2nd Indy Criterium features new, figure-8 course

Day 2 of "The Great Catchup" takes us back to last month's running of the second Indy Criterium cycling competition in Downtown Indianapolis. I made it there in time for the last half of the final women's competition (category 1/2/3) and the full finale, the men's category 1/2/3.

Organizers retooled the course from last year's rectangular course, this year creating a figure-eight loop -- but still 0.9 miles -- that started cyclists on New York Street halfway between Meridian and Pennsylvania streets. From there, cyclists rode east and turned north -- the wrong way for vehicular traffic on normally one-way-south Pennsylvania Street -- then headed west onto Vermont Street, the next block up, turning south onto Meridian Street, then west onto New York (which made New York the cross point for the figure-eight), then turned south onto Illinois, traveling two blocks to Market, where riders turned east, angled along the brick-paved northwest quadrant of Monument Circle then headed north onto Meridian again before concluding the circuit by turning east (right) back onto New York.

John Grant of Louisville, and Indiana University alumnus, won the men's competition, finishing just ahead of Texas Roadhouse Cycling teammate Chad Burdzilauskas, Indianapolis. In the women's category 1/2/3 race, Jackie Kurth of Palm City, Fla., a junior member of the Marian University cycling team, finished first and Katie Weber of Monrovia, Ind., was runner-up.

To view a full gallery of images from my shoot at the 2011 Indy Crit, follow this link. 

Above: The women's category 1/2/3 competition was the only race of the day marred by rain. The precipitation started about halfway through the 45-minute race and lasted about 15 minutes.

Above: Jackie Kurth, Palm City, Fla., a Marian University cycling team member, crossed the finish line first for the women; Katie Weber, Monrovia, Ind., was second.

Above: Eventual men's category 1/2/3 winner John Grant heads a small group of leaders early in the race after a turn off Pennsylvania Street onto Vermont Street.

Not far behind the five-member group above were Bryan Boggs (left), Zionsville, Ind., a triathlete and former Indiana University swimmer who in August 2006 swam the English Channel -- on the wheel of John Schmitz, Bargersville, Ind. Boggs finished 20th; Schmitz outside the top 36.

Above: On a humid, 90-degree-plus day, it was not uncommon for athletes to refuel frequently, sometimes even having to temporarily dangle the bottles from their mouths to ensure a safe negotiation of a turn, as this rider does turning north onto Pennsylvania Street from New York Street.

Above: Grant rides fourth wheel, while runner-up and teammate Chad Burdzilauskas servers as trailer, as they turn east onto New York from Meridian Street.

Above: Boggs, one more time, the fierce exertion of pedaling evident in his calves.

Above: If you happened to look away for a quick moment just as the peloton came toward your vantage point along the course, you could easily miss the cruise-by ... and see this as you fixed your eyes back on the course.

Above: Chad Burdzilauskas raises an arm in victory for teammate John Grant (right) who is just a few feet from crossing the finish line on the last lap.

 

Above: On the post-race podium are men's 1/2/3 winner John Grant (center), flanked by teammate and runner-up Chad Burdzilauskas (left) and third-place finisher Eric Young of Bloomington, Ind. 

A day when the most joy came from a longtime acquaintance

 

I've always had a sense that there were a lot of photographers out there who never accomplished more with their skills because they couldn't "solve" the labyrinth of artificial light. They resigned themselves to being "available light only" shooters -- or somehow convinced themselves that "resorting" to flash or strobe photography was beneath them.

I wasn't one of those. I would just plain tell anybody who would ask me that I'm simply overwhelmed by the math involved with flash -- the metering (which involves f/stop and shutter and distance); the dialing up or down of a flash's power by various mathematical increments (1/3, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, whatever); the degree of light intensity one flash would emit versus another, and how that relates to the distance the light is to the subject; or the different number of "groups" a wireless flash setup involved to control the main (key), fill, background and accent lighting (actually, that math isn't too bad -- it's just one, two or three ... or A, B and C).

And then there is the "how" of setting up a wireless flash system. You need the equipment -- a pocket wizard, for example -- to direct all the units. Then umbrellas (which come in various sizes) and light stands or other gear associated with lighting above and beyond detachable flash -- such monolights, accent lights, soft boxes, snoots, ring lights. OK, you don't have to have all of them, but your degree of ease and professionalism -- or even savvy -- is directly proportion to the gear you have to work with -- and, most important, the skills you acquire to handle it all.

Well, I decided I wanted to get past that large blockade, and start by taking things one step at a time. On Tuesday of this week, I took a day off from work and bought admission to the Indianapolis stop of the Flash Bus Tour, a daylong seminar on flash photography featuring Joe McNally and Dave "The Strobist" Hobby Flash Bus Tour 2011. Both also keep (McNally and The Strobist) blogs, although Hobby's "The Strobist" blog is by far the better known.

These two guys are among the best-known flash-savvy photographers in the country, for sure -- and perhaps even the globe. McNally has had his worked published in an array of prominent publications (including TIME, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, National Geographic, New York ... the list goes on and one). Hobby was a longtime photographer for the Baltimore Sun before leaving a few years to work freelance. He's since launched a local (Howard County, Md.) photo-news blog, HoCo360, that is in its infancy stage.

I did walk away feeling I was able to sort through a little of the confusion. If I actually owned umbrellas and light stands, for example, I would be far more comfortable today to set them up and use them for a shoot, using my Canon Speedlite 580EXII as a master/commander/key light and my Speedlite 420EX as secondary/fill/slave. If I also had sunlight, I'd have a third light source and could play off that to determine how to use the two flashes ... or even just one of them. Sometimes two, or even one, can be enough.

