Sports Illustrated, Here I Come!!

No, not as bikini model! That would be the day. Ha! But maybe as a sports photographer??? Who am I kidding, I think the closest to published anything I photograph & edit will ever get already happened when I was Sports Editor of my high school yearbook (a million years ago).  None-the-less, I borrowed the fiance's fancy Nikkon with its' giant lenses and pretended to be a pro-photog and support car crewmember for an afternoon.  Now usually I rock out with my Olympus Stylus Tough on my ski and outdoor adventures (many of which you have seen posted in this awesome blog).

This bad boy is shock proof, waterproof, and adventure ready at all times.  It is perfectly engineered to point & shoot mid-action/adventure/awesomeness and capture a stunning & high quality image.  It is also small enough that it is not a burden to carry around while having said adventure.  However, for this event since I would be on the sidelines and riding in the support car, I figured trying my hand with a serious camera would be fun.  To be honest, I am surprised that the fiance' even let me put my hands on his sick camera...I mean, I have a shockproof/waterproof camera for more than one reason (read: I am a huge clutz).  On this occasion, he happened to be a competitor in the race (his first road race ever!) and I think he wanted to get the best quality images of him dominating the competition as possible.  So after a quick tutorial of the way too many buttons and features that the camera has we were off and KP - Pro Sports Photog came into action.

Just a little taste for you.  It was really fun to have the camera on sports mode and have it shoot like 20 pictures in a few seconds.  When viewing them on my computer I felt as if I were watching the race in action.  Although, many of the pictures that I thought would be great turned out a bit out-of-focus...guess I should have been listening better during the fiance's tutorial! Opps.  All in all, it was a great afternoon.  I had a blast taking pictures and riding in the support car with Coach Capes; handing off water bottles out of the window (just like in the Tour de France!) and giving them information/motivation as they rode.  The fiance' did extremely well for his first race ever (in my opinion).  He was riding up against the Qatar National Professional & Junior Team and also against a bunch of amatuer, but seasoned riders.  He spent the majority of the race up in the front group and finished 4th for the amatuers and 10th overall.  Not bad if I do say so myself.  I definitely see medals in his future ... and maybe some photography lessons in mine!  Although next time I think I might be on my bike; tough work but definitely a cool experience.