Bellingham photographer | Ralph Vernacchia Team Track and Field

Ralph Vernacchia Team Track and Field Meet 4/8/11 at Civic Field in Bellingham, Wash. Photo by Bellingham photographer Daniel Berman/www.bermanphotos.com

On Friday, April 8 I photographed the Ralph Vernacchia Team Track and Field meet at Civic Field in Bellingham. I went with about a half dozen members of the Western Washington University chapter of the National Press Photographers Association. Everyone went their own separate ways in an attempt to get something different.

With that in mind, I got the idea to do a remote camera from a high vantage point. At first, I was going to clamp a camera (in this case a Nikon D300 with 17mm lens at f/8, triggered w/ Pocket Wizards) to a standard at the pole vault area. Then a volunteer came up to me and wanted to know what I was doing.

I explained, and they offered to let me put a camera on a pole vault pole! I jumped at the idea, no pun intended, and in a few minutes and a guess at focusing I had my rig up in the air. I shot hundreds of images and after much finagling and adjusting I made a few frames I am happy with. I definitely would like to do this setup again at another track meet — the vantage point is just so different!

Here’s a photo of me shooting with this pole vault pole cam, by Rhys Logan

Ralph Vernacchia Team Track and Field Meet 4/8/11 at Civic Field in Bellingham, Wash. Photo by Bellingham photographer Daniel Berman/www.bermanphotos.com

Ralph Vernacchia Team Track and Field Meet 4/8/11 at Civic Field in Bellingham, Wash. Photo by Bellingham photographer Daniel Berman/www.bermanphotos.com

Ralph Vernacchia Team Track and Field Meet 4/8/11 at Civic Field in Bellingham, Wash. Photo by Bellingham photographer Daniel Berman/www.bermanphotos.com

I also did a remote camera with the same lens at the steeplechase event. The camera was protected from the waves of water by a Penn Camera/Think Tank cover system that leaves just the front lens element exposed. Everything else is waterproofed! It came in handy as those runners really gave the system a soaking.

After each pass of the athletes I literally poured out water from the lens hood and quickly wiped off the front element to get rid of the accumulated droplets. I felt like a member of the NASCAR pit crew!

With a remote camera, I have the choice of being in two places at once! I put a Pocket Wizard II in the hotshoe of my main camera and each picture was synced with my remote. I got this steeplechase moment from two different angles:

Ralph Vernacchia Team Track and Field Meet 4/8/11 at Civic Field in Bellingham, Wash. Photo by Bellingham photographer Daniel Berman/www.bermanphotos.com

Ralph Vernacchia Team Track and Field Meet 4/8/11 at Civic Field in Bellingham, Wash. Photo by Bellingham photographer Daniel Berman/www.bermanphotos.com

Ralph Vernacchia Team Track and Field Meet 4/8/11 at Civic Field in Bellingham, Wash. Photo by Bellingham photographer Daniel Berman/www.bermanphotos.com

Ralph Vernacchia Team Track and Field Meet 4/8/11 at Civic Field in Bellingham, Wash. Photo by Bellingham photographer Daniel Berman/www.bermanphotos.com

All in all it was a fun couple of hours spent hanging out with photo friends and enjoying the sunny weather. What more can ya ask for?

Thanks for looking!

Daniel

Bellingham photographer | Western (WWU) defeats Central 66-62

Western Washington University fans celebrate after a 66-62 victory over rival Central Washington University Wednesday, Feb. 16 at Carver Gym in Bellingham, Wash. Photo by Daniel Berman/www.bermanphotos.com

What a nail biter of a game — a handful of free throws in the final waning
minutes basically decided the game. With just seconds to go, the game was
within two points! When Western won, a scrum of fans stormed the court. It wasn’t
exactly the Super Bowl scrum but it was more than I’m used to.

Western's John Allen (#20) looks on after attempting a shot in the second quarter of their 66-62 victory over rival Central Wednesday, Feb. 16. Photo by Seattle Bellingham photographer Daniel Berman/www.bermanphotos.com

More photos after the jump

Bellingham editorial photographer | WWU Strongman Competition

On Saturday I covered the WWU Strongman Competition and decided to tackle video, on deadline, for The Western Front. This Spring I have been working on multimedia more than ever. It has been amazing and humbling to dive into making news video alongside shooting photos.

For the Strongman Competition I chose to concentrate on video — and I think I made the right choice. Check it out below. Those guys have my respect. For reference, those atlas balls are over 200 lbs, the tire 750 lbs, and dead-lifts in the range of 500 lbs.

Here is my video of the WWU Strongman Competition

And a few of my Strongman photos:

Brandon Ferderer successfully lifts a large tractor tire during the WWU Strongman Competition Saturday April 10, 2010 in the Wade King Recreation Center. Photo by Daniel Berman.

Click the link to check out