting with a monopod from a boat that vibrates very quickly throughout.
Most of my good shots were wasted. They look ok on the preview LCD screen. Yet it is only when they are loaded into a computer can the real focus be seen in good clarity. Or maybe I ought to just switch to Canon and pray ever so hard that my dad will sponser me with a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II on my 21st birthday next year. And er, a 600mm f/4 lens as well.
It was a rare experience to shoot from a moving boat. Whereas most people on the jetty never got to see much of the action, less capture it, our safety boat went in a parrallel path to all the competitive dragonboat races held in the Kallang Basin. So I do have many blur shots of such:
The other thing that my team was forced to do, besides, being "supporters" as well as "safety boat crew" was to build a raft for the "creative raft competition". My team didn't have a single idea what to do until early in the morning when they raced to build one entirely from scratch. Other groups had taken days or even weeks to complete theirs. But we were doing the impossible.
The ironic thing was that our raft floated will most of the other groups' sunk. And it could support all 4 members of our team inside it. Other group's rafts usually had two persons inside only and two others supporting the raft swimming alongside it. Once again, shot at 450mm with a high shutter speed. But it is not able to help make anything look sharper or better. Sigh
I guess the saving grace of the day was that for the last competitive dragonboat match that I photographed, half the photographs came out clear. Not razor sharp as I wish, but clear enough to be used for publication. I was quite surprised that at the end of the whole event, some of the staff in the base approached me to provide them with prints, so that it could be published in the coast guard's newsletter. Not too bad a start for me? My work actually gets a that tad little bit of recognition, and I'm happy for this starting off opportunity.
One day I'll be a hasselblad master photographer!
In the meantime, I know myself that I've steered clear of writing on philosophy and stuff. I guess my new found interest has sucked away all the "creative brain thinking process" in me when I come to ponder of issues of life. And lately there have been many things buzzing around on the Internet that I so want to give my take on. Yet, I realise its not worth it to be a stirrer of controversy. Just be a photographer! Sit in one corner and take nice photographs that everyone can appreciate. Its like a service to humanity. Haha!
My off day was burnt for the sake of the annual "Sea Sports Carnival". While it sounds like a great event to attend, actually, it is no more than an overhyped water sports contest. Water sports meaning "human powered water sports". No water skiing or jetboating or the like.
It had to be my team's off day, so in the end the whole entire group was forced to go to "make up the crowd". I mean, it it were something worth going to, there wouldn't be any problem drawing people to the event. Unfortunately this is not the case. As the morning started the whole lot of us were just languishing at the seats on the jetty.
Before the first event was even over, I looked around and noticed that half of everyone requested to "support" the event had already dissapeared! In this case, I just played with my camera and took a few shots before it was lunch break.
It really wasn't a good day to take photographs. It was raining, the lighting conditions were poor for daylight and in general, the mood just sucked. Even my photography skills took a nose dive today. I snapped about 520 photos. And in the end, I had more than 400 blur photographs. How sad and miserable is that? In the end, I can still cough up an acceptable photo gallery of sorts.
I ended up boarding one of the safety boats for the day to take photographs. My team was assigned to do "duty" for 3 safety boats and I chose the one that would be following the participants throughout to get a better vantage view point. It was an inflatable rugger dinghy powered by a 200 horsepower outboard motor engine. So when it basically revs up when it goes at top speed.
Today, the shortcomings of my equipment became absolutely clear. Not just me, the lousy photographer, but the equipment I own is rather sub-standard as well. Its true when they say that super expensive telephoto lenses and super expensive camera bodies exist for only two times of photographers: Sports and Photojournalists. My zoom lens cannot zoom far enough, my shutter lag is too long, 3 frames per second is pathetic, and overall my photographs were an absolute disaster.
I had brought along a monopod to be attached to my camera. All the while I was afraid that I might just drop the entire contraption into the sea. What really killed all my pictures today was the vibration of the boat. Basically I zoom very far and try to capture my subjects. And because of the very slight, but because of the very very very fast and constant vibration of the boat, all my photographs look like they are shot out of focus. A monopod on solid ground makes it easy to get nice photographs with long zoom lenses. Unfortunately in this case, it only served to transfer a tremendou amount of imperceptible vibration to my camera lens.
I thought that I would come home to plenty of good photographs. But this was not to be so as almost every one of my photographs were just lacking in the necessary focus. Not just out of focus, but very "soft" as well. It was as though I shot the entire even through a soft lens filter. I did my best, so I'll take this as a learning lesson - time to spend good money on expensive Vibration Reduction lenses. I just wonder if the VR capabilities on such lenses can really help like in my case - shooting with a monopod from a boat that vibrates very quickly throughout.
Most of my good shots were wasted. They look ok on the preview LCD screen. Yet it is only when they are loaded into a computer can the real focus be seen in good clarity. Or maybe I ought to just switch to Canon and pray ever so hard that my dad will sponser me with a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II on my 21st birthday next year. And er, a 600mm f/4 lens as well.
It was a rare experience to shoot from a moving boat. Whereas most people on the jetty never got to see much of the action, less capture it, our safety boat went in a parrallel path to all the competitive dragonboat races held in the Kallang Basin. So I do have many blur shots of such:
The other thing that my team was forced to do, besides, being "supporters" as well as "safety boat crew" was to build a raft for the "creative raft competition". My team didn't have a single idea what to do until early in the morning when they raced to build one entirely from scratch. Other groups had taken days or even weeks to complete theirs. But we were doing the impossible.
The ironic thing was that our raft floated will most of the other groups' sunk. And it could support all 4 members of our team inside it. Other group's rafts usually had two persons inside only and two others supporting the raft swimming alongside it. Once again, shot at 450mm with a high shutter speed. But it is not able to help make anything look sharper or better. Sigh
I guess the saving grace of the day was that for the last competitive dragonboat match that I photographed, half the photographs came out clear. Not razor sharp as I wish, but clear enough to be used for publication. I was quite surprised that at the end of the whole event, some of the staff in the base approached me to provide them with prints, so that it could be published in the coast guard's newsletter. Not too bad a start for me? My work actually gets a that tad little bit of recognition, and I'm happy for this starting off opportunity.
One day I'll be a hasselblad master photographer!
In the meantime, I know myself that I've steered clear of writing on philosophy and stuff. I guess my new found interest has sucked away all the "creative brain thinking process" in me when I come to ponder of issues of life. And lately there have been many things buzzing around on the Internet that I so want to give my take on. Yet, I realise its not worth it to be a stirrer of controversy. Just be a photographer! Sit in one corner and take nice photographs that everyone can appreciate. Its like a service to humanity. Haha!
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