Happy Dashers

Getting more photos from the Drumstick Dash processed. Here are some of my faves thus far...

'Tis the Seasonal...

Stepped out the front door at 8:57AM this morning to go shoot photos of the Drumstick Dash. I could hear the countdown for the 9:00AM start from the front porch as I walked to my observation spot, which is at the two mile mark of the 4.6 mile course.

It was 34°F outside when I left the house, and we're still early enough in the season where that feels pretty darn cold. By the first week of February, anything above freezing'll feel like sunbathing weather, but today I was regretting not switching out the cotton socks for the wool socks in my dresser drawer by about 9:30. With good wool socks, the waterproof Merrell Moab shoes I wear in winter are good enough to wear well down into the 20s, but standing around on asphalt, the cotton tube socks just weren't hacking it for insulation.

I took the Canon EOS 40D with the EF 70-200mm f/4L IS zoom lens as well as my usual EOS-1D Mark IV, and even though the 40D is seventeen years old and can be had for less than a hundred bucks these days, I was pretty happy with the first few shots I've processed.

Drumstick Dash

Once again, fifteen thousand runners and walkers massed in Broad Ripple on Thanksgiving morning for the Drumstick Dash. This year they raised over a million dollars for Wheeler Mission, moving their feet so others may eat.

You get serious racers...

...and some who are running hard but only racing themselves.

Some folks are out for time with family...

...or friends.

A good time was had by all... including yours truly, who is just tickled pink to have such a great photo op come trotting practically right past the house!

All but one of these photos were shot with the Canon EOS 5DS & 70-200mm f/4L IS.

I tried something new this time by shooting in shutter priority. I figured that 1/500th would be enough to adequately stop motion and I gambled that it would still be reasonably sharp at 200mm, so I put the mode dial in "Tv" ("Time value" in Canon-speak, it's the position on the dial that's marked "S" for "Shutter" on pretty much every other manufacturer's cameras) set the ISO to 200, and rolled the dice.

I'm not unhappy with the results.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for all y'all who drop by to read this blog. I hope you have a great holiday filled with good times and good food, enjoyed with the people for whom you're most thankful.

Me? I'm getting ready to go take some photos of the Drumstick Dash and then come home and maybe do some yard work until it's time for turducken!

Sports, Illustrated

The annual Drumstick Dash here in Indy was slated to come right through our neighborhood this morning, so I was out there at 9:00AM with the EOS-1D Mark IV and the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L, ready and waiting.

I got my pro sports photog LARP on pretty good, I think...

Focus isn't quite there on the last one, but I love the pic so much...

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