a point of view: shooting from center track

At the venue where I first started shooting roller derby, the Santa Cruz Derby Girl Stadium, the center of the track looks like this



or this



Chairs are setup in the middle of the track for the teams and coaches



It's a fairly tight venue for shooting and playing derby (in fact the track is a bit too small to play regulation/sanctioned WFTDA bouts there).

Santa Cruz currently plays its WFTDA sanctioned bouts at a westside warehouse, featuring three columns in the center of the track.



The first time I shot center track was at the warehouse in a scrimmage between the Boardwalk Bombshells and the Bay Area's newly formed "expansion team," the Berkeley Resistance.  I manged to get a few decent shots from the center.



But as with just about any thing new and different there is some frustration.  I shoot with manual/mechanically focused lenses.  I tend not to chase roller girls with the focus ring of my lens.  I often wait until they skate into focus.  But that first time at center track, I was going around in circles without my intended subject skating into focus.   I remember thinking, "Jesus Feist! Lulu! Would it kill you to skate two feet closer to me?"



Then I realized, "Oh, it probably would kill her," as the Berkeley blockers were trying to do just that.  Ya, just have to adapt to realities with roller derby.

(oh, and actually I've only started taking Jesus Feist's name in vain since the Big O Tournament this last March.)

Some of my favorites from center track in the last month or so.

At the Craneway Pavillion, Richmond, CA.  Shooting wide open with a f2 90mm lens with available light.


At a westside warehouse, Santa Cruz, CA. Gromshells vs Bad Apples.


At Water City Roller Sports, Marina, CA. Jamming twins!


At San Jose Skate, San Jose, CA.  Killabytes vs South Coast.

 
At San Jose Skate, San Jose, CA.  Killabytes vs South Coast.


At San Jose Skate, San Jose, CA. Dot.Kamikazes vs Sockit Wenches..


At San Jose Skate, San Jose, CA. Dot.Kamikazes vs Sockit Wenches..


At a westside warehouse, Santa Cruz, CA.  DBC gives Liv N. LetDie a little evil eye.


At Water City Roller Sports, Marina, CA. Team timeout brought to you by Zorro.


At Water City Roller Sports, Marina, CA. Steinwreckers vs South County.


At Water City Roller Sports, Marina, CA. Steinwreckers vs South County.


Maybe, next year, Santa Cruz will play at a full sized venue that may allow for this point of view.

But please. Warriors. City.  Can we have some nice light?  No sodium lamps.  No florescents.  I can't say I'm that fond of the HID's at the Fort Mason pavillions (too green) either.  So, maybe tungsten, or lights with the same color as daylight.  And lights with a little direction would be good... not straight down like the light is as the Civic... but a little direction, like the light at the Craneway.  Yeah, that would nice.

Santa Cruz Seabright Sirens vs Peninsula Roller Girls

I got part 3 of 3 of an all film derby weekend back from Bay Photo.



The Santa Cruz Boardwalk Seabright Sirens  vs Peninsula Roller Girls at a west-side Santa Cruz warehouse, made of concrete, fluorescent lights, concrete, steel, concrete and plastic-wrapped mattresses.



I shot three rolls of three-year expired 1600 speed color daylight film (A couple of years, ago I panicked with the prospect of this film being discontinued by Fuji and I bought half the world's existing supply from a guy in Israel off ebay).   I also shot two rolls of medium format color film with my “old-fashioned” folder rangefinder… but those rolls were hopelessly underexposed.  Next time, more flash power!



The film was shot. The film was developed and scanned by Bay Photo. I’ve tweaked in software just about every photo here. I added a little bit of micro-contrast (“clarity”) to all of the photos. Many have been cropped. A very few of the photos I’ve left “as shot.”  I converted some to black and white. And I stomped on the level curves of some (both in color and in black and white) to increase the macro contrast. So only a few frames are “authentic” in that they are still color and only minimally tweaked.







One thing I didn’t do (Two things).  I didn’t smooth out the grain, and I didn’t photo-shop out the scratches in the film.  So in that sense, the images are authentically film.





The full flickr set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/sets/72157631359727652/

Santa Cruz Harbor Hellcats vs High Country Mountain Hellcats

The main event!  Santa Cruz Harbor Hellcats vs High Country Mountain Hellcats !!!!  At the Santa Cruz Derby Girls Stadium!



On Saturday evening’s double header, I shot five rolls of three-year expired 1600 speed color daylight film (A couple of years ago I panicked with the prospect of this film being discontinued by Fuji and I bought half the world's existing supply from a guy in Israel off ebay).   And I shot my last four rolls of recently expired Fuji Natura 1600 speed color film (which, as far as I can tell, is the Asian brand name of the same film).  I bought 15 rolls of the Natura at the bargain price of $6.20 a roll the last time I as in Hong Kong (www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/5080700016/).



