MBDD debut: Cannery Rollers vs Babes of Wrath

The full flickr set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/sets/72157626053521547/

On my second consecutive evening of derby I drove down to Marina, CA to see the first inter-league bout of the newly formed league, the Monterey Bay Derby Dames.  The bout was held at Water City Roller Hockey Rink




The venue is a hanger lit with HID lights. There is suicide and chair seating in the "end-zones" and there are  bleachers behind some glass and netting on one side of the track. I forgot to bring my 15mm lens to get a super-wide angle of the venue, so you'll just kind of have to imagine a single wide angle view from these photos.







It was good to see a bunch of familiar faces from Santa Cruz and Silicon Valley.  Mildred Fierce and Pia Mess called the bout.  There are a few roller girls and fans that used to be in the Santa Cruz league that are now with the Monterey league. There was several Santa Cruz refs, and there was a bunch of Santa Cruz Derby Girls in the audience.



I did use flash some, but I forgot to bring any gels... and so I confirmed what other photogs probably already know. The color of HID lighting is similar to fluorescent lighting (notice the green cast in the background when using flash)



One thing we got which we don't get in Santa Cruz is the National Anthem



Sometimes I miss the league teams in Santa Cruz, but in Monterey we got 'em with more or less a friendly rivalry between the Cannery Rollers (in yellow) and the Babes of Wrath (in purple, with a turtle mascot).



The Babes of Wrath held a half time lead of 35 to 60, only to see the Cannery Rollers surge to the win of 106 to 88.

A few more photos:


















A night of good derby comes to an end. I'm sure the Monterey Bay Derby Dames are proud of their first bout.



The full flickr set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/sets/72157626053521547/

BAD Girls: SF ShEvil Dead vs Richmond Wrecking Belles

The full flickr set is here:   http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/sets/72157626157695700/

I braved the great Bay Area snowmageddon of 2011 to make it to the Craneway Pavillion in Richmond for a Bay Area Derby Girls interleague bout: San Francisco ShEvil Dead vs the Richmond Wrecking Belles.

I got there a little later than usual, so I parked my self in the suicide zone at turn 3 instead of turn 1. 

The light is a little different at turn 3 than at turn 1.  There might be a bit more light at turn 1, but I still have used flash there.... hoping to add a little bit of light with the flash.  Now my camera has a lot of manual controls, but it does have a light meter and it's own little brain, and the fancy flash on top of it has it's own little brain, and they talk to each other. But many times during the Bay Area vs. Cincy bout last year, they would conspire to set off an atomic bomb, like this one:



I'd see the bomb go off in the view finder, but I don't know if anyone else experienced this as an atomic bomb or not.

But this time around, at turn 3, the scene is fairly strongly back lit, which can result in some low-contrasty lens flare, but the fancy flash seemed to handle itself fairly well at turn 3 (just like the manufacturer's glossy brochures says it should). No atomic bombs, this time around.

I got some nice shadows from the back light


and you can still see an example of lens flare (upper right) in this photo



I'm just going to make some cryptic notes about the secret sauce here (w/ flash: camera ISO 1250, EV -2/3. flash: TTL (f2.8) EV -2).

And a few more photos














The full flickr set is here:   http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/sets/72157626157695700/

Santa Cruz Boardwalk Bombshells vs Bay Area's Berkeley Resistance (January 29, 2011)

Bout photos can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/sets/72157625935507902/ 

The Santa Cruz Boardwalk Bombshells host Bay Area's Berkeley Resistance in a closed scrimmage at a westside warehouse.



As you can see, the middle of the track is not occupied with seating for the teams, and so I was able to shoot from the middle of the track for the first time. 

As you may already know, I shoot with a camera that is a little unconventional in that there is no auto focus, only manual focus.  When I shoot from the outside of the track, usually the roller girls will skate into focus and then out of focus (I very rarely try to chase after the roller girls with the focus ring of the lens).  Last weekend I discovered that the roller girls can skate around and around the track, and if they skate far on the outside the whole time, they may never skate into focus.  But I did manage to get a few good shots from the inside.







