Fire In The 4th - Atlanta, GA Part 1

Howdy all

This will be a two part post about the Fire In The Fourth festival that was in Atlanta's Old 4th Ward on May 20, 2017.  This festival is about remembering the great fire that happen in Atlanta's old 4th ward.  Read more about it here.  I was picked to be one of the ten VIP photographers for the festival.  My assignment for the day was to shoot the Atlanta Freedom Marching Band, Showtyme Dancing Divas, and anything fast action.  

For this shoot I knew I would need to shoot with two cameras and didn't want to use the camera straps that came with my cameras. I purchased the OP/TECH USA Dual Harness.  This harness is reasonably priced and allow me to use both cameras with ease during the day.

My camera set up for this event was a Canon 7D with a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 telephoto lens and a Canon 5D Markiii with a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens.  Along with back up cards and batteries.  I had a four hour shift, but ended up staying near the of the festival.   

The threat of rain pushed the schedule back a bit.  Shooting the Atlanta Freedom Marching Band was a bit difficult because I was told they would march at a slow pace.  Well the pace they marched at was slow for them, it as not a slow pace.  There were times I was running further up the road just to get in position to shoot with the Canon 7D setup.  

Shooting the Showtyme Dancing Divas was fun and different.  I shot them mainly with the Canon 5D Markiii setup.  After the parade I walked around capturing shots of several acrobats and performers at the festival.  Towards the end of the night the fire performers were on the main stage and I didn't get a lot shots of them. Overall it was a fun and long day of shooting.  Shot over 1,800 photos that day.  Below are some I will share in this post. I will share the others in another post.

Thanks for reading

2AN

Nameless Fire Theater

Had an awesome time with the Atlanta Urban Photo Walkers this past Sunday.   This photo walk walked was a walking tour for the Fire In the 4th festival that will be in Atlanta this May.  This festival celebrating the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood.   For this walk several performers from Nameless FIre Theater performed their fire dancing routines for us.  This was the first time that I was able to be really close to fire dancers.   

Hope you enjoy the pics below.  Until next time.

2AN

West Hall vs Troup County - Georgia Highschool Playoffs

This past Thursday I had another opportunity to shoot the Troup County High School football team. Before I get into this I would like to thank lensrental.com for helping me with the shipping conflict with a shipping service that I will not name. Long story short is that there an the shipping services indicated that an attempt was made to deliver a package and it was not. But calling the lensrental.com and the shipper, we were able to resolve the issue and I received the lens in time.

With the lens in hand I had the same set up I had when I shot Troup County last time. My camera bodies were a Canon 5D Mark iii, and Canon 7D; lenses were Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 and a Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 lens. It was chilly that night and I the joy to experience the view finder fogging up several times during the game. Along with view finder fogging up, both teams were snapping the ball quickly. West Hall was snapping the ball within one second off the play clock. Several times I found myself not evening shooting a down because by the time I started to compose my shot the ball was snapped.

I had more success with using back focus and even though it was chilly outside it was still fun to shoot. The game was exciting. Troup County started off fast and West hall kept answering. In the end Troup County lost the game 24 - 21 on a costly interception in the end zone with seconds left in the 4th quarter. I learned that Troup County had a great season to finish 8-3. Why is this season considered great you ask? They were 1-9 last year. Gentlemen, congrats on a good season.

Thanks again for Troup County High school for allowing me to shoot their game. Below are some of the shots from the game. Until my next post

2AN

Lagrange vs Troup County

This past Friday I had an opportunity to shoot on the sidelines during the Lagrange vs Troup County high school football game in Lagrange, GA. The weather was nice and there was a huge turn out (earlier in the week I found out that this is the cross town rivalry).

For this game I rented a 5D Mark III and a Sigma 120-300 mm f/2.8 lens from LensRentals.com, and used my Canon 7D body, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens and Canon 24-70mm f 2.8 lens. The 5D Mark III is the first Full Frame camera I shot with. I must say that I was blown away with the quality of the shots I got with this camera. I didn't have a lot of time to play around with 5D Mark III but from the multiple AF points, low light ISO performance, and other features, this will be a camera I hope to get in the future. Now on to the game.

There was a lot a buzz in the air before the game. In the first half the game was close. In the 3rd quarter Troup County started to pull away. When the clock struck zero, Troup County won 37 - 26 over their cross town rival. There was a lot of nice people that helped me out at Calloway field and I was to thank Troup County High school for allowing me to shoot their game.

Thanks for visiting. 

2AN

 

Weekend Trip to Tampa, FL

There was one weekend where I went to Tampa to visit family and some friends.  For this trip I traveled light with just a carry on and a backpack. For this trip I took my Canon 7D and the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. 

Saturday morning I went to Ballast Point Park.  I got to the park around 9 a.m. and being close to the Hilsborough Bay, wow it was really hot and humid. I ended up walking north on Bayshore to take a couple of photos of the Adeste condos entrance and of a metal sculpture.  

 

After visiting some family and some friends, my next photo adventure took me to Ybor City.  I met a friend for lunch at Carmine's and took some shots in Ybor City.  It was a quick fun weekend and the next time I am in Tampa I am hoping capture some areas with my Canon. 

A shot of some spirits at Carmine's Bar and Resturant

Until my next post

2AN

Georgia Tech Hotel Parking Deck

It has been a while since my last post. Last weekend I caught up with the Atlanta Urban Photo Walkers MeetUp group. We all met up at the Georgia Tech Hotel Parking deck in Atlanta to shoot the Atlanta skyline. I arrived with the my old reliable Canon T1i and Sigma 18-200mm f/3.4 lens with a Tiffen 62mm 1.2 neutral density filter. I planned on shooting a time-lapse scene using a "bramping" technique. Last December I purchased TriggerTrap, an app that lets you control your DSLR camera, and began doing some "bramping" (bulb ramping) testing. Well, my bramping time-lapse scene didn't turn out the way I wanted, but I did have a few cool shots from the Meetup.

 

 

Later on that evening I got asked to join some other photographers to shoot the Atlanta skyline from a different location. We shot from the Coca-Cola parking deck in Centennial Park. This location was mentioned in a blog post, that talked about the top parking garages for photographers , by Ana Santos (She was at the Meetup also). Luckily, one of the photographers there allowed me to use a Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens with my Canon 7D body. Below are some of the shots I took with that lens. Hmmmmm, this lens might be an addition to my gear in the future, not near future.

You can check out more blog post by Ana Santos here. 

To see some of the work by the members of the Atlanta Urban Photo Walkers click here.

Enjoy

 

2AN.