Oak Hills Swimming

I finally made it to a swimming meet in January. If you think gyms are dark, swimming pools tend to be very dark. This one is no exception. There are very few lights and almost none in the center of the pool. When I cover swimming I always think about what I am wearing because I know it will get wet and I bring a towel. I also try to limit my equipment as much as possible so I do not have to worry about it getting wet. Most times I will keep my extra camera body and lenses in a bag around my waist so there is less stuff to worry about. My biggest fear at swim meets is me somehow ending up in the pool. Huge fear! I can take care of myself but my equipment really does not like water. Given the tight conditions at some of the pools I think it is a legitimate fear. Since I like to shoot at pool level for most of the events, I did get pretty wet at times. That is why I have the towel for the camera. My images are from the first 90 minutes of the meet. After that point it got way too dark to get quality images. I think you will be able to see how the light faded during the match from the images. Clicking on an image will make it larger. To see all images from the meet go to my site and click the Games link.

I think this might be my favorite image from the meet. Part luck that the swimmer popped out of the water so close to the wall.

Because of where I am allowed to go, most of my backstroke images are right after the flip at the end of the pool. I wish I could get behind the blocks for an image of the start but then I would be distracting to the swimmers. Something I do not want to do.