Island in the Net by Khürt Williams
Technology and Photography Musings. Established circa 2000.
We have no plans for the 4th, but we always attend the United States Independence Day Fireworks at the Montgomery High School. They are often well attended and are funded independently of the township. We've been doing it since the kids were in kindergarten (and before I knew how to use a DSLR).
The Tuesday Photo Challenge is a weekly theme-based challenge for photographers of all kinds to share both new and old photography. This week's theme is forward.
I struggled with the challenge this week. When I could visualize the word "forward" I could not capture a photo. Some of the participants posted images of things in motion or the tracks left by moving things. I looked for ways to do that this week. The roads near my home are narrow one-lane-ditch-on-side country roads. There is no stopping to take a photo.
I had nothing in my catalogue similar to any of these. I shoot mostly architecture, landscape, and macros. I have some images I shot during a high school football game but I don't find them interesting. We only go to see our daughter perform in the marching band.
So what to do?
Post a randomly chosen image from the set of images of the marching band. I removed one of the field lights form the upper right-hand corner, applied a Fuji ACROS B&W filter, and used Nik's Dfine 2 to remove some high ISO noise.
Both of these images were shot on a Fuji X-T2 with the Fujinon 16-55mm f/2.8 XF R LM WR.
UPDATE: After I posted this, I felt that an image of the marching band was more appropriate, so I added the band image as the feature image. I like the marching band photo better.
There is a best-selling book, Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream, about this uniquely American pastime that occurs in many towns and communities. There is also a movie ,Friday Night Lights, based on the book, and an NBC television show based on the movie. H.G. Bissinger must be getting some fat royalty cheques.
A few weeks ago I attend one of the Montgomery High School football "Friday Night" lights games. I don't remember who the opposing team was but I was not there to watch the game. My daughter is in the high school marching band. This is her second year in the marching band. The band performs in the fall during the halftime of each football game. My wife and I are not into football. It's just not our thing. We've attended only a few games. To support our daughter we attend as many home games as we can tolerate.
One thing I don't get about American sports is cheerleaders. I asked one of the band parents about this. I was told that they cheer for the team. Oh, ok. Then what are the people -- the fans -- in the stands doing?
I talked to my friend Frank Veronsky who suggested that I get out from behind the fence and get near the sidelines for some action shots. It was also a great way to field test the Fuji X-T2 and Fuji XF 16-55mm f/2.8 R LM WR lens I rented from Lensrentals. The Fuji X-T2 is a brand new and very popular mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (MILC). I had read the reviews but wanted to experience the camera for myself.
I was amazed at how well the Fuji X-T2 performed in the lighting on the field. I fiddled with the controls to set the ISO to auto but I had only had only just received the camera from Lenrentals.com that afternoon. I did not have much time to learn the controls before coming to the game. At least I was able to set the frame rate to a high of 8 frames per second.
Kiran usually hates it when I take photos of her. I have tried getting pictures of her with her bandmates but she often puts her hair across her face or covers the lens with her hands. This can be annoying for a parent who just wants a photo of the grand-daughter in her band uniform to share the grandparents. My efforts are usually thwarted.
Not this time! I stood on the sidelines and captured images of the band performing, and I got some great shots to share with my mom and dad. Mission accomplished.
