Final Project: Swim Meets

"On my last day on earth, take me to a swim meet, because they last forever!" -T-shirt

This inspiring quote is what I based my final project on. After a slew of swim meets over the break and the last week, I have managed to capture the heat and excitement of it all.

This and the next picture are about the necessary equipment for swimming competitively. You would not play football without a helmet, would not play golf without a ball, I won't go to a swim meet without this stuff. This first one is a bit bland with the light, but it is the perfect image to show the normal outerwear for a meet, all poised on a pair of deer horns. The jacket and pants are vital to stay warm in the wintertime, and of course you need to have a suit. Not the most creative or visionary picture ever, but it works.

The other half of the equipment, the bag of hope, doom, and swim stuff. This is the first thing anyone sees once they go into my house. It shows dedication, and shows we are swimmers. The towel and the unseen goggles are just as important as anything else on the equipment list. The light is decent, but the focus is good, so I am happy with it.

This image, taken at Kearns Oquirrh Park Fitness Center, is a vertical panorama showing the length of the pool during a breaststroke event. I like how the one girl is seen turning at the wall, but then seen later on in the pool. The girl is blurry, but it shows how swimming is a sport of motion, not static aggression being released. Everything else is in focus, thank goodness, and I love the reflection of the windows on the pool.
This is the same pool, taken from a different angle on top of the bleachers they have. I like how I got not only the pool, but also the (rather small, but this was the 1000 free night) crowd. It shows how swim meets are not just about the pool or the swimmers, rather the community spirit made from the crowd, all gathered to watch and cheer for their team or swimmer. Pretty symbolic. And it is in focus. Yay.
This image is my second favorite of the bunch. This is a member of the Brighton High swim team getting ready for a race. Funny thing about this, I shot this freehand with no prep. I moved the camera the same pace as him, and the slower shutter speed did the rest. Lucky me. Regardless of my last paragraph, swim meets revolve around the swimmer, and this image captures just that. Everything around him is blurry, not important, but he is in sharp contrast to the rest of the image. I knew that 4-leaf clover was good for something.
This is the diving tank/ warm-up pool at Cottonwood Heights during a dual meet. It is actually a smaller pool than it looks like from the image. This is a behind the scenes shot for swim meets. You hear about the record breaking times and about how fast people are going, but there is plenty of unseen work going on out there. You cannot just go out there without warming up first, but it goes unseen. All of the people in the background are looking at the main pool, while the swimmers are preparing. This image is a tribute to all of this work.
This is another one of those shots focusing on the swimmer himself, but this time the crowds are there, giving the sense of a whirl of commotion all leading back to the swimmer. The swimmer in the middle, with the bright towel really jumps out, and he is in the perfect place. I thank steam for the depth of this image and the back story for the next one.
This is the tribute to why you DO NOT shoot in an enclosed pool for extended periods of time. Steam was my biggest enemy by the end of this project, but it added another layer of challenge to the assignment. How do you work around steam? Or can you use it to your advantage? Not the most interesting picture ever, but it shows the challenges of pool photography. Can you see the lens? Hint: it looks like an eye.
This, I must say, is my favorite image of the bunch. It captures the two contrasting sides of a swim meet. This is the picture of the beginning of the third leg of a relay, so that is why there are two girls at once. They show the action part. The go go go and the fire filled drive of the swimmers during a race. The other half is the calm, serene side. You have a good two hours before your next race, so you relax like the girls in the blue swimsuits. Both sides are a major part of swim meets, so you learn to deal with them both. I also like how the shutter speed is an equilibrium between the two. The action side is blurred with motion, but the calm side is frozen. Some of my best work here.