Sunday 19 June 2011

Indoor Cricket Photography

I love Cricket (please note, for the purposes of this post, the definition of Cricket does NOT include that Twenty20 advertising-dressed-up-as-sport, how-can-we-squeeze-more-money-out-of-the-great-unwashed, corporate-greed-driven rubbish).

So I'll say it again . . . I LOVE Cricket.

Test Cricket in particular.


If there is a sport with more variety, nuance, excitement, grace, personality, power and intrigue than Test Cricket, I'll eat my one piece of that indispensable equipment affectionately known as "the box". Non-cricketing folk probably should not seek explanation. Trust me.

Of course, not all of us can play Test Cricket. After all, even some who are selected for Test Cricket can't play it. So we play our own version, usually demanding not five full days (like Test Cricket), but one or two, sometimes taking the whole weekend, sometimes spread over two weekends.

As we move through the years, sports that demand a whole weekend (like Cricket), or even just a whole day of the weekend (like Cricket) are pushed aside for other pursuits that demand at least some of our weekends (like Life). So we either give up playing our beloved sport, or we find alternatives. In Australia and New Zealand (and to a lesser degree South Africa and the UK, and to an even lesser degree India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka), that alternative is often Indoor Cricket.


New Zealand Under 19 girls celebrate a wicket against tournament favourites Australia. New Zealand eventually eliminated Australia from the finals and played the Grand Final against ultimate Under 19 Girl champions, South Africa.
2003 Indoor Cricket World Under 19 Championships, Christchurch, New Zealand. 
© 2003 Sheldon Levis
Now, I'm not going to explain Indoor Cricket here, when I've already done that comprehensively here at Indoor Cricket World

And I'm not going to discuss the finer points of photographing this sport--that is a future project I'm working on.
 
What I am doing is letting those interested know that Indoor Cricket World contains the largest collection of original Indoor Cricket Photography on the web. For newcomers to the sport, I also have a small selection of International Indoor Cricket tournament photographs here

But mainly, I'm letting readers know that Dusty Dingo Photography is covering the upcoming Australian National Indoor Cricket Championships, and will feature the photographs of the whole tournament on its pages.

Stay tuned.

Extreme photography

I have not lived a sheltered life . . . . I have bungie jumped. I have snorkelled in deep, known-to-be-frequented-by-shark waters off the shores of otherwise beautiful Rottnest Island. Many times, I have driven a car in Denpasar, Bali. Several times I have crossed a 72-laned Vietnamese highway . . . on foot. And I have, many years ago, worn a "Ban Uranium Mining" t-shirt in my mining-is-sacred home town of Kalgoorlie.

All these activities are sweat-inducing, nerve-wracking tests of resolve and arcane skills.

Photographically, the only thing I've done in the past that compares is photographing weddings and bikie fights. Bikie fights I simply do not recommend. Whereas weddings . . . well, come to think of it, leave them alone too . . . . I learned my lessons early enough to run away still in one piece from both of these pursuits.

Back to the point . . . . last night, I reacquainted myself with the photographic equivalent of bungie-jumping, shark-wrangling, bikie-fighting, bride-complaining, traffic-defying mining-magnate dodging: I photographed a Cheerleading display. From the stands ("from the bleachers" to our North American friends).

Now,  it's not that pointing a camera at the stage area and shooting off thousands of shots is particularly difficult. In fact, that approach is dead easy. BUT (you knew that was coming didn't you?) . . . . once you are known as the bloke who takes photos at the cheer events and then sells prints via his website, a certain expectation settles like a hungry vulture on your shoulders . . . .okay, in this part of the world, vultures are rare. Sort of . . . non-existant. We do have budgerigars (affectionally known hereabouts as Melopsittacus undulatus), but if you've ever seen a budgerigar you'll know the metaphor suffers badly. Let's stick with vultures. Back to the story . . . .

You see, everyone wants, quite rightly, a photo of their daughter (or son, the boys are slowly infiltrating this sport). A good photo of their daughter. Not only as part of the group, but in isloation, doing something really spectacular, with grace and skill and a beaming smile. Not a problem I hear you say . . . just photograph everyone. . . . .

Have you ever watched a cheerleading routine? I don't mean the rah rah rahdy rah stuff you sometimes see at the local basketball. I mean the competitive sport version. It's non-stop, it's fast, and with anything up to around 30 girls and the occasional boy on stage, it's definitely not designed for giving everyone a little cameo with a clear line of sight to the photographer stuck up in the back stalls.


But I some time ago decided to give this a go, to try to shoo the budgie-cum-vulture away by trying to do just that . . . shooting everyone . . . and each in a "nice" pose, doing something at least reflective of the sport. Open eyes are nice, smiles are optional. It means a lot of pics, it means a seriously overworked auto-focus, and it means a minute or two spent on almost every pic, cropping to create at least some semblance of balance and isolation of each person photographed. It also means lots of late nights editing . . . and some of the more satisfying results of the little fling I have going with my camera.


An old mentor said to me a long time ago, "losing a good reputation is worse than not having one in the first place". In other words, once you commit to building a reputation, you commit to the even harder task of protecting it. I think she was right.

May all your vultures be budgerigars . . . . roll on the next Cheer competition.


Tuesday 14 June 2011

Western Australia . . . leader in heritage protection . . . .

In my home town, there is a lovely heritage-listed building, the Guildford Hotel. It was struck by arson a couple of years ago, leaving the main building gutted and without a roof.. For all that time, the owners have pontificated and promised and umm'ed and aahhh'd and . . . guess what? . . . still no roof. Not even a lousy corrugated iron lean-to to protect what's left of the building's interior from the elements.

There are mean-spirited folk in the local community who see this as yet another example of an emasculated State Government allowing the big end of town to do what they want, when they want. Others see it as yet another example of State-sanctioned "demolition by neglect". We unequivocally chastise such un-neighbourly thoughts. We know there is a very good reason for leaving this iconic and historic old building to stand alone against the elements, year after year. Of course there is. To suggest otherwise is . . . ummm . . . aaahhhh . . . 

So, where to now?

We can take photographs highlighting the neglect:

© 2010 Sheldon Levis


. . . or write a poster supportive of the building's owners . . .

© 2011 Sheldon Levis

. . . . or post the odds of something happening soon . . .

© 2011 Sheldon Levis

. . . . or do nothing. With the heavy winter rains finally here (we're in the southern hemisphere remember) we may not have to think about what to do for much longer.