I'm not waiting for an entire cycle of the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar to compile another nocklebeast retrospective. Another winter solstice has passed. It's time.
striving
Time for another collection of the year's best photos.
croc
Much like last year, this year's set is dominated by roller derby. I shot all or parts of over seventy bouts this last derby season. I curated a photo set of my roller derby favorites during the year, adding few photos from each bout to the set. This year something like 600 photos were listed in this set, and I have trimmed it down to a little less than 400. I made a best of 2012 photo set from the best of the non-derby photos and the best of the favorite derby photos, here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/sets/72157632212536688/
Here are some highlights from that set.
it's okay, I know the way
lookin' Fierce
Jane Hammer leads the Oakland Outlaws in introduction laps to Bay Area's season opener against the Richmond Wrecking Belles.
that's how points are scored in roller derby
what happens when the DJ plays Tom Jones during halftime
pippi hardsocking
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave!
Robbin Banks tries to get by Avida Sane
Gaga
Bettie the Kid
jonny demonic is not lead jammer.
he's pointing at the lead jammer, he's not the lead jammer himself.
hellaluna gotta penalty
My first bout playing with off-camera flash.
Smalls of Fury chases Eve L. Twin
One weekend I found myself without my two digital cameras, and so I shot four bouts in one weekend with film.
big showdown
special agent utah is poised to re-enter play from the penalty box
The thing about shooting 17 bouts in three days (over six thousand photographs) you hardly remember taking them all.
gaga
But there are a couple that you hope turn out okay (but it's kinda hard to tell for sure on the Leica M8's little tv screen on the back of the camera... because that monitor is soooooo six years ago).
sexy beast!
lulu gotta penalty
Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
the life of a roller derby fan is always intense!
I knew her when she skated for little ol' Santa Cruz
Since I don't have any training as a photo-journalist, I'm slow to warmup to the shoot tight, crop tighter, tell a story in a nanosecond approach to photography. For better or worse, I'm not afraid of a little visual complexity. Sometimes photos just have a lot of moving parts and all parts of the photo are subject.
After a while at Westerns, I was able to think outside of the "fast glass" exposure paradigm and think of alternatives. It's rare that the thought of "sunny sixteen" will cross your mind while shooting roller derby. There's a lot of light at the Craneway during the day of the autumnal equinox.
B-Train and Rachel Rotten skate backwards in nice light
Last year at Westerns, I didn't have a photo credential, and so the only photos I took were a handful of fancy phone photos. Since then, I've wondered what I would have done when seeing skaters not skate away from the jammer line for minutes at a time. I probably would have taken a few photos of the skaters doing nothing, and then I'd probably get bored, and turn my attention to the angry fans. In fact, I'm a little dissappointed that no photographers got a photo of me shouting, "SKATE! GOD-DAMMIT!"
This year, at Westerns, the annoying strategery was the passive offense. The blockers on offense stand there watching their jammer try to get through defensive blockers during a power jam. Once a pack of blockers set up camp within about 20-30 feet of my (fixed focal length) lens, it's just a matter of clicking the shutter often enough and then editing the photos to get the best photo of the blockers and the jammer trying to breaking through the line in the same frame. I think this is Carmen Getsome's third pass on that power jam.
I may have to stop taking these photos of passive offense
sometimes unicorns are a little spazzy
hellaluna
The full set of my roller derby favorites of the year 2012 is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/sets/72157628625225169/
taxi
The full set of the best of 2012 is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocklebeast/sets/72157632212536688/
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