The Berkeley Resistance is a new league team for Bay Area (joining the existing BADG league teams, the Oakland Outlaws, the SF ShEvil Dead, and the Richmond Wrecking Belles). Maybe half of Berkeley's roster are new skaters and half are from the other league teams.

Berkeley's team roster can be found here: www.facebook.com/pages/TheBerkeleyResistance/108727882529761.  

Santa Cruz's roster can be found here: http://www.santacruzderbygirls.org/teams/boardwalk-bombshells).

best of 2010

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/sets/72157625665438316/



Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

flash attack!

What are the chances I'll catch another photog's flash in my photo? Actually the chances are really really small.  But it does happen occasionally. 


jammin' by nocklebeast

Now the interesting thing about looking through the viewfinder of a rangefinder is that sometimes I actually see the flash go off (there is no moving mirror that blocks my view as in an SLR).   One of my favorite photographs isn't very good. But it's one of my favorites because of how I experienced taking the photograph.  I see Boss Hogg's flash go off in the viewfinder, and it all happens in slow motion, as I'm suddenly aware of him far far in the background.


Blinded by Boss Hogg by nocklebeast

Other times I won't see the flash in the viewfinder, but when the image pops up on the little TV screen on the back of the camera, I wonder if my camera's light meter is broken.

 
 what are the chances I'll catch another photog's flash in my photo? by nocklebeast

The photo above was particularly hard to try to "fix" in software as the camera (in auto-ISO mode) metered at ISO 2500, but really the ISO should have been about ISO 320 or 160, after the flash cannon went off. It has a very low contrast almost solarized sort of look.



I actually caught Adrian Valenzuela's "flash cannons" (I think they were "alien bees") several times that night (Santa Cruz plays Jet City's Pink Pistols).


Sheila skates in bright light by nocklebeast


again! by nocklebeast


bringing it home to Candieland by nocklebeast


lots of numbers on the 3-foul white board list  by nocklebeast

Ever since then sometimes other photographers helpfully supply some off camera flash for me (which makes me sometimes wonder...hmmm.... maybe there's something to this notion of off-camera flash).



flashed by nocklebeast

I think the off-camera flash at last year's Westerns (Derby on the Rocks in Denver) was helpfully supplied by Joe Rollerfan, but I can't be sure



Foul Bundy examines the line by nocklebeast


flashed by nocklebeast


flashed by nocklebeast

In this case the off-camera flash totally changed the nature of the color shift when shooting cross-processed slide film.



flash attack by nocklebeast

In fact, most of the time I'll convert the photos to black and white because in addition to confusing the camera's exposure, it will confuse the cameras auto-white balance.  And often I won't be able to get the correct color adjustment in software, but sometimes I'll get close.

 

Some more "flash attacks" by other photogs:


off camera flash by nocklebeast


flash attack by nocklebeast


catching another photog's flash by nocklebeast


Roxy flashed me. by nocklebeast

And really, it's probably just as well, that most of the photogs at Rollin' on the River were not told that flash wasn't allowed.



the ref has a halo by nocklebeast

my shameless confession

My name is Mark “nocklebeast” Nockleby and I’m a roller derby fan and photographer.

My interest in photography has waxed and waned and waxed again since junior high/high school when I shot with a Minolta XG-M.  I took a black and white photography course in college.

hydrant by nocklebeast (1989)
 

After a dry spell, I was seduced my “lomography” and plastic cameras.   

Walkin' the dog by nocklebeast (2007)

My experience with digital photography started with a couple of crappy point and shoots, which I mostly used to take photos of potholes. So I could more effectively complain about them.

Front Street pothole by nocklebeast (2007)

In the summer of 2007, I saw my first roller derby bout, the first round of the Rat City playoffs. It was epic.  I wrote a gushing fan boy account of the bout here: http://nocklebeast.blogspot.com/2010/03/it-only-takes-one-bout-to-get-hooked-on.html. 

