This weekend I had a fencing tournament. I was actually supposed to be in two, a mixed foil event and a women's foil event, but because I've been sick, only fenced in the women's event. I hadn't realized how much the sinus infection had taken away from my stamina until my body decided to become exhausted just halfway through the pools. For someone who normally has boundless energy, being suddenly and totally sapped of said energy is very...disconcerting.
I ended up placing third, which got me a nice shiny medal.
There were three other tournaments that day and I ened up taking quite a few shots.
If you go to http://www.madowl.com there's links to about 10 of the cooler shots from that day--I wanted some input. Fencing is really hard to photograph because it's so fast and you can't use flash. Because of that, I had to set my camera at a high ISO (film speed) and that causes the graininess in the pictures. But they're cool.
Also, I played with the background, monolight, and umbrella on sunday night and took these shots and wanted input on them, too.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Congratulations on placing third. Which level (I'm not sure of the right word: A/B/C/D/E, etc.) do you fence in?
Nice pictures, too. Can't wait to see what you come up with when you get faster glass. Are there Photoshop filters to take away graininess?
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
I like those shots you were experimenting with. You got some really nice ones.
My favorites were this one and this one Posted by mothertree (Member # 4999) on :
I bet that outfit does make Nathan Hot.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Fencing gear is very unflattering for certain builds - it emphasizes tummies and deemphasizes shoulders, which is kind of the opposite of what I need - but if you have the right build it makes you look very tough.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Congrats on placing third! That's awesome.
I like all the shots. Some of the serious ones are great, and the goofball shots are just wonderful. Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
For women, it certainly, um, makes sure that people know you're a chick.
Dag, there's programs like Noise Ninja, but they cost money that I can spend elsewhere so that I don't HAVE to use that program. I'm still a U. I've yet to manage to attend a tournament and not have some bit of bad luck befall me. This tournament I had all the skill and ability, and my coach said he could pinpoint the moment in the second direct elimination bout of mine where my body basically gave me the finger. After fighting my way through the pools exhausted and ill, I looked forward to my first DE, where I'd fence the top seed and get knocked out, and I could rest.
Wrong. We fenced to 29 touches between the two of us in less than three minutes. Apparently this match was amazing to see. I can tell you it was exhausting to fence. And I WON and my body got very angry with my brain. In the middle of the second DE, I was winning, and then my body decided that it wasn't going to do anything else. I lost by two touches. If only I had my health!
The tournament before that had mixed timings.
ANYway, I'm getting fairly confident in my ability. My coach even forgot that I wasn't rated, which is a pretty good indication. But most IMPORTANTLY, I'm have loads of fun.
This coming weekend's tournaments are division II and III national qualifiers. I'm not sure if I should compete because of my health, so I might just go and shoot pictures instead. My coach reall y liked the results from this past weekend. I'll talk to him tomorrow about it. I can always compete next year when I'm fully healthy.
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Mad]](mad.gif)
If only I had my health!![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)