"Could you take my picture?
Is this shot recognizable? It's my FB profile shot, and one of the few half-decent pictures I have of myself in purple. It was taken by a team-mate with a pricey camera (and ridiculously expensive lens) in one of our first games of the year in 2007. On the positive side, I like the fact that my legs look stronger than they'll ever be. The fact I'm rocking the purple Urban Sprawl gear is also a plus. On the flip side, can you detect low-skill photoshopping? I had to add in a little extra shirt or you'd see a fat roll (I swear to god) that no 165 pound, 6'1 guy could possibly have…unless it was magnified by a powerful Cannon lens. Another negative; where the hell is the disc? Who's to say I'm just not scratching my ass at a very awkward angle? Please note, the clip-on shades are typical, old-school, country hick, pre-surgery Nurple. Next...
As luck would have it, I suckered a kid who worked at Future Shop to take a team shot of Sushi, my Sunday squad from last summer. He obviously knew how to work my camera well, yet, this team picture is wrong on so many levels. First off, two of the guys (including Marcel the supersub from Switzerland - standing at the far right) only played one game on the team. Had Marcel been playing with us all last summer, we would have been undefeated, and he would have deserved to be in this picture. Secondly, I'm left wondering when I found the time to farm last summer? Check out those shameful, corporate sellout, tan lines. Lastly, one of those ironic things about team pictures is that I usually end up next to people I dislike, and far away from people I enjoy playing with. Check, and mate in this shot. Next...
Earlier this week, one of the Fish regulars astutely pointed out on the OCUA forums (where the rules discussions as of late have me wondering if I should read the rules more than once a year...or if MHJ is just bored) that the great majority of winning pictures in ultypics.com contests last summer were taken by the same two or three photographers. My mission this summer is to at least take one shot worthy of submitting to ultypics. Who knows, given the low number of submissions, I might end up with a case of beer and/or some Daredevil swag. Until next time, happy hucking!
Cuz I won't remember."
- Filter
As stated in one of my first entries, among the reasons for this blog were Facebook and el-jay friends who complained that I was posting too many ultimate pictures and writing too frequently about this "hippy sport" *sigh*. I find the complaints from the FB folk ironic, since one of my few ulty problems is that I've found it impossible to get a decent picture of myself playing, or take a flattering photo of others. Yes, I know, there are sites like ultypics.com that have beautiful action shots of competitive players skying eachother, and performing head high layouts, BUT…have you ever tried to take a decent ulty picture or have a friend take one of you? It might just be my $100 Ebay special camera (likely), or the lack of photography talent of my friends (equally likely), but the ultimate ultimate picture completely alludes me. A few examples will help illustrate my ulty photography issues.
Ok, first up is this…doozy, taken by a professional photographer who is a friend of a friend. He wanted to take some action shots of an early season throwing session on the Supreme Court lawn last month, and this was the best shot of me. On a positive note, I find this picture amusing since it looks like I'm controlling the disc path via telepathy while gently correcting it with slight hand movements. On a negative note…hmmm…where to begin. First off, I'm displaying one of my many bad habits; I usually catch discs one handed in warm-up. It's one of those Zip tips ("catch with both hands") that I've taken to the extreme. My choice of attire is also rather suspect, in that apparently I felt cleats were unnecessary, a $5 Value Village top would suffice, and my post-eye-surgery recovery sunglasses were a stylish fashion choice. The last photographic beef I have with this shot is the disc is at a distance where the casual observer might wonder if I threw it (it would have to have been a backhand pop pass…which I don't have in my arsenal…yet) or am catching it (incorrectly…with one hand). Next...
Is this shot recognizable? It's my FB profile shot, and one of the few half-decent pictures I have of myself in purple. It was taken by a team-mate with a pricey camera (and ridiculously expensive lens) in one of our first games of the year in 2007. On the positive side, I like the fact that my legs look stronger than they'll ever be. The fact I'm rocking the purple Urban Sprawl gear is also a plus. On the flip side, can you detect low-skill photoshopping? I had to add in a little extra shirt or you'd see a fat roll (I swear to god) that no 165 pound, 6'1 guy could possibly have…unless it was magnified by a powerful Cannon lens. Another negative; where the hell is the disc? Who's to say I'm just not scratching my ass at a very awkward angle? Please note, the clip-on shades are typical, old-school, country hick, pre-surgery Nurple. Next... As luck would have it, I suckered a kid who worked at Future Shop to take a team shot of Sushi, my Sunday squad from last summer. He obviously knew how to work my camera well, yet, this team picture is wrong on so many levels. First off, two of the guys (including Marcel the supersub from Switzerland - standing at the far right) only played one game on the team. Had Marcel been playing with us all last summer, we would have been undefeated, and he would have deserved to be in this picture. Secondly, I'm left wondering when I found the time to farm last summer? Check out those shameful, corporate sellout, tan lines. Lastly, one of those ironic things about team pictures is that I usually end up next to people I dislike, and far away from people I enjoy playing with. Check, and mate in this shot. Next...Lastly, may I present a typical Nurple picture. I played with the jumping guy in red (possibly named Jeff?) for two months on a fall hat team. I swear that this is the only sky he had all season, so I did manage to capture a rare moment. However, even though it was taken at night, at Frankly Crumbling Stadium, this picture is darker than R Kelly's intentions at a sweet 16 party. One also might think that the "zoom" feature on my camera doesn't work…which it does. Lastly, this picture has zero of the four elements of the perfect sky (neither party is jumping high, it was a blowout game, and Jeff(??) was too friendly to hate anyone).
Earlier this week, one of the Fish regulars astutely pointed out on the OCUA forums (where the rules discussions as of late have me wondering if I should read the rules more than once a year...or if MHJ is just bored) that the great majority of winning pictures in ultypics.com contests last summer were taken by the same two or three photographers. My mission this summer is to at least take one shot worthy of submitting to ultypics. Who knows, given the low number of submissions, I might end up with a case of beer and/or some Daredevil swag. Until next time, happy hucking!
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