MAY: Sports Shooter Workshop

May has been a pretty fast paced month. I'm worried that if I blink, June rent is going to be due. That being said, I spent the end of the first week at the Sports Shooter Academy workshop. 

I wasn't really sure what to expect from the workshop, it being my first and about sports, which, while being fun to photograph, is not my first passion in photography. Every day was a long affair. Wake up, grab gear, grab Mickey D's, go to event, shoot til 6 or later, edit til deadline, listen to critique, socialize with new friends until 2 am, repeat. It ended up being a really amazing experience. While the days were long, I laughed my way through most of them thanks to quick quips from the teachers and other students. 

Most shocking to me, besides the quality of work produced by everyone daily,  was the good friends I made. I've always kind of thought that line was some bologna people would just throw out there after a workshop, but it happened. 

I spent the workshop focusing on making frames beyond the action, something that has historically been a struggle for me. The workshop was the perfect place to practice thanks to there being no pressure of having to deliver anything for an assignment. A lot of the hours felt like a struggle, like I wasn't getting what I wanted, but at the end of the day, once I saw things on my computer, I felt a lot better about my shoots. 

I could ramble on about the pressure of trying to one up the photos people made at the same events the previous days of the workshop and other things, but I think my thoughts will become even more disjointed than they may already have. 

There's a lot of photos here. It was along three days of photographing. Hopefully you like most of them.

HORSE RACES

BOXING

SWIMMING

MY FIRST DODGERS GAME

My friend Raul Romero gave my girlfriend and I free tickets to our first Dodgers game a few days after the workshop, which was pretty baller.

 NEW FRIENDS

My Florida crew.  Photo courtesy of Andres Leiva