[Leica] Pan Pacific Swimming Championships -Victoria- Canada.

[walt at waltjohnson.com (Walt Johnson)]

Let's all hear it for gray power! Love your stories and your images..

Walt

p.s one of these days remind me to post a few notes about E.D. Newcomer, 
Arizona's first news photographer. He was a family friend and a hell of 
a man.

Ted Grant wrote:

> Howdy Crew,
> The Pan Pacific Swimming Championships are being held in my home town, 
> Victoria , Canada. That means every country with a national swimming 
> team on the Pacific Rim are here to challenge each other. A fantastic 
> event if one is interested in the sport of swimming.
>
> For many years covering Olympics and many other international events, 
> swimming has always been a favourite of mine to cover. Not the 
> easiest, but a challenge never the less, but I usually did not too bad.
>
> However, this being the opening day of the Pan Pac events I have to 
> confess the swimmers these days are so fast that when there face comes 
> out for a breath of air turned in my direction with that moment to 
> shoot! Damn they're going so fast that my usual "manual super fast 
> focus" tricks are slower than an 89 year old grandpa! ;-)
>
> Ok what the heck, so I'm only 77, but numbers don't mean anything, 
> Right? ;-) But these kids are flying through the water! ;-) OK, so I 
> may be a slight bit slower! ;-)
>
> Quite frankly this sport has evolved into an "auto-focus sport or 
> forget it!" :-) And damn I was so fast with manual focus Leica glass 
> for years with a 280mm or 400 mm lens I rarely got beat! :-) Oh I did 
> on occasion, but not often! :-)
>
> Every other news photographer there was..."DIGITAL!" And auto focus, 
> period!
>
> But dang these young swim folks are at least 150% faster then they 
> were when I was a young lad back about '92 Summer Olympics! :-)
>
> Today for the opening events in the morning and this evening I did get 
> a few "good ones" but I'll not bore you with the numbers of "bad 
> ones!" ;-) That's life in the "old folks-youth lanes!" ;-)
>
> But here's one from this morning that wasn't too bad:
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/The-Art-of-Observation/Japanese_swimmer
>
> I'm about to edit a couple of hundred frames some from this evening's 
> events and if you don't see any posted do not fret! That's life in the 
> really really slow lane when you get over the hill!" ;-) When I should 
> spend my time watching clouds form and grass grow! ;-)
>
> Smart ass comments from the young guys now in their late fifties whom 
> I was a sort of mentor to... "OK you can shoot the medal presentations 
> because nobody is moving!" " The other situation you can shoot when 
> the swimmer reaches the end of the race and they turn to look at the 
> clock for their time." :-)
>
> Then they all laugh at my expense. :-)
>
> Oh there were a couple of unrepeatable ones! ;-) Indicating frailty of 
> old age! :-)
> Damn smarty ass young fellows! :-) But the one underlying thing with 
> all this fooling around and comments is...  "the respect offered by 
> them for my years and as a mentor!" One can't buy that kind of 
> respect, so it means a great deal.
>
> But dang these kids from all over the Pacific are extremely good... 
> and without question, fast! :-) No it isn't I'm slower, be kind now 
> I'm an elder citizen in the community! ;-) They are super fast in the 
> water!
>
> ted
>
>
>
>
>
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