LEADING OFF.
Ho! Ho! Ho!
By Robert Hanashiro, Sports Shooter

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir
And folks dressed up like Eskimos???

Dude! This is SoCal ... it's sunny and 65!

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Following The Cup
By Rob Gauthier

"The journey is the reward." - ancient Chinese proverb

"Any way you want it, that's the way you need it." - Journey

If, in fact, "the journey is the reward," then I am now, thanks to the Stanley Cup, and the Anaheim Ducks, a very rich man. 

The assignment, follow the Stanley Cup as it travels from city to city, country to country at the behest of hockey players who have won the right to possess it for a day.  Soon after the Ducks beat the Ottawa Senators to win the NHL Championship, I was given a list of players willing to have us document their days with the Cup.  Working closely with Times sports editor George Wilhelm and Ducks PR man Alex Gilchrest, I set out for Montreal and the home of goalie J.S. Giguere.

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Fifty Reasons To Love "That Time Of Year"
By Robert Beck

I have put on my Santa cap, grown a little scruffy beard and, well, I feel a bit like the big man in red.

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By Ron Vesely

Press Pins... A brief history lesson takes us back to the 1911 World Series when they were initially introduced as the actual "press credential".  Ornate, with many of the early pins also sporting ribbons, they were not considered a gift or media perk back then as they are now. They actually served a purpose- they were required for access to the press box.

In 1938, the Cincinnati Reds produced the first All-Star game press pin, and down the road, the Super Bowl, the Baseball Hall of Fame, the NFL Hall of Fame, the Indy 500 and other major events followed baseball's lead and began producing press pins.

Ever since I began covering major sporting events, the frenzy to obtain a press pin became the center of conversation, if not one's actual physical mission. The hard to obtain 2003 World Series pins were even mentioned in Brad Mangin's Series wrap up (http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/1043).  I will shamelessly admit that I used to select my travel departure date to the Super Bowl based on when the media center opened up to make sure I got my pin!! Never mind that I'd have nothing to do (except play golf... not really a bad thing) for three days, but damn straight, I got my pin! 

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IN THE BAG
Or In This Case On My Back
By Mike Blake

There are no camera bags or rollers to be found on the side of a mountain.
Every photographer you see covering ski racing will have a backpack.

So after a recent couple of weeks covering the opening of the World Cup ski season in the Great White North that is Banff National Park;  arguably one of the most beautiful places on the p***t (except for the -31c working  temperatures)  I give you .. What's in my bag.

I go light Š I'm old Š

http://www.sportsshooter.com/news_story.html?id=1886

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Being "The Camera Guy" Is Not What It Used To Be
By Trent Nelson

This was an interesting year for newspapers. And I mean interesting like this: Imagine you're parachuting into an orchard of spears. That's how the future of newspaper journalism sometimes looks to those of us drifting slowly down, trapped in gravity's pull.

A few months ago, a longtime friend called to say farewell. He said I probably wouldn't see him again. He had developed a time machine and was going to return himself to 1989, a simpler year when he was much happier. (Fact: there are no time machines.)

This friend is a photographer who worked at a small daily newspaper in a small town. If you've ever worked on a small paper, you know how it is: several assignments per day and everyone in town know you're the "Camera Guy."

ASK SPORTS SHOOTER
Understanding Flash Duration
By Shawn Cullen

(Editor's Note: Each month I will take a question sent to me or a question I see on the SportsShooter.com Message Board and have it answered by a photographer or editor. A recent thread on the Message Board about lighting a high school gym prompted several questions emailed to me asking about the importance of flash duration. I asked Shawn Cullen to discuss this for the first installment of "Ask Sports Shooter". )

There have been many threads over the years talking about what flash duration is, its importance in freezing a moving subject, and how to achieve the shortest flash duration possible.  Hopefully this will combine all of this information into one place instead of searching through all of the posts to find the information you need.

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The Holiday Season Is Here
Cool Holiday Event: Vegas and 7,269
By Tiffany Brown

The Holiday Season Is Here
'Tis the Season
By Darrell Miho

Loving. Sharing.  Giving.  May every day be Christmas.  For many years, this been my inner Christmas wish for myself and for those around me.  That we remember to love, share and give to others.  Not just in December, not just with friends and family, but every day and with people we don't even know.

