Sunday, February 15, 2004
Yesterday was a busy day for me. I climbed up early in the morning to get ready for the long day ahead--going for the ice skating photo shoot Sehsuan was talking about through the ClubSNAP Sports Shooters (CSSS) Yahoogroup in the first half of the day, then rushing down to cover the hall production at night.
Going for the ice skating shoot was quite a bit of mistake for me. Knowing how the situation was roughly like from reading Sehsuan's blog, I somewhat knew it's not going to be easy getting permission to shoot. So, arriving at the skating rink, I sheepishly slid pass the wheel-gate into the competitor's area, hoping to get some shots before being chased out by the authorities sooner or later.
On hindsight, I should have "ignored" Sehsuan at the rink. He spotted me and called me over, then he offered me his 70-200mm f/2.8 L lens (!) and his monopod for the shoot. Knowing that he was doing this out of pure goodwill (he wasn't allowed to shoot at all--it's a complicated story), I accepted his offer. One thing led to another, then before I knew it I was using his whole camera system (less the memory card) for the shoot.
The moment I held his camera, one of the organising authorities (Laura) came trotting over and started "interrogating" us, with a bit of accusatory tone embedded in her speech. I suspected she was eyeing us all the while, because I haven't even chalked up 10 shots on Sehsuan's camera before she came on us. I was totally shocked with her choice of words and her arguments, and how she denied us a chance to explain our situation. I was totally unprepared for such a confrontation, and it was Sehsuan that handled the situation. She took down my name and contact number and then left after giving us an ultimatum; we had no choice but to pack up the camera or else face being chased out of the skating rink.
So we spent the rest of the day in the skating rink with Sehsuan filling me up with what has led up to this ugly situation, how he got into doing photography for ice skating, and bits and pieces of other things. Although I wasn't able to fulfill my primary objective for the visit, I must say I did enjoy Sehsuan's company; otherwise I would have just packed up and left with a bitter taste in my mouth. It was a shame that I wasn't allowed to shoot the skaters, although I did have a couple of usable shots stored up in my CF card. :)
After the visit to the rink I trotted down to Alliance Francaise for the hall production. It was quite a smooth project, having recced the place and watched some parts of the performance the day before. I tried to secure myself a strategic position for the shoot but after some haggling with the committee, I was relegated to the last row of the theatre. Not too bad a position, but I would have preferred to be along the aisle. I felt pretty confident shooting the play after the recent experience covering "Whizz" about a month ago, so I was pretty trigger-happy on the EOS 300D. Ended the day helping the crew load up the sets back to hall and then going out with Leonard, Shen Jau, Derrick, Yvonne (law) and Julian to catch a movie...which didn't materialise in the end. We ended up having supper at the McDonald's outside Shaw Centre.
What a way to spend Valentine's Day...
Going for the ice skating shoot was quite a bit of mistake for me. Knowing how the situation was roughly like from reading Sehsuan's blog, I somewhat knew it's not going to be easy getting permission to shoot. So, arriving at the skating rink, I sheepishly slid pass the wheel-gate into the competitor's area, hoping to get some shots before being chased out by the authorities sooner or later.
On hindsight, I should have "ignored" Sehsuan at the rink. He spotted me and called me over, then he offered me his 70-200mm f/2.8 L lens (!) and his monopod for the shoot. Knowing that he was doing this out of pure goodwill (he wasn't allowed to shoot at all--it's a complicated story), I accepted his offer. One thing led to another, then before I knew it I was using his whole camera system (less the memory card) for the shoot.
The moment I held his camera, one of the organising authorities (Laura) came trotting over and started "interrogating" us, with a bit of accusatory tone embedded in her speech. I suspected she was eyeing us all the while, because I haven't even chalked up 10 shots on Sehsuan's camera before she came on us. I was totally shocked with her choice of words and her arguments, and how she denied us a chance to explain our situation. I was totally unprepared for such a confrontation, and it was Sehsuan that handled the situation. She took down my name and contact number and then left after giving us an ultimatum; we had no choice but to pack up the camera or else face being chased out of the skating rink.
So we spent the rest of the day in the skating rink with Sehsuan filling me up with what has led up to this ugly situation, how he got into doing photography for ice skating, and bits and pieces of other things. Although I wasn't able to fulfill my primary objective for the visit, I must say I did enjoy Sehsuan's company; otherwise I would have just packed up and left with a bitter taste in my mouth. It was a shame that I wasn't allowed to shoot the skaters, although I did have a couple of usable shots stored up in my CF card. :)
After the visit to the rink I trotted down to Alliance Francaise for the hall production. It was quite a smooth project, having recced the place and watched some parts of the performance the day before. I tried to secure myself a strategic position for the shoot but after some haggling with the committee, I was relegated to the last row of the theatre. Not too bad a position, but I would have preferred to be along the aisle. I felt pretty confident shooting the play after the recent experience covering "Whizz" about a month ago, so I was pretty trigger-happy on the EOS 300D. Ended the day helping the crew load up the sets back to hall and then going out with Leonard, Shen Jau, Derrick, Yvonne (law) and Julian to catch a movie...which didn't materialise in the end. We ended up having supper at the McDonald's outside Shaw Centre.
What a way to spend Valentine's Day...
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