I finally took the opportunity to catch something I have long been wanting to see, the Rose City Roller Derby. Various co-workers of mine have been going for the past several months, in fact Nancy has been accepted as fresh meat, and may even be skating on one of the teams come this time next year. That is pretty freaking awesome.
Anyway, I finally decided that I was going to make the time to catch a bout late last month and naturally I wanted to be able to photograph it. I figured it would be a new and fascinating subject for me, and I am fond of those. The Rose City Rollers though keep pretty close tabs on photography though. No SLRs allowed, nor any other camera with which it looks like you might be able to take a useful image. So I applied for a press pass and was granted one, which allowed me to take along my Pentax 6x7 which I shot this first bout with. My results were so-so. I think out of two rolls of film (20 shots) I got two I really liked and a handful of mildly interesting ones. But that is ok, I figured it would be a learning experience to get used to the action and the lighting. I am going back to this Saturday's match, cameras in tow to try again.
But watching the skating itself was pretty awesome. The general idea is you have two teams of five girls skating around a rink that is about as long as half a basketball court. Each team has a sixth girl called a jammer who starts a second or two behind the main pack. The idea is for your jammer to make it through the entire pack before the other jammer does, then having done so, completely lap around and come up behind the pack again and pass as many skaters as possible, at which point they get a point a skater. All within a maximum of two minutes. Oh and the opposing girls can bump, block and push, while the jammer is not allowed to touch with her hands any opposing skater. Oh and teammates can sling you forward. It is crazy, fast and hectic. And totally exciting and captivating.
So this shot was captured just after the end of a jam (those two minute sessions) between the High Rollers and the Guns n' Rollers (Portland has four teams total, the other two being the Heartless Heathers, and the Breakneck Betties). The girl on the left with the stars on her helmet is the jammer for the Guns N Roses.
I thought this shot caught the post-frenzy-catch-your-breath nature of the whole ordeal.
So if this interests you I think you can still get tickets for this Saturday's bout, which will be the last of the season, which pits Portland's all-stars versus those of The Arizona Terrors and Sacred City. See you there!
More info can be found at:
www.rosecityrollers.com
Tags: Rose City Rollers rollerderby roller skating Portland PDX Keep Portland weird sports skating Pentax 6x7 Fuji 800Z rink Zeb Andrews Zeb Andrews photography Blue Moon Camera
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One of my shots from tonight's roller derby match. The Rose City Rollers won both matches, the first against Arizona and the second against Sacred City. I managed a great front row position tonight, right down at the edge of the mat. Only one girl almost crashed into me.
Yay me.
Actually she was hit close enough that I was able to appreciate the nasty slap of body against a hard surface and be thankful it was not me hitting at that velocity.
Anyway, I got this shot of the referee's legs. I thought the shot took on an almost creepy anonymous quality. I am sure this particular referee is neither. In fact I do happen to know he is a great dancer on roller skates. But that is because he often dances between jams, not that I have been roller dancing with him. Anyway...
Tags: Rose City Rollers September 20th Portland PDX roller skates skating Oregon sports rink Expo Center Zeb Andrews Zeb Andrews photography Blue Moon Camera
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As this was my second time shooting these matches, I had a bit better of an idea what to expect photographically and hence more ideas to explore in photographing the matches. The two areas I concentrated on tonight were extreme low-angle telephoto shots of the roller skates themselves and panning. Some shots I shot slow and kept the camera in place, others I panned with the skaters. Most were ... unsuccessful. Not failures per se, because I still learned a great deal from my attempts and when I go back next season to shoot again my imagination will be even better armed. This is one of the few shots that sort of turned out how I wanted it too. This is one of the skaters from Sacred City. For this two minute span she was the jammer for her team, as noted by the star on her helmet.
Anyway, I am posting a few of these shots tonight to make them available to the Rose City Rollers, and because this is one of those rare cases where I shot digital and I can actually post something quickly. ;-)
Tags: Rose City Rollers September 20th Portland PDX roller skates skating Oregon sports rink Expo Center Zeb Andrews Zeb Andrews photography Blue Moon Camera
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My last post from the roller derby tonight. Kind of an interesting exercise, the posts I mean. Because usually I sit on images for weeks, and amongst a few dozen I will edit it down to only one, maybe two, that will get posted. But instead I am posting three in one night. I figure this gives a bit more of an insight into how I shoot, though not by much. I thought it would be interesting to post my favorite 10 or 20 a sort of a digital contact sheet. This might be an interesting exercise for another time, to post an entire roll's worth of photos. Imagine doing that in this digital age, posting every shot that you took while out on a shoot. Well I know some people do this anyway. :-p I was sort of thinking of Cartier-Bresson at the time. When he met with photographers he apparently never wanted to see prints, he always wanted to see their contact sheets. He wanted to see how they worked a scene and developed a shot. My shooting tonight was not disciplined enough to post everything. A lot of it was experimenting. But something to keep in mind for the future for sure. I like the idea of posting an entire roll as one image or a scan of a contact sheet.
Anyway, perhaps my favorite shot of the evening. It bothers me a bit that I could not get a cleaner shot of her legs, the pose was just so great. This is one of Rose City Rollers' jammers waiting for the whistle. Alas, I do not remember who. It was not November Pain or Rhea Deranged, two of my favorite skaters. Anyhoo, will have to go back through my shots to figure out which skater this was.
Off to bed with me now, have to get up early for a commercial shoot I am doing in the morning downtown. Not a gig I usually take, but I like the practice and shaking up my approach to photography now and then.
Tags: Rose City Rollers September 20th Portland PDX roller skates skating Oregon sports rink Expo Center Blood Clottinga Zeb Andrews Zeb Andrews photography Blue Moon Camera
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The new rollerderby season is underway once again. I have really enjoyed shooting this event, it poses a lot of new challenges for me. This particular night I was working on silhouettes and multiple exposures. This is the former not the latter, in case it was not obvious.
Tags: rollerderby Rose City Rollers Portland PDX rollergirls rollerskating Expo Center brutal exciting sports sporting events Oregon silhouette athletes Breackneck Betties Heartless Heathers Guns n Rollers High Rollers Zeb Andrews Zeb Andrews photography Blue Moon Camera
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