Last week I attended a workshop, “Intense Moments: Photographing Sports”, hosted by veteran Sports Illustrated staff photographer Peter Read Miller. The event was coordinated by Working With Artists (WWA) and was an action-packed week photographing various sporting events in the Denver, CO area. In addition to Peter and his many years of experience (>90 SI covers), we were fortunate to have SI Director of Photography, Steve Fine, and SI’s expert assistants in attendance.

IT WAS AN INCREDIBLE WEEK. We shot mountain biking, fencing, basketball, boxing, collegiate track & field, and professional arena football at the Pepsi Center. Between shoots we attended various sessions (on lighting, remotes, SI, etc.) and then spent the balance of time editing thousands of digital images in search of our best work to submit for review at the post-shoot critiques… a unique learning experience. Besides the crits, I also enjoyed the informal networking and sharing of best practices with other photographers from around the world.

WWA did a fantastic job hosting and it was an honor to learn from the industry’s best. Special thanks to Peter Read Miller, Steve Fine, Grant Leighton, Max Morse, Andrew Loehman, Josh Sanseri, and Greg Cradick for giving me a fresh new perspective on photography — this was the best workshop I’ve attended in a long time!

Click here for some of my pics from the workshop.

I can’t believe I found this newspaper clipping in a pile of old papers at my parents’ house. It was the one time I made the front page of The Record Sunday Sports Section — May 15, 1983 (and also one of the few times I was in front of the camera). I won a few gold medals that year in the NJ State Sectional Championships and the Bergen County Championships… in the hurdles! Too funny.

My pics from the 2007 New York City Marathon are now up on Exit172… Hoboken, a 6th Ave Street Fair, Mile 25, and travels throughout Central Park. Enjoy.

Technorati Tags: nyc,marathon,running,new york city,lance armstrong,photography,sports

Just messing with some macro photography… a handheld shot of a 2005 Michael Schumacher Ferrari Formula 1 Hot Wheels model. Taken with a Nikon D100 and Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 macro lens. I forget the scale of this model, but it’s actually only 4 inches long. Click on the pic (and then “All Sizes”) to see the full-size image.

Here’s a link to some of my pics of the 1:1 scale model.

[2005 Formula 1 - US Grand Prix]

I’m a long time Mets fan and this year’s season was such a huge disappointment. However, you can always count on Conan O’Brien to lighten things up….

I had a great time this past weekend in upstate New York (in and around Ithaca). Went camping, cycling, hiking, and attended the NASCAR race at Watkins Glen.

Here are some pics from our 36 mile ride through the hills (over 2,600 feet in total elevation) and some light hiking through Robert H. Treman State Park. The hills on this ride really kicked my butt… the grade for one hill at Cornell University was 23.8%… steep! Ithaca and the Finger Lakes region is simply beautiful. I’ll definitely be back. Thanks for the great tour Darren!

Ithaca Cycling & Hiking

More cycling and exercise details here (be sure to export and view any of my rides in Google Earth… wild stuff!):

Dio’s Exercise Log
Dio’s MotionBased Digest

Here are my pictures from ‘AMD at The Glen’. Ironically, I took a bunch of pictures of Kevin Harvick’s car BEFORE the race (he won). Who knew?!

AMD at The Glen

I cycled more than 60 miles this past weekend on the Madone. Saturday was to Nyack Beach and Sunday was to Piermont/Alpine. Both were early morning rides to avoid the heat (yes, definitely summer time in Jersey). Sunday was supposed to be somewhat of a recovery ride, but after taking a different route home (via Route 9W), it quickly turned into a hill workout. Man, the hills kicked my butt! My legs were burning from the previous day’s ride, but it was very rewarding… especially the descent down Closter Dock Road — I almost got up to 50 mph. What a rush!

On Sunday I took my son to watch the 21st Annual North Jersey Cycling Classic in Park Ridge, NJ. It was hot and humid, but we had a great time. It’s great to see amateurs (kids and adults) and professionals compete for some cash. The race route was less than a mile, but the elevation changes were pretty tough. Even the pros were having a tough time. I took about 350 pictures of the event with my Nikon D100 and 80-200mm f/2.8 Nikkor zoom. The above pic is one of my favorites from the race (click on the thumbnail for a larger image). I need to find out who the rider is, so I can send him a copy. More pics coming soon in my Smugmug gallery (as soon as I catch up with the three family events before this one).

On a miscellaneous cycling note, I’m really liking Hammer Nutrition’s products, especially their gels. They’re not as sweet as GU2O or Power, but they seem to work better for me. I don’t think I could’ve climbed all those hills in Alpine without them. I’m also feeling pretty good after sampling their “Recoverite” recovery drink. Hammer also included a free booklet entitled “The Endurance Athlete’s Guide to Success” with my first order and it has really opened my eyes to proper hydration, electrolytes, complex carbs, protein, etc. Another plus is that Hammer sells their gels in bulk (jugs), which works great with those new Gel-Bot water bottles — Gel-Bots have an integrated flask for gels. No more fiddling with gel packets while riding. Great design!

UPDATE: Pictures from the 21st Annual North Jersey Cycling Classic are now posted on my Smugmug.

