2012 March | April Book Photography

Scrum, Ruck, Maul… Rugby is intense!

By abook on March 22, 2012

Have you ever seen a game of Rugby? If you ask most people around here, they have never seen a Rugby game, nor had I until my sons started playing for our High School’s team. It’s an exciting game to watch, and a tough sport!! The players are incredibly intense and physical on the field. I take pictures for our high school’s team and truly enjoy being on the sidelines with my camera. The boys work so hard and the games are very exciting!

Rugby was the origin for American football, so it has some similarities to that game, but also is similar to soccer in the pace of the game. Play continues even though the ball or player carrying the ball is down. There is no forward passing and no blocking, and it seems as if you can kick the ball whenever you want. These and a million other rules, known as ‘laws’ in rugby, make the game very different from football and very hard to know really well! There is plenty of tackling, but there are no helmets or pads. The only protection for the players are ‘scrum caps’ and mouth guards. The boys do enjoy the camaraderie that rugby teaches them, both on and off the field.

This weekend I am travelling to visit my son and watch his college rugby team play, I can’t wait! Rugby players often continue playing the sport as adults and I anticipate my boys will as well. Below are some recent shots of our high school team. Notice the expressions on their faces, this game is intense!!!!

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Looks soft, but it’s prickly!

By abook on March 19, 2012

Yes, these photos are of a cactus plant! I had fun shooting lots of pictures of it and these are a few of my favorites. If you’ve read some of my previous posts, you know that I really love abstract photography. There is something about abstract photos that is unique and makes the mind work to process what they are. Or not decipher what the photo is, but just look and appreciate the colors and movement in the shot. I do like strong colors in my photos (when they’re not black and white), so I try and process them to take advantage of the colors that were in the original shot. Especially with abstract images, for me a variety of colors and high contrast enhances their look. To make these images, I move the camera while I’m shooting. But for me to like the image, even though they do contain some blur, there has to be some crispness, some area of clarity. Totally blurry doesn’t work for me, although I do see images that other people take that I appreciate even though they are all blur.

All of these images are of a cactus plant that I saw on the hike up Piestewa Peak in Phoenix. In one image I altered the color to more red and oranges to make it different from the others. I do like the curved one because your eye really can’t tell how prickly the original plant was! It was not a cactus that you would choose to touch or get too close to, but for photographing, it worked well!

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Some people experience panic attacks at the top…

By abook on March 14, 2012

This is what our guide said to us as we approached the top of Piestewa Peak in Phoenix, Arizona. As we started out that beautiful morning, I realized the hike was more challenging than I expected, especially since I was carrying a backpack of camera equipment. The trail turned out to be really steep and rocky, but the scenery and morning sunshine were beautiful. Along the way to the top were benches where people would stop and catch their breath or take a sip of water. I would try and snap a few shots of the view at these spots, while saying hello to the locals who hike there every morning.

When we reached the last bench before the top (80 percent of the 1.2 miles, according to our guide) he decided to inform us that people sometimes get panic attacks from this point up. The trail becomes much more steep, which isn’t appealing on the way up or back down. Well, I said, I’ll just wait here for you to climb up and meet me here on your way back down. I really didn’t want to experience a panic attack, which I have had in the past, and I was dying to have a few minutes to take some more pictures. Until this point, I had felt really rushed trying to snap anything at all. So, all in all a good hike even though I didn’t go all the way to the top, and here are some more of my shots. Most of these are from the 80% point (and so are the plants from yesterday’s post)… I’m glad I stayed there!

Arizona!

By abook on March 13, 2012

Have you ever had something you love to do, and even though you found it fulfilling and enjoyable sometimes still couldn’t get yourself motivated? That’s how I’ve felt with my photography over the past month or so. Maybe nothing was visually inspiring to me (where was all of our snow??) or I just couldn’t get myself out to shoot pictures. Whatever the reason, I got motivated again on a recent trip to Phoenix. The scenery and landscape there are so different than in the Northeast where I live. As soon as I arrived, I knew I just had to get out and take lots of pictures, and in particular hike up a peak that I could see from the airport. As usual, when I’m presented with an opportunity, I took many, many shots, but it never feels like enough! I wanted to get out again, but didn’t have a chance.

I hiked up Piestewa Peak, which was right near where we were staying. It was a challenging but fun hike, and the view going up was just beautiful. There were so many people who do this hike every morning for exercise (1.2 miles to the top). What an incredibly beautiful place to have your morning workout!! Certainly beats any gym! I took a break along the way to take some shots of the view and of the plant life growing around us. I’ll save the shots of the view for my next post and describe where I was when I took the shots and why. Until then, here are some of the plants and flowers that caught my eye along the way. Even that dry landscape can produce some beautiful and interesting flowers and berries!