Know what's a pisser? When you purchase a $1200 lens and morons in high places will not let you through the gate with it.

Now admittedly, I purchased my Nikon 80-200mm ƒ2.8 used for the damned good price of $700, but that isn't the point. I like the lens. It's heavy, it's metal and it is durable. I put it on my Nikon D200 and went to an event hosted by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association and their corporate sponsor, State Farm, just to try it out. I secured a ticket in the nosebleed section of the Super Dome, but when I reached the entrance gate I was stopped by security. The lens on my camera was longer than six inches and LHSAA decreed that such equipment was prohibited inside.

I asked if it was because they were afraid I might club somebody with it. No, the reason was LHSAA only wanted their own photographers to be able to take great photographs of the event. The security personnel were just doing their job. I caught a cab back to my hotel room and placed a Nikon 70-210mm push-pull zoom on my camera. I took a quick measurement of the lens before returning. Under five inches with the lens cap on.

I went back to the Super Dome, and used my nosebleed section tickets to get inside. The 70-210mm lens passed muster without a blink.(Security did not know enough to ask me to extend it.) The nifty fifty in my pocket made it inside as well. Both captured sharp hand held photographs in the brilliant artificial light of the Super Dome. The 70-210mm lens drew the action every bit as close as the 80-200mm lens would have, it was just slower. Indeed, I was able to capture the same thing, with an f-stop of 5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/250 second because of the Super Dome's lighting.

What takes great photographs, LHSAA, is not the glass on the camera. Although a great lens can help, the thing that takes great photographs is first and foremost the talent and skills of the photographer. After that, access is king. If a LHSAA sanctioned photographer is shooting from the sidelines with the exact same lens on a monopod, and I am sitting at the top of the Super Dome with mine, our photographs will look markedly different. Place a Canon 400mm lens on his inventory, and he will be capturing sweat trickling down the player's faces. In the images taken from my vantage point, you will not even be able to tell who has the ball. Not with a 80-200mm lens, or a 400mm lens. Access matters that much.

So, as far as LHSAA is concerned, size matters. Skill means nothing. I feel for their spouses. As the game progressed, I went down to the seating at ground level, and I took some photographs of the privileged photographers with the access I did not have. I bought some peanuts and a coke and wondered whether they thought the seven inch lens in my hotel room was a threat. Chances are, they knew better.

Flickr Group Roulette: Heavy Metal

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Tags:   Flickr Group Roulette FGR Heavy Metal Bench Monday Nikon 80-200mm ƒ2.8 Louisiana High School Athletic Association Six Inches Big Honking Lenses Stupid Security Rules Converse Chuck Taylors All Stars Chucks Nikon Lens I'll probably skip Bench Monday next week so I can put this in the group. LHSAA Super Dome HBM Happy Bench Monday

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After I took this facedown shot, I considered it all day. The morning light dancing across the golden panels of the wall originally made the shot for me. But, as the day elapsed, elements in the image began to take on a much more symbolic tone.

The signs... You have to be what to enter? Yellow? 18? Baptist? Catholic? The azure sky reflected in the windows...... The small elements within the windows...... Could this image of a club of notorious repute be symbolic of someone's heaven? Perhaps it is. The camera can help you to see.

♫ The Animals ~ House of the Rising Sun ♫

The Rogue Players: The camera helps you to see

Flickr Group Roulette: Vivid Colors

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Tags:   Facedown Tuesday Facedown Streets of Gold The Rogue Players TRP The camera helps you to see Flickr Group Roulette FGR Vivid Colors Gold Red Light District Heaven House of the Rising Sun Planking

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The Top Ten Cameras I've used over the years, in no particular order, for no partitcular reasons other than those listed:

1. Nikon F Photomic - This camera was tough as nails. I could get it repaired in third world countries if need be. Many of my images taken overseas thirty years ago came from this camera.

2. Nikon F Waistlevel Viewfinder - The same camera, different set-up. I think camera manufacturers today are really screwing up by not offering an affordable SLR with an interchangeable viewfinder system. How we interact with our equipment affects how we take photographs. The waistlevel viewfinder is one of my favorites.

3. Nikon F2 Photomic with Motor Drive - Typical press camera for fast moving situations. The motor drive was an improvement, but something to be respected when shooting film.

4. Nikon D200 - The DSLR that got me back into photography. I could use a thirty year accumulation of lenses with it, and it has a magnesium body. I no longer had to worry about going through a roll of Kodachrome in five seconds. I use it with the MD200 battery pack. My serious camera today.

5. Yashica Electro 35 - A fun and weird rangefinder that attracted a lot of girls in Japan.

6. Nikkormat FTn - Another tough as nails camera that followed me around Africa. I considered it expendable. It still works great.

7. Minolta SRT102 - A totally manual camera that I won, along with several Minolta lenses, in a game of Bourré.

8. Minolta X700 - The only new camera I have ever purchased. I wanted an "upgrade" from the SRT 102. I learned to love Aperture Priority mode.

9. Polaroid One Step - I liked the immediate quality and the ability to manipulate the emulsion of the print as it dried.

10 Nikon S52 - A lightweight, discreet digital point and shoot with decent resolution and flexibility. It travels with me in my pocket today. I taped over the chrome "CoolPix" logo and the flash to make it more discreet.

A common denominator through many of the SLRs is a 50mm lens. Quite fortunate that so many of these bodies came with a nifty fifty. It is far and away my favorite lens.

Now, for the question everyone would like answered......... "How much did all that brass and glass on your neck weigh Xavier?" I was curious too. It was heavy. I weighed the lot of it. Twenty-one pounds.

The Rogue Players: Top Ten

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Strobist: AlienBee 800 with HOBD-W, 15 degrees camera left. Silver reflector camera right. Triggered by Cybersync.

Tags:   The Rogue Players TRP Top Ten Cameras Photographer Nikon F Photomic Nikon F Waistlevel Nikon F2 Motordrive Nikon D200 Yashica Electro 35 Nikkormat FTn Minolta SRT102 Minolta X700 Polaroid One Step Nikon S52 Twenty-one Pounds Strobist I have been wanting to shoot this image for a while but I never had a reason. I typed all this crap up and then hit save in the wrong window and vaporized it Explored

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Certain that Edgar had been bathing his coonhounds in the bathtub again, Lulabelle set up his GameCam among the towels. When she returned from choir rehearsal, she learned what was causing the awful bathtub scum.

TOTW: Your Costume

Strobist: LP120 camera left. Triggered by Cybersync.

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Tags:   Theme of the Week TOTW Your Costume Gorilla Bathtub Scum Game Cam Edgar Portrait She thought it was Edgar Now Edgar has a bigger problem. Time to call Billy the Exterminator! Ape Primate Monkey Strobist

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Bright light city gonna set my soul
Gonna set my soul on fire
Got a whole lot of money that's ready to burn,
So get those stakes up higher
There's a thousand pretty women waitin' out there
And they're all livin' devil may care
And I'm just the devil with love to spare
Viva Las Vegas, Viva Las Vegas!

Yeah, in 1992, The Boss did a cover of The King's song...... but ♫ ZZ Top did it better ♫


The Rogue Players: Bruce Springsteen Songs

Flickr Group Roulette: Worm's Eye View

TOTW: The Dark Side

Strobist: LP120 with umbrella camera left. Reflector camera right. Triggered by Cybersync.

History of the Fabulous Las Vegas sign

Tags:   The Rogue Players TRP The Boss Flickr Group Roulette FGR Worm's Eye View Theme of the Week The Dark Side TOTW Las Vegas Fabulous Las Vegas Neon Sign Night Nocturnal Strobist

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