Also, if you’re interested in Hammer Nutrition products, please contact me for a discount code.

I was on vacation last week — fun times with family and friends. Sorry for the lack of updates, but I didn’t spend much time on the computer (I know, hard to believe).

I did have an opportunity to get some cycling in… almost 200 miles for the week (and I missed a day)! Found some new routes too (Nyack Beach on the Hudson River and a bike route/path near my house). Check out my Exercise page for details.

Some random cycling thoughts:

- I’m using my Suunto t6 again (I really missed the EPOC). Two HRM straps to wear (one for the Garmin Edge and one for the t6). No biggie.

- Suunto just announced some new watches and PODs (coming this fall). Is cycling cadence finally going to be available for the t6?!

- I rode my Trek 7.5 FX again (after a month with my Madone). Still a great bike.

- The Garmin Edge 305 and MotionBased really kick ass. What a great combo! Bought a cadence sensor for my Trek 7.5 FX, so now I can use the Edge with both bikes.

- I now prefer cycling bibs to regular cycling shorts (comfortable!!). Giordana makes some awesome cycling apparel.

- I’m used to riding on busy streets now, but still hate the exhaust fumes (buses are the worst). The latest issue of Mens Health magazine has an article on pollution and exercising in busy areas. Yup, not good for you.

- I saw most of the early stages of the Tour de France on OLN. I love cycling, but it can be difficult to watch (then again, I like to watch golf on TV too). It’s almost like a pro basketball game… you just need to tune in for the last few minutes for all the action. I’m sure the mountain stages will be more interesting to watch. It would be great to see Floyd Landis (Phonak) or George Hincapie (Discovery) win this year.

First they form a partnership with Intel and now they’ve been banned from Google, a.k.a the “Google Death Penalty”! I love their cars and motorcycles, but I’m not sure about all of this.

From what it looks like, the German websites of car maker BMW have been kicked out of the Google index. BMW.de at this time has a PageRank of 0. A search for BMW Germany, which only days ago yielded BMW.de as a top result, now doesn’t show any sign of BMW.de at all. Instead, BMW.com – BMW’s international site – is on top for this search.

[via Google BlogoScoped]

Hmmm, not sure what’s up with the NHL here (at least they’re playing this year!). At least NASCAR has some branded PC’s (with AMD processors!) out on the market…

Here’s a look at where the major US sports leagues stand in their adoption of social media. I’ve added a plugged-in symbol to the proper box if the league has adopted either blogs, podcasts or RSS. (Note: the NFL’s blogs are not on NFL.com but on the player association site. Only the blogs have feeds so I didn’t give the league a plug there.)

[more at Micro Persuasion]

LET’S-GO-RANGERS!

Hey golfers, the times are changing and so are some of the rules. It’s about time the USGA and R&A updated some of the more ridiculous old-fashioned rules. A few of those rules have been a bit excessive and have penalized players for some honest and harmless mistakes (the example in the article below comes to mind). Not that they’re big deals for the casual weekend golfer, but it could be a big deal ($$$) for those trying to earn a living.

For my own interests I especially like the changes regarding the use of GPS and rangefinders. Every now and then I get hassled by my playing partners that I’m cheating when I use a laser rangefinder during a round. My stance has always been that whether you know the correct distance for a particular shot or not, YOU STILL HAVE TO MAKE THE SHOT! No piece of technology — a titanium clubhead, ProV1 ball, or laser rangefinder is going to make it for you.

FAR HILLS, N.J. Sep 27, 2005 — The rule that got Mark Roe disqualified from the British Open two years ago when he forgot to swap scorecards with Jesper Parnevik has been revised to allow officials to correct the mistake without penalty.

That was among the 111 amendments to the “Decisions on the Rules of Golf,” which take effect Jan. 1.

Other changes allow for measuring devices, such as GPS systems or rangefinders, to be used at the discretion of tournament organizers. The Tight Lies Tour began using a GPS system this year for players who can’t afford caddies, hoping it would speed play.

[more at ABC News] [USGA News]

I never thought I’d see these again, but my high school Track & Field championship results (1983 Hurdles - NJ State and Bergen County) have shown up online. It was a nice surprise to see these results again. Brings back great memories. I still have my medals (~40) and a few pics, but vaguely remembered most of my times.

I loved the hurdles… I was pretty much the shortest out of everyone competing, but I could sprint and jump! My only regret was I didn’t compete my Senior year (that’s a post for another day).
Special thanks to Paul Schwartz and Jacob Brown for collecting and posting these online. I imagine it was a time consuming task.

Bergen County Group Track Championships
NJ State Sectional Track Championships

I’ve golfed only 5 times this year… depressing. This time last year I played well over 25 rounds by now. For some reason I just don’t have the same level of interest this year. I’ve enjoyed it when I’ve played (and I’ve hit the ball well too), but with work as busy as it is and personal commitments behind schedule, it’s simply taken a back seat. Hopefully I’ll get out a few more times this Fall. Hard to believe that I didn’t purchase any clubs this year!! At least I was able to catch the pros live at the PGA Championship at Baltusrol (Thanks again Joe!).