Spotlight
2019 so far
katharine lotze
Mar 19, 2019
The first few months of 2019 have been exciting! Despite the busy editing season for entertainment, I found time to photograph my first gymnastics meet, some college basketball, and TONS of hockey! I think it's really important to talk about not just what went well, but also the growing pains, so here goes:
Getting to shoot UCLA gymnastics was a fantastic experience. Incredible talent and strength those women have on so many levels! It was a total fluke that I requested to shoot in January just weeks before Katelyn Ohashi went viral. Getty does not usually shoot regular season college gymnastics meets, but gave me the OK since it was close by and gave us access. Well, lucky for all of us! I was so happy to be able to do two meets, taking what I learned during the first to the second meet, and improving on my images and finding different angles and ways of seeing.
I purchased a 24-70 f/2.8 in January also, partially as a birthday gift to myself, but also because I've made it a goal to try shooting wider. I wanted the extra f-stop for the indoor sports, and now I believe my kit is complete!
I think I had a fear of shooting wide, and it stemmed from a few things: first, from not having long glass when I started out and everything was not-on-purpose wide. And second, I was scared away again after having a 17-35 for years at the paper, and having a portfolio reviewer that said "I want to take your 16mm lens away from you!" It's true that my wide shots weren't very good, and that I didn't really know what I was doing with such a wide angle, but it really did scare me away, and gave me another problem: everything became too tight.
It's also been an exercise in timing for me, knowing when it pick up the second body and leave the longer glass in my lap. This has been especially hard with hockey, which moves quickly. I've been lucky to have some feedback internally on my hockey images, and I've definitely improved since the start of December when I shot my first game.
I'm looking forward to more opportunities in the next few months to get outside for some spring sports, including the LA Marathon and some track and field events.
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