My first sports photoshoot...

I walked up earlier than usual this Sunday so I decided to take the D70 along with my Sigma 170-500mm for its first sport action photoshoot. I knew there was a regular soccer league at Tempe (Kyrene and Guadalupe) on Sunday so I decided to drop by and take some shots. I had to fill up the wife's SUV with gas anyway so it was a good win win opportunity.

After choosing a good location (a big tree with some good shade ... its still a little bit warm here in Arizona), I settled down and started taking pictures.

I knew I had to use aperture priority to make sure I get good shoots of the action. I also turned on ISO to 400 to make it faster as my zoom lense is f5 to f6.3 which is not really fast. After taking a few test shoots and checking my histogram for good exposure distribution, I set apperture priority to 1/1000 sec which I used for most of my shots. In retrospect, I should have used manual mode and locked down the fstop a few more clicks (f8?) so I can get better depth of field and have more of the actions clear especially if they are not in the same field.

I took probably 150 shots over a 45 minute period. Below are some of the best shots of the day. I say not bad for a first time sports action photoshoot. Had to leave the game early as family is waiting to go to church. I was pretty pleased with my first attempt at sports action photography. Will find more opportunities in the future. Maybe I can volunteer for some of my friend's kids sports league and take their pictures. Unfortunately, my son, LJ is not yet into sports leagues.

Ball is out! Good hustle to save it though.

Field umpires after half-time break. They were pretty deep into the action describing all the key plays and the good (and bad) players. I was taking pictures near their break area so I overheard their conversation (incidentally!).

Just you and me buddy!

Pretty tough defense!

Sidewalk is closed buddy!

Taken all the way from the other side of the field where I was. Zoom was all the way to 500mm.

Some heated action on the center field.

Great opportunity for the blue team to score - no goal though!

This guy keeps hollering..."I'm waiting for a 50 and over league to play in!".

All eyes on the ball or should be. Scoring opportunity for the team in whte - no goal.

Catching a quick break as the offense prepares to throw in the ball from the corner.

Setting up the defense as the ball was about to be thrown in from the corner.

I think my best shot of the day...fighting over the ball as it got thrown in from the corner.

The lone lady who played in the game...she accounted for herself pretty well as you can see.

Action behind the net, the lone lady player gave that guy a good chase!

This was taken right on the other side of the field that I was on so I had the zoom focal length all the way to 50omm.

South Mountain Park

At over 16,000 acres, South Mountain Park/Preserve often is referred to as the largest municipal park in the country. It boasts 58 miles of trails for horseback riding, hiking and mountain biking for all ability levels skills.

I'm planning to spend Saturday mornings while the kids are still asleep to spend some time exploring and taking picture of the different spots here around Phoenix. As they said, practice makes perfect so I plan to take lots and lots of picture around the city I live in - hopefully capture some great shots too. This week, I decided to start with South Mountain park which is just 30 min from our home.

A great view at the summit of South Mountain.

Phoenix downtown skyline.

Golf course at the foothills of South Mountain Park.

The Arizona Diamondbacks's BOB Stadium

Sky Harbor Airport.

A TEDs (United) plane making final approach to Sky Harbor Airport.

It was a lot of winding road to get to the summit.

A fork in the road.

A view of Ahwatukee...a Phoenix suburb surrounding the South Mountain Park.

The beauty of Sonoran deserts!

Trip to Grand Canyon and Sedona

My wife's relative came to visit from the Philippines. They were here only for a few days and as normal for Arizona visitors, I took them to Grand Canyon and Sedona - I've done this day trip (yep - 9 hrs of driving in one day!) so many times I could do it in my sleep! I was more excited this time than normal since I know this will be my first opportunity to bring out the D70 and test it with all these beautiful southwest vista. I brought all three lense although I ended up using the 18-70mm Nikkor >90% of the time.

As we near Grand Canyon on I-180, they wanted to buy some Indian jewelries so we stop by this general store midway between Williams and Tuyasan. While they were inside shopping, I took some shots of the field nearby that were fully blooming with sunflowers.

I-180

I-180

I-180

We had lunch at Tuyasan Village which is just at the entrance of Grand Canyon. After wolfing down my Wendy's combo meal, I excused my self from the group and walk around the area and took these shots.

I-180

Tuyasan

Tuyasan

Even if you have seen the Grand Canyon multiple times, it still takes your breath away. They actually had a tour group that came in while we were there. All the tourist (I presume) had hoods covering their heads and the tour guides guided them to the ledge and had them take off their hoods at the same time. Some of them cried when they saw the beauty of Grand Canyon.

Tuyasan

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon