the most cleanest derby background ever: Compelling frame. lesson 1. frame 3.

22 June 2013. Memorial Auditorium. Sacramento, CA.
Sacred City vs Viva Roller Derby.
M9 Monochrome + 90 summicron.

so, yeah, it's another shot from the inside track of a jammer -- maybe not the most intensist derby action ever.  The judges in the old Roller Derby Photo Contest would go on about CLEAN backgrounds. 

And derby photographers would respond (perhaps only in their own heads) how is that even possible?  There's the whiteboard center track and SEVEN referees on skates, never mind the NSOs.

This is Skirt Vonnegut, after she skated for Silicon Valley and before she skated for Santa Cruz.  She skated for Sacred City.

1.   intent.  It is what it is. A lead jammer in that in between moments after she's broken through the pack and before she encounters the pack again.
2. yes, horizontal.  I believe the image is lightly cropped. I could have chosen to crop out the out of focus ref's hand indicating lead jammer, but the out of focus hand tells a story.
3. As I said before, this is a derby bout photo with the cleanest background.  I love how the line of the outside track boundary and the boundary between the track and the black are slightly out of focus.  This may not answer the question as asked but it is the answer I have.
4. I may have used on-camera flash for this --- but I may not have as this turn was lit a bit more than elsewhere on the rack.  Her face is lit, the track is lit--- the background is jet black.  It's the perfect light for this photo.
5. I'm at turn 3-4 center track. I'm standing which makes me slightly above the subject.
6. Jammer is skating from righto left with some room within the frame to skate into.
7. This is really just a "full body" derby portrait of a jammer through turn three --- no repeated elements.  
8. You could make the case for cropping out the out of focus referee's hand.  I didn't crop that out.
9. black and white with a black and white camera.  Imagine the colors --- dark scarlet of Sacred City's uniforms.
10. I believe the image is balanced with the jammer just right of center frame with room within the frame to skate into.