Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/11/21

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Swimming! NOW: How to!
From: Adam Bridge <abridge@mac.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 18:59:49 -0800

On 11/21/02 Ted Grant  wrote:

>
>Ok Adam old buddy,
>fess up. ;-)  You either were a competive swimmer, coach or you've shot a
>lot of swimming to understand and make those observations. All excellent for
>any Leica user thinking of photographing swimming, local, school, or high
>end competition.
>Thanks Adam,
>ted
>
>

Worse than any of those things: I'm a National Championship swimming official
for USA Swimming (the national governing body for swimming in the United
States.) I got to work the USA Olympic Trials in Indianapolis a few years ago -
it was a fantastic experience. I have a few photos that I'm scrounging around
for and will post that I took of the photographers who were there at the meet. I
had my M6 with a 50mm and 90mm lens. It looked so small and insignificant
compared to the huge Canon outfits that otherwise dominated the shooters. I
think I saw a single Nikon in use by the press corps. I chatted with several of
the pros who were shooting and several had recently moved to Canon digital
cameras from Nikon.

I also have some experience shooting video of meets so I've watched some of this
quite critically and I've done the cover photography for the Sierra Nevada Swim
Guide for the past three years.

I enjoy the world of swimming quite a bit but, unfortunately, I've stood on too
many concrete decks and my knees are in pretty grim condition so I don't do a
whole lot of officiating recently. I'm hoping to dump some more weight which
will hopefully let me get back on deck again.

Did you shoot swimming at the Olympics Ted, I remember you telling stories about
track and field.

I hope I have (somewhat) inspired a new photographer to take the time to learn
the sport. One thing I know is that you have to have a feel for a sport before
you can really photograph it. I'd have to watch a lot of water polo before I
could attempt to do quality photography.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Ted, and for asking.

Adam
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