Tag Archives: winter

Olympic Gold in China for Photos and Photographers

August 15, 2008 – 6:40 am

Have you been following the Olympics? Working from a home office gives me the advantage to have the coverage on all the time and it has been great. If you can watch during the day you get some of the less highlighted sports in the summer games like Badminton, indoor volleyball, fencing and more.

The swimming is of great interest to those of us here in Auburn. The Auburn University Swim and Dive program has become one of the premiere training grounds for Olympic swimmers, worldwide, and it is really something to watch the swimmers from right here in Auburn compete so strongly in each event.

Auburn Womans Gymnastics

Auburn Men\'s Swim Team

One area of interest to me of course are the incredible photos that are coming out of Beijing. I have been following Vincent Laforet, an incredible photographer who is covering the Olympics for Newsweek, (see most recent post for Newsweek called Things Are Starting to Click—and I’m Not Talking Only About Cameras This Time) and each day he has brought the world more incredible images of the summer games in Beijing.

Watching these event on TV, like the U.S. Gymnastics team win gold or seeing Michael Phelps break his own world record, is great, but being there and taking those images with your own eyes must really be something. Vincent, through his photography of the Olympics can give us a perspective that shows the intensity of the competition, the agony of all the training that it took to get there, and the faces of winning a gold metal.

The Summer Games in Beijing has inspired me to get moving with our plans for the Winter Games in Vancouver 2010, now only a year and a half left before the opening ceremonies in February 2010. I hope our plans to go to the winter games in Vancouver will come to pass, if so, I will be lugging all my camera equipment to Canada to get what action I can get.  It won’t matter if I am shooting for a local paper, or something bigger, there will be some incredible photographic opportunities in Canada in 2010, and I plan on being there.

Of course there are thousands of photographers covering the Summer Olympics in China. Another also shooting for Newsweek, Donald Miralle, has also produced some fantastic images (see his latest post Badminton is My New Favorite Sport).  Another is Mike Powell (also shooting for Newsweek, see A Bit of Sun) who has captured some great shots of the gymnastics and kayaking.

Vincent also maintains a personal blog (latest post Things Are Starting to Click—and I’m Not Talking Only About Cameras This Time), although he requests comments be left on the Newsweek blog to save a bit of editing time on his end. Great job Vincent, Donald, and Mike, I love photos that inspire, that is what keeps photography alive and exciting.

By Scott Fillmer | Posted in Journal, Photography | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

A Cold Day on the Beach in February is Empty and Fun

February 15, 2008 – 5:53 am

Some days a cold day on the beach is better than a warm day inside. The beaches, in most parts of the country right now, are completely empty, but put a nice cool breeze and January into the mix and you get this (see beach image below). Not only is there a rare February thunderstorm in the distance but the only visible moving object on the beach is a tiny little bird in the very center of the image. The sunsets at the marina are always so dynamic and each one is different. The thunderstorms here made just enough of a hole in the sky to give us a great sunset today.

Sunset at the Marina

This image was actually taken by my cell phone. I am really amazed at the quality of images that can be taken by a cell phone these days. Not that it is worthy of publication but for just sticking a phone up in the air, its not bad.

Gulf Shores in January

This weekend we did spend the day on the beach (see all the photos below) but we came down to be on Laughalot. We did enjoy the peace and quiet that the marina always has around this time of year, and of course on the beaches too.

We have several favorite beaches down here, some are in Florida, some in Alabama, but depending on the time of year, you can usually walk several miles in either direction and enjoy a quiet walk. As is customary for me, I try to get in about 5-7 miles while I am on the beach, here I am on my way, yes, it is cold. I don’t look all that thrilled but I really am glad to be there, even if the weather is a little harsh.

Scott going for a walk

Of course, DK has here own way of keeping warm, stay in the tent, don’t move much and have a ton of layers on. We do have some larger shots of the tent area on the beach but this close up gives a better idea of how cold it really is down here today.

Deborah\'s Beach Tent

It still made for a very nice sunset at the marina and we had a great weekend on Laughalot.

By sailing | Posted in Coastal | Also tagged , , , | Comments (1)

This is What You Do in January in the Marina, Knit and Blog

January 11, 2008 – 6:34 pm

Now that the cold weather is here this is what you do, sit and knit. It is now to cold to sit outside in the cockpit for any extended period of time but we can still come down for the weekend and enjoy being here. Here is Deb sitting under a bunch of blankets knitting on the boat. Surprised she doesn’t have on her mittens and ear muffs but we did get the heater working this summer, thank goodness.

Deborah knitting on the boat in the marina

There will be warmer days but we still had a nice weekend down on the boat. Once again we were treated to wonderful sunsets, right off the transom but it was a little to cold to go outside and do much. What I should be doing right now is getting a list of all the things I want to do on the boat when it gets warmer but who can get motivated in this cold.

View of the Sunset from the Marina

We did take several trips over to the beach where I could do some much needed walking and DK could knit, in the shelter of our tent. Photos of that will be coming soon, pictured above are two shots I took with my iPhone, not bad for a phone camera.  The first is of Deborah of course, knitting on the boat in the heat, the second was taken from the cockpit, both with my camera phone.

By sailing | Posted in Coastal | Also tagged , , , | Comments (1)

A Frozen Car in September Must Mean Colorado

September 30, 2007 – 3:15 pm

This image was taken just a few days ago. YES, these two photos were taken on September 25th, in Creede, Colorado. Not the most photographic images I know, but we went up to visit some family in Colorado and froze to death in just a few days. The fall weather in this part of Colorado can be brutal, and the winter just miserable. Being from the south, cold is what it gets for two days in February when it gets below 40 degrees, here, at the 9,000 foot level, it gets to be -30*F in the winter, and just plain cold in the fall.

At this elevation, temperatures are well below freezing long before the rest of us even know fall is near. It is one of the most beautiful parts of the country, and the most unforgiving and harsh as well. The Aspens were in full yellow fall colors, frost and all.

Frozen car in Colorado in September

Deborah in the frozen car

The temp shown above was actually quite warmer than it was in the car. The car read 19.3*F as I took this photo. Just two long days in the car and we were back in the fall in the south, a cool 92*, ahhhh, we can almost turn off the air conditioning now.  The first image is the car, and again, this is September, and the next is of course my loving wife Deborah, showing me how much she loves to be sitting in a frozen car instead of sitting in the Florida Keys.

Cold Colorado Fall

By islandzephyr | Posted in Journal, Photography | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)