For my choice of my first fancy digital camera, the seed was planted by a friend in Seattle, and in February 2008, I succumbed to Leica’s marketing and the notion of shooting with a digital camera with the least amount of computer in it.  One of the design goals of Leica’s first digital rangefinder was to use the same lenses as their film rangefinders, which meant lenses with manual aperture and manual focus. 

Does this lens work? by nocklebeast (2008)

In March 2008, I found a Santa Cruz Sentinel article about Santa Cruz Roller Girls’ first bout at the Civic. I kicked myself for missing it, and I immediately went online to buy tickets for the next bout.  The Civic’s website said that photography is forbidden for some of their events.  “Oh, I just got this fancy new camera! That would be a blast!”  (Never mind that rangefinders are supposedly not suited to sports photography).  I haven’t missed a Santa Cruz bout since (and I still occasionally shoot film at the bouts).

 Get the jammer  by nocklebeast (2008)

skating through trouble and green slime by nocklebeast (2010)


reaching by nocklebeast (2010)

I’ve also attended some Silicon Valley and Bay Area bouts, and some WFTDA tournaments, and I made it back to Seattle for one Rat City bout since my first bout there.

Pia with the star off by nocklebeast (2009)


Burlybot skates fast by nocklebeast (2010)


blowin' kisses to the crowd by nocklebeast (2008)

 
 Hambone, watching, waiting by nocklebeast (2009)


Dumptruck calls it by nocklebeast (2010)


jammin' by nocklebeast (2010)


Psycho Babble by nocklebeast (2010)


put me in Coach by nocklebeast (2009)

prints

Every once in a while someone will ask me about prints.

For now, I'm not into trying to make money on prints. I'm just not.

But, that doesn't mean that you can't get prints, as I upload fairly high resolution versions of (derby) photos to my flickr page.

Normal resolution scans of 35mm film will be about 1544 x 1024 pixels big.

High resolution scans of 35mm film will be about 2048 x 3089 pixels big.

For the photos from my digital camera, I usually upload photos at 60% of full size to flickr so it doesn't take so long to upload.  These photos are 2350 x 1580 pixels big.  This is the size available for last weekend's bout. I think this size is okay for 8 by 12 inch prints.

Occassionally, I will upload photos at 100% size (3916 x 2634 pixels) like I did for last year's prom.

If you see a (digital) photo for which you want the largest size and it's only at the 60% size on the flickr site, send me a flickr-mail or a facebook-mail or whatever, and I'll find the original "digital negative" and I'll make a new "print" at the full size and re-upload it to flickr.

If it's a film photo the largest size is what's already on flickr.

My flickr account should be set up so that you can get to the original size photos without having a flickr account or sign into a flickr account. Here's one way to navigate to the original (largest) size photo that you'd like to get printed.

Click on the photo or on the magnifiying glass above the photo to the right.



After that page loads, click on "view all sizes" on the upper right.



Then click on "original" size on the upper right (that's where you'll see how many pixels the largest size is).



Once you got the largest resolution copies of photos you want printed, you take them to a place to get them printed.  Locally, that means Bay Photo.  That's where I get my film processed, and I've heard good things about their printing, but I haven't actually got prints from them for quite awhile.   I'm going to get a handful of 8x12 prints soon just to see how they look.  They do their printing locally, so their turn around times should be pretty good.  I've talked with them, and you could browse flickr for photos in their store, it sounds like they would prefer that you do all your flickr browsing at home first and bring in the high-res copies on CD or USB thumb drive to get the photos printed.

Another option is to go online to get prints.  I like http://www.adoramapix.com.  You create an account and upload the high resolution copies of the photos into an album and then there's tons of options for different sizes and finishes and what not (I like the metallic finish/prints).

I believe the online printing associated with flickr is snapfish, and I haven't been all that impressed with them. The black and white prints I got back from snapfish were okay, the color prints were not so hot.

 [Edit on 13 January 2012: You're welcome to make prints for your personal use.  For commercial use or use for merchandising (selling prints), you'll need a license from me.  Contact me, we'll work something out. nockleby - at - nocklebeast - dot - net]