Austin 10/20 Photos

Well, this is the first many posts to come and everyone has to start somewhere right?  Of course we have our blog over at Austin 10/20 Photos but I thought I might expand on some of the events we cover and how we cover them.  So, here we are and welcome!

Recently had the good fortune to cover part of the Austin 10/20 race recently, held near The Domain just on the north side of Austin.  This is the first year I've covered this race and really had a great time doing it. For those of you who have never been to the race, it's quite a production. 10 miles. 20 stages. And the runners are fast.

Very fast.

In fact, they were so fast that I missed part of the lead pack as I ran to catch them at the half way marker. Parking was almost impossible on nonpriority parts of the track, so you just have to do the best you can. That's the way it is with every race. Of course you try to setup in the most productive areas where you can really catch the action on a moment's notice. I'll keep the area I actually set up in on a sidenote for now. I don't know that it really makes that much difference to most of you, but I'd like to have that spot again next year and setups (to me, at least) are like your favorite fishing holes. You don't go blabbing about 'em.

But I digress.

I'll tell you, that morning was a real challenge for me. The weather was really overcast and although there appeared to be more than enough light to get just the right photos, it was difficult to make them appear bright and cheery. Had a set of brand new lenses to play with - a new Canon F/2.8 7-200, Canon F/2.8 24-70 and a Canon 300mm F4. I shot with all of them, each with something different to offer.

For most of the morning, I shot with the 70-200 and found this to be my favorite lens for shooting this race. By far. It was heavier than I thought it would be. It doesn't seem like much until you try to hold it in one place for 2 1/2 hours. Steady. Shot after shot. I'm not going out next time without the monopod. It's not overly necessary just to get a few shots, but it would have been really helpful for the length of time I was out there.

Not really a fan of of the 24-70 this morning. Just too much going on to get close enough for great photos without interfering in the race. This photo to the left was of my favorite couple of the morning. It was shot with the 70-200 at approximately 50' or so. Really enjoyed being able to capture this moment for them during the race and I hope that they find it one day. It's not possibly to let everyone know who you are as the race is progressing, so I'll have to leave it up to them to find it. For now. They'll want it when this baby is born :)

Austin 10/20 Photos

If you haven't seen the photos yet, you can stop by the Austin 10/20 photo page or visit MyRunPics.com or just go straight to the Austin 10/20 Photo Album to see if I might have captured your image that morning.  Still working out some of the mechanics for getting our message out while we're out on site. I'll get a little better at that in the future.  If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave those here. Discussion is good. Hope your week is off to a good start and see ya on the track.