Thursday, March 29, 2012

Gymnastics: Chaos to Balance


Melrose, MA 032912 Girls practice at the Melrose Family YMCA during a gymnastics class. (Essdras M Suarez/ Boston Globe) BEHIND THE SCENES: I had about 20 minutes to get about five images for our North Weekly section. I was truly bummed out because it was about 50 girls of all ages doing somersaults, handstands, beam work and bars all at once. The scene just begged to be shot for a while but 20 minutes is all I had since they needed me back in the city for a man-on the street interview. I chose these two images because they characterized the mayhem in the place. At first glance the scene looked downright chaotic but then a coach would clap their hands and the girls would all fall into place. Pretty amazing. INTERESTING NOTE: Whenever I'm teaching a photography workshop I always try to tell my students to not only make the photos they have in front of them but to take the time to look behind them to see what is going on. I almost walked away after photographing some girls doing back flips but I remembered that maxim and stopped and looked around and this is what I got. TECH STUFF: Pretty dark place but I still did not want to use a flash. ISO 1,600 to 2,000, WB: AWB, speeds: 1/125th to 1/2ooth of a second.

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