One more series from last month’s shoot in Phoenix, Arizona. Here are a few hiking/biking shots. Special thanks to good folks at Arizona Outback Adventures and Visit Phoenix for pulling everything together and being such great travel companions. You all are the best!
I know there are a lot of strong opinions on bullfighting and, if you want to stop reading right now, feel free. I’ll understand. I, myself, hesitated when faced with the opportunity of photographing a bullfight. In the end, I decided it was an important part of the Spanish culture that I wanted to experience for myself. And, truthfully, I’m glad I did because the spectacle of the setting, the suits, the movement and the excitement all made for an incredible evening. I’m not saying I’m now 100% pro-bullfighting, nor would I encourage anyone to go that didn’t want to, but experiencing different cultures is good. Getting outside of your comfort zone is good.
Just seeing the bullfighters prepare before entering the ring is special enough. The clothing is spectacular and you get a real sense of the focus and concentration that is needed.
Bullfighters are celebrities in Spain and the tunnel that leads to the ring resembles the red carpet of a Hollywood event. Photographers are asked to keep back a few meters to give the bullfighters space, but beyond those few meters it’s a chaotic scene of media and bullfighting fans. Still, at some point you see the bullfighters begin to find their inner calm.
Then the entourage enters the ring.
The fights themselves move quite quickly. I found many of my favorite shots were those I made using slow shutter speeds so that the movement and speed of the bull was apparent.
And don’t believe that there is no danger in it for the matador. Here the bull’s horn pierces the pant leg of matador Ivan Fandino and lifts him off the ground (he was not seriously injured and managed to finish the fight):
And here are two last images, this time of matador Juan Jose Padilla:
I’ve never been into sports. Probably because I can’t play any. But for some reason, I’ve really started to enjoy rugby. Today we attended our first local match and I decided to play sports photographer for a day — something else I have never done, but it seemed like a good opportunity to play with some of my Nikon’s focus-tracking features that I’ve seldom used but probably should more.
The Jayhawks were playing the KC Islanders. For the sake of the Jayhawks, I’ll just say that the score wasn’t important. It was a hard-fought game and I thoroughly enjoyed myself! The Nikon performed beautifully. I tend to not trust automation enough sometimes and I always think I can focus more accurately myself but, in a case such as this, the 3D auto-tracking, continuous servo focusing of my D7000 was a huge help. Every now and then it would pop to a player that I didn’t intend but that was rare and my keeper ration was much higher than it would have been if I had relied on my own focusing skills.
All-in-all, a great – if not brutally hot – day!