I brought three film cameras with me.  My Minolta X-GM with a ridiculous lens attached (www.nocklebeast.blogspot.com/2010/06/ridiculous-lens.html) , and two Leica M-mount rangefinders, a Cosina Voightlander Bessa R3a (which developed a sticky shutter button during the evening, aaaauugh! gawdammit!), and a silver Zeiss Ikon (which has the most dreamy, big bright viewfinder… could it be better than Leica’s? Yup, could be!)






The film was shot. The film was developed and scanned by Bay Photo. I’ve tweaked in software just about every photo here. I added a little bit of micro-contrast (“clarity”) to all of the photos. Many have been cropped. Maybe none of the photos I’ve left “as shot.”  I converted a few to black and white.  But unlike the warehouse with its fluorescent lighting, I kind of like the mixture of flash and tungsten that lights the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium (thank gawd! They left the sodium lamps off!) And I stomped on the level curves of most (both in color and in black and white) to increase the macro contrast. So maybe none of the frames are “authentic.” I’ve processed the scanned jpegs a bunch in software.



One thing I didn’t do (Two things).  I didn’t smooth out the grain, and I didn’t photo-shop out the scratches in the film.  So in that sense, the images are authentically film.


 







the full flickr set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/sets/72157631345470104/

Santa Cruz Derby Groms: Bumper Scars vs Sugar Skulls!!!! (August 2012)

Saturday evening’s undercard!  Santa Cruz Derby Groms Sugar Skulls vs Bumber Scars!!!!! At the Santa Cruz Derby Girl Stadium!



On Saturday evening’s double header, I shot five rolls of three-year expired 1600 speed color daylight film (A couple of years ago I panicked with the prospect of this film being discontinued by Fuji and I bought half the world's existing supply from a guy in Israel off ebay).   And I shot my last four rolls of recently expired Fuji Natura 1600 speed color film (which, as far as I can tell, is the Asian brand name of the same film).  I bought 15 rolls of the Natura at the bargain price of $6.20 a roll the last time I as in Hong Kong (www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/5080700016/).




I brought three film cameras with me.  My Minolta X-GM with a ridiculous lens attached (www.nocklebeast.blogspot.com/2010/06/ridiculous-lens.html) , and two Leica M-mount rangefinders, a Cosina Voightlander Bessa R3a (which developed a sticky shutter button during the evening, aaaauugh! gawdammit!), and a silver Zeiss Ikon (which has the most dreamy, big bright viewfinder… could it be better than Leica’s? Yup, could be!)



The film was shot. The film was developed and scanned by Bay Photo. I’ve tweaked in software just about every photo here. I added a little bit of micro-contrast (“clarity”) to all of the photos. Many have been cropped. Maybe none of the photos I’ve left “as shot.”  I converted a few to black and white.  But unlike the warehouse with its fluorescent lighting, I kind of like the mixture of flash and tungsten that lights the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium (thank gawd! They left the sodium lamps off!) And I stomped on the level curves of most (both in color and in black and white) to increase the macro contrast. So maybe none of the frames are “authentic.” I’ve processed the scanned jpegs a bunch in software.



One thing I didn’t do (Two things).  I didn’t smooth out the grain, and I didn’t photo-shop out the scratches in the film.  So in that sense, the images are authentically film.















The full flickr set is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/sets/72157631331848794/

Santa Cruz Boardwalk Bombshells vs Houston

I got part 1 of 3 of an all film derby weekend back from Bay Photo.








First up, Santa Cruz Boardwalk Bombshells vs Houston at a WFTDA sanctioned bout at a west-side Santa Cruz warehouse, made of concrete, fluorescent lights, concrete, steel, concrete and plastic-wrapped mattresses.




I shot five rolls of three-year expired 1600 speed color daylight film (A couple of years ago I panicked with the prospect of this film being discontinued by Fuji and I bought half the world's existing supply from a guy in Israel off ebay). 




The film was shot. The film was developed and scanned by Bay Photo. I’ve tweaked in software just about every photo here. I added a little bit of micro-contrast (“clarity”) to all of the photos. Many have been cropped. Some of the photos I’ve left “as shot.”  I converted some to black and white. And I stomped on the level curves of some (both in color and in black and white) to increase the macro contrast. So only a few frames are “authentic” in that they are still color and only minimally tweaked.



One thing I didn’t do (Two things).  I didn’t smooth out the grain, and I didn’t photo-shop out the scratches in the film.  So in that sense, the images are authentically film.



The full flickr set is here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/sets/72157631315144568/