Santa Cruz Boardwalk Bombshells vs Sac City Capitol Punishers at the Civic!

and a special 30 minute half time grom bout: Sugar Skulls vs Bumper Scars!

the full flickr set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/sets/72157626188466907/
just the groms is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/sets/72157626188499909/

Santa Cruz pulls out a win against Sac City 99 to 130 in the season opener at home. Santa Cruz looks quite a bit more polished than last year at this time.  They've actually bouted against Sin City in Vegas and played in a tournament two weeks ago before this weekend's bout. Last year, their home opener was their first bout of the season and it showed.  They seemed a bit rusty at last year's season opener.

Last year, I remember feeling like the focus rings on my lenses had rusted.  I felt better about the cameras this time around.  All the digital shots with the rangefinder I shot without flash (just like the old days!).  And I shot two rolls of green slime film with the trusty CV Bessa R3A (a film rangefinder with 1:1 "magnification" in the viewfinder.  One of these days I want to shoot some green slime film with my medium format folder, but I thought I should stick to something familiar for the first bout of the home season.

Now for some photo highlights. You know where to go for the full set.




















































































the full flickr set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/sets/72157626188466907/

just the groms is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/sets/72157626188499909/

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).