A quick one on rain, being tired, and football.

After what seems likes weeks of shooting for Frommers (well..it has been weeks) I finally am wrapping up my three island tour of Oahu, Lanai, and Molokai. I have a story brewing on my trip on Molokai and I should put something up soon. After a four days/three nights grueling trip I returned on a Friday only to have a scheduled UH football game to shoot the next day for AP.

Saturday morning proved to be tough as as anything as I had only slept about 4-5 hours tops each night on Molokai. Strange beds, odd environments, and the constant pondering of the next day never makes for a good night's sleep.

Storm clouds covered all of Oahu on Saturday and I could feel I was going to be in for a tough evening of shooting rainy day football. The lack of sleep and stress were really wearing on me. And the dread of shooting in the rain.

Most professionals constantly fear rain no matter what their camera makers tell them. A Canon rep recently stated to a group of us that Canon Japan tests their pro camera gear in rainy conditions up to 7 inches an hour. For some reason I'd like to believe my camera can take a dunking but when its your dollar on the line, you best take precautions.

I never could figure out the proper way to really ensure my cameras/lenses would be safe in a rain storm, heck, even a sprinkle. I've seen and used everything from trash bags to zip lock bags to keep cameras dry. There are several camera outfitters which sell super expensive raincoats for long lenses and camera bodies. Most are well though out and seem very handy to use but the costs, over $150 dollars for some kits like Aqua Tech are hard to swallow. I do have to pay for all my gear and accessories so thats lots of money for once in a while use. I mean how often am I forced to stand in the rain to get a shot?

A few years ago, I fould quirky Rebecca B fooling around with a long camera lens and a pair of rain pants pulled over the lens, I mean, the leg of the pants slipped over the lens hood with the waist over the actual camera...get it? She basically draped her pants over her camera and viola! a raincoat for cheap. Rebecca is the origin of my current rain suit pants concoction on my 400mm lens. She is the OG of the lens raincoat pants thang.



Thank you Rebecs for your good idea and creative way around keeping your camera dry. I must say you inspired me to create my own!


Istead of cutting up a good pair of rain pants, I purchased a stanky old pair of army surplus green pants from God knows when they were made. The good thing is the military makes things to last and short of the stench of what ever, the pants proved to be perfect. They slipped over the lens hood snuggly and after a snip or two, it works perfectly.

And the OD green keeps me completely camouflaged from irate golf pros and mean looking security agents.



What I never could figure out was how to completely keep my camera body from getting wet. I've tried several options including a now discontinued Nikon soft camera pouch used to silence or rather dampen the shutter slap of a camera. The sound aspect was never the best but did dull the metallic snap thus keeping my shutterbuggery (ha--its my new word you bastards!)

Hell today I am changing my blog post title! Welcome to Shutterbuggery.

Anyway, back to the rain...

So it took a sharp Chinese guy, yes, you George F Lee, to completely show me the light on how to keep the rain at bay.

As George will quickly admit about himself and his Chinese decent, they are patient, will observe closely, and thus attack accordingly. He didn't say it in so many words but I think you get the picture. At the game I saw George and his big camera lens all wrapped up with a clear garbage bag, and his camera eye piece stuck over the bag thus covering the and solving my problem. As my picture suggests, the back of the rain pants comes over the body completely and yet, a surgically placed cut into the material allows you to peer into the view finder and the eye piece diopter keeps all in place. George readily admits he stole, no copied the idea directly from Aquatech.

So thanks George for your sharp observations and wit to figure out a simple problem to keeping the rain away from cameras and lenses.

I should point out that George's use of a clear garbage bag allows full "chimping" or reviewing of images. I'd like to limit my "chimping" of images keeping my mind focused on the task at hand. Editing should come later!

Now on to football and the shot of the week:



Yes, this is the catch that won the game for UH and to tell you the truth, life can be tough as a lone wire photographer. In all honestly, the glory days of Hawaii and their odd bid at a Sugar Bowl title are long gone...and so is the strong media attention. No one really cares about UH football nor of their opponents in the WAC. Games starting at 6pm in Hawaii start at midnight on the East Coast. All news editors are gone for the day and the night crew is just pushing through images to the wires. UH football is sadly just another image to push. How can UH compete with Texas or USC for attention. We are just a small state with a small team.

Yet this does not stop the job I have at hand. I have to visually tell a story within reason and send out images to make West Coast sports deadlines so all is not in vain. My first initial shots of the opposing team from Nevada or where ever that team on the West Coast may be will surely be used by the paper and their website.

Now with rain pouring down for almost the entire game, its truly hard to concentrate on a game. I am in a constant hunt for the all telling shot that conveys the entire game and most of the time, that shot never really appears nor or it just happens just beyond where you are. In brief, if you are a lone wire photographer, you can never predict which way a sports event will turn. You can be downfield when a fumble takes place and the winning shot runs away from you. You can station yourself left of the QB and he will pass to the right. The running back can get the ball and run straight towards you and quickly change pace and snap the other way. Action is unpredictable. Its never where you need it to be.

Hence we come to the shot...

Its seconds left when the UH quarterback needs to make a touchdown to win the game or go into dreaded overtime. He pulls back out of the pocket runs directly opposite of me and throws the ball to the furthest corner away from me and the receiver makes the catch. Quick thinking and a hail mary burst nails me this shot. A little shabby once you see the original but I had to drop the long lens act and option for the shorter lens as you never know which way they'd run or throw. I just so happen to be quick on the draw and, thanks to razor sharp optics, Canon digital technology, faster than light focusing, I got the shot. Oh, I forgot to mention a little post production.



I could have taken this shot with a longer lens, the 400mm, but at the time I didn't or couldn't predict which way the receiver would have run. I was just lucky I got the game telling shot.

UH won the game 38-31. If you didn't get it, he did...catch the ball, that is.