Four years ago, I wrote "The Heart of Giving" (http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/1074) to encourage people to donate their time and/or money to a charity whose missions they believed in.  Rather than repeat what I had already written, I hope that you will take the time to read that past story and take to heart the spirit of giving and find time in your busy schedules to make it happen throughout the year.

PHOTOGRAPHERS' TOY BOX
Nikon D300 Users' Report: The Ultimate Stocking Stuffer
By Walter Calahan

'Tis the season to buy yourself what your love ones won't this holiday.

A Nikon D300!

Yes, yes, we're all sports shooters, so why am I not suggesting the Nikon D3?

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Talking Tech: CS3 To Color Correct That Video
By Kim Komenich ©2007

Photoshop CS3 Extended Edition is useful in many new ways - including as a tool for video color correction.

You can open a Quicktime movie in Photoshop CS3 Extended and use "Smart Objects" to adjust curves, hue/saturation, and anything else that's on the "adjustment layers" tab-- in the same way you'd adjust a still photo.

While the CS3 method is probably not as eloquent (or solid) a way of correcting video color  as working with the 2- or 3-Way Color Correctors in Final Cut or the new Apple program "Color",  it does let us address video color correction in still photo terms. Then, when you think about it, aren't we really shooting stills at 24 or 29.97 frames a second? Photoshop may or may not have advantages over color correction in Final Cut- that's for you to find out.

By Dan Powers

To be honest, I'm not sure bloggin' is really a word.  Regardless it's a word that was brought up to me this past summer by photo editor Dwight "Dewey" Nale.  Dewey wanted to have a little talk and he was smiling when he said it.  I knew I was in trouble.

On Oct. 18, the life of a fellow Sports Shooter member ended tragically when Bridget O'Brien, only 26 years old, was killed in a car accident in Ohio.

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Shooter Newsletter Annual Contest Deadline Super Bowl Sunday
By Sports Shooter Staff

The Sports Shooter Newsletter is trying to find the best sports photographs of the year. The deadline for the Sports Shooter Annual Contest is midnight (Pacific Time) Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008.

This year's contest will feature five categories, plus the Photo of the Year:
1) Best Action Photo
2) Best No Pro, No College
3) Best Sports feature
4) Best Sports Picture Story
5) Best Student Sports Photo
6) Photograph of the Year

The Sports Shooter Newsletter Annual Contest is sponsored by Lowepro and Adorama Camera.

Spaces Available for Academy V March 5-9, 2008
By Sports Shooter Staff

A few openings remain in THE COOLEST sports photography event of the year.

The Sports Shooter Academy V will be held March 5 - 9, 2008 in Southern California, offering a wide range of sports events to cover, a faculty of award-winning photographers and much, much more.

What's new?

Keep Your Camera Dry This Season With The New Think Tank Hydrophobia
Think Tank Photo recently announced the release of Hydrophobia 300 - 600, the first rain cover specifically designed to be pre-mounted for quick deployment. If it appears that it may rain, photographers can attach the Hydrophobia cover over their lens hood before going into the field, rolling it up tight and out of the way. Then, when weather threatens, simply unroll the rain cover over the rest of the lens and body, securely protecting both. The cover fits a 300 f2.8, 400 f2.8, 500 f4 and 600 f4 Nikon and Canon lens, making it ideally suited for sports and nature photographers. There is even a special pocket to hold your eyepiece. Just take your camera's eyepiece off and exchange it with the Hydrophobia eyepiece. Visit: http://thinktankphoto.com/hydrophobia/ for complete instructions and pictures.

We Rent
If you have assignments in the DC area, remember that our E Street store has a large rental selection of lights, cameras and long glass. See http://www.penncamera.com/rental for rates and terms or call the rental department for availability and reservations at 202-347-5777.

(For Penn Camera's on-line catalog and store locations, check this link: http://www.penncamera.com.)


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Thanks to one and all for a great 2007 from everyone at Roberts!!!
(Roberts Distributors is located in Indianapolis, IN. Jonathan "Jody" Grober can be emailed at: jgrober@robertsimaging.com. To place an order, call: 1-800-726-5544. You can check out Roberts' online product catalog at: http://www.robertsimaging.com.)


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                         SPORTS SHOOTER ACADEMY V
            The  COOLEST photography event of the year
                                        March 5-9, 2008
           http://www.sportsshooter.com/workshops.html

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