On Assignment

With no home Michigan football game last Saturday, I was able to attend for the first time Michigan’s high school state cross country finals, held annually at Michigan International Speedway. It was my first time at MIS and I definitely caught the NASCAR bug (not as a fan–but as a photog).

Stephen Walker of Midland Dow sprints towards the finish line to claim first place, Saturday, November 1, 2008 during the Division 1 State Boys Cross Country Finals, at Michigan International Speedway, in Brooklyn, Mich. TONY DING/Special to the Free Press

Rochester’s Megan Goethals crosses the finish line first in the Division 1 Finals.

Runners sprint towards the finish in the Division 2 Boys Finals

Megan Goethals of Rochester leads Shannon Osika of Waterford Mott and third place finisher Rebecca Addison of Grand Haven into the final stretch of their Division 1 Finals.

Shannon Osika of Waterford Mott finishes second in Division 1.

Runners sprint towards the finish line in front of the MIS grandstands in the Division 1 Boys Finals.

The photogs were trucked around in two 15-person transport vans from the woods back to the finish-line. We took to the banked curves (opposite NASCAR direction) 8 times…topping 80ish mph…

Jackson Citizen-Patriot photographer Erik Holladay, left, and my other van-mates hang on for dear life…

We never did make a move on that first van…

I got tired of shooting from the ground, so i snuck up to the (very high) press box above MIS.

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This is another assignment I did for my video class this spring. Another kid did the audio part while I filmed the footage and produced it. We were supposed to showcase subtle sound effects…

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I’m managing to squeeze some free wifi today and so you guys get to see this funpic from my visit with the world press tour here in Beijing. We were taken to all the major venues of the 2008 summer games and the high light of that tour was a visit to the National Stadium, pictured above. Its still being constructed, so we all had to wear silly red helmets and were forbidden to take any pictures inside….

More to come later when i get more time and internet access!

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So I’m heading to China again next week, for a week to attend the 2nd World Press Briefing for next year’s Summer Olympics in Beijing. My mission will be to try and get as much stock photos as possible of all the competition venues in Beijing, and I’m also making a trip to Qingdao on the eastern coast as well, where they’ll hold the Olympic Sailing event.

If I get time and internet access, i’ll try to post updates.

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Last weekend I shot the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at the Palace of Auburn Hills (where the Detroit Pistons play). Can’t say I’ve shot too much wrestling in the past, although I do enjoy it because you can get some really nice shots, good emotions, and raw athletic imagery from this sport.

After two days of preliminary rounds, which I shot for New York Newsday, it was time for the final title “bouts” of the tournament.

I was at the Palace earlier in the day for the consolation matches, so during the afternoon break I watched work crews put together the center stage where the NCAA mat was placed. This gave me the idea to put a remote camera up as high as possible so I can get a bird’s eye view shot of the big center competition mat. Ideally I’d have liked to get a directly overhead shot, but the NCAA didn’t let us go up into the rafters. So this was a compromise. I put my mount as high as possible, right in the press box booth for TV cameras at the very top of the arena’s nose-bleed section.

Everything worked out great, as I was able to shoot the action from below with the rest of the photo pool against the side of the stage, but also got wide atmospheric shots of the arena with my mount, at the same time.

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