Saying all that, and feeling like I'd made a decent dent into better comprehending strobe lighting, would you be surprised if I said my happiest moment Tuesday was the walk back to my car from the Indiana Convention Center, when I stopped and grabbed a couple dozen shots of interesting things I was finding among the urban landscape and skyscape?

Well, it's true. With a 39% full moon high in the rich, blue, nearly cloudless, late-afternoon sky, I was juxtaposing it every which way I could maneuver -- between the spires of St. John's Cathedral, off the windows of several glass-facade structures and alongside Regions and Chase bank buildings and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at Monument Circle. I also caught some amazing reflections of other things off glass facades and an interesting pattern -- cast by the Chase building -- onto the AT&T building a half-block away.

Yes, despite my ground-gaining on the strobe flash education front, good ol' available light photography of the lines and patterns and reflections Downtown is where I derived my most joy Tuesday. I start (at the top, and immediately below) with two shots of a reflection off the glass facade of the building on the northwest quadrant of Monument Circle. The one above -- where the window divider also reflected a reflection of the moon onto another pane of glass as well as the monument's spillover reflection onto the masonry -- fascinated me the most.

Enjoy the images.

Above: You may have to squint to find it, but that IS the moon between the two spires on St. John's Cathedral.

Above and below: The Hyatt Regency and its Eagle's Nest restaurant. The Hyatt is the building I like to call "the Big Honeycomb."

Above: Benches in the plaza across from the convention center. Even though it has no moon or reflection, this shot actually was high on my list of favorites from the day.

Above: A reflection of a portion of St. John's facade off the convention center windows.

Above: A strobist wannabe, doing a blind capture of his reflection in a storefront window at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Washington Street.

Above: A helicopter and the moon, objects the eye sees as the same size, yet they are some 240,000 miles apart.

 

 

Above: The federal building in one reflection ... 

... and the Indiana War Memorial in another. 

 

Above: The ATT&T building, catching fascinating patterns in reflection from the Chase building (below) a half-block east.
 

Above: The moon between the flag and Chase Bank.

Above: A very feint moon in the panel to the right of the flag -- reflected, along with Regions Bank, in this facade on the west side of Meridian Street.

 

 

Above: One more look at the moon, hovering to the left of the Regions Bank building.

Elegance in the urban landscape

While walking back to my car after my shoot Saturday at the inaugural Indy Crit cycling competition, I came across this striking, lavender-colored bloom in a couple of the gardens along the north border of University Park in Downtown Indianapolis.

Thanks to the help of a blog visitor, I've been able to identify this flower as a Cleome Rose Queen.

The closeup shot (above) comes with a bonus, tiny insect clinging upside down along one of the thin plant whiskers in the lower left portion. I like the perspective shot (below) almost as much for its elegance: the combination of bloom, its distinctive, sculpted stem and the drooping foliage of its buddy to the right.

A good one to ... well, make you feel good.

Reflecting on ... downtown buildings

Here a few reflection images I grabbed Saturday while strolling Meridian Street during the inaugural Indy Crit cycling competition on a Downtown Indianapolis loop course (see previous post) -- and one I grabbed last November while covering the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon and Half-Marathon.

The one above is a no-trickery-on-my-end distortion. The bellowed panels on the right just happened to bend that way from where I was standing.

The first one below I decided to take because of the juxtaposition of the reflection against the real-time U.S. flag to the right of it.

The third simply is the federal courts building, as it looks when bounced off the all-glass facade of its AT&T neighbor on the west side of Meridian.

Finally, the last one -- the one I grabbed last November -- is the State Capitol, reflecting off a glass sheen on the east side of Illinois Street.

Indy Crit: A cycling inaugural

There is something about the geometry of dozens of bicycles moving together that appeals to me, which I guess is why pro cycling has become a favorite spectator sport of mine. That's why I decided to drop in on the inaugural Indy Criterium on Saturday in Downtown Indianapolis, where cyclists of several skills levels and age divisions competed for a total purse of $4,000 over a 0.7-mile loop course.

Cyclists began their multi-lap loop of the Indy Crit on Meridian Street alongside University Park, went north to Vermont Street, turned west for a block to Illinois, then turned south onto Illinois to Market Street, and east on Market, following the curved northwest quadrant of Monument Circle before completing the loop with a north turn onto Meridian Street.

The route allowed for fascinating visual backdrops involving two of the city's most striking structures -- the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at Monument Circle at Market and Meridian streets, and the State Capitol at Illinois and Market streets.

These images are from the second half of the men's Masters competition and the first part of the men's 3/4 skill category competition. The weather turned out to be splendid for the athletes -- solid overcast skies. Which might explain some of the boredom (too much of a comfort zone?) and face-making going on you see in the last two pictures, which were taken moments before the start line of the men's 3/4 race.

Click here to see more images from the shoot at my online gallery.

Downtown Indianapolis at night ... and decked out for the holidays

This post is simply an opportunity to display some images I grabbed on a recent, and relatively short (about an hour and a half), visit to downtown Indianapolis on a recent evening before Christmas. I took on several tasks/objectives: nighttime landscapes; capturing the holiday decorations; dealing with two forms of quite different forms of artificial light in the same frame (tungsten and/or fluorescent/halogen); buildings/architecture; use of a wide-angle lens for such shots (all shots except the final two were taken with a Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 lens); and, as it turned out, an impromptu task: shooting a runner on the steps of the Indiana War Memorial steps.

I bumbled the task somewhat from the get-go; I forgot to bring along my remote cable shutter release. I certainly was reminded of the advantages of that handy device while shooting all of these the traditional finger-on-shutter-button method. I started at Monument Circle, focusing on variations that included the annual monument Christmas "tree."

The street shot is looking east down Ohio Street, from near the Meridian Street intersection in front of the south end of the federal building.