This January I made a plan to meet with a lot of family and friends in the US. Here’s the photographic evidence…
My brother has a knack for making funny poses in front of the camera.
Not Park 'n Eat, but Eat 'n Park... with 20 eat 'n smart menu items!
Sometimes the best shot is the one just AFTER making funny faces at the camera.
I heard someone once fell in the water here?
This tree had nice, sweet-smelling flowers despite that it was the COLDth of January.
These friends of mine could not stop laughing.
These portraits were taken in Pennsylvania and in Richmond, VA with a Nikon D90. Most are just the 18-55 VR lens, but the last one is the 70-300 VR to provide a short depth-of-field and get some blur going.
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago. 2 comments
Boats, brews, and planks (whether narrow or wide) make for an awesome afternoon. On my last visit home, we met friends to go wakeboarding–and drove off by truck into the VA wilderness. After a dozen turns (with no navigation system), driving on roads twistier than your average Alpen pass, we finally made it to the Pamunkey River. Thanks to Sattie for his excellent hospitality with the boat… and for driving on so many pulls!
There were tubing and jet-skiing too, but I’m gonna focus on the rooster tails and railslides in this post. The Nikon D90 does pretty well on the river… switching to fixed (manual) focus helps a lot, since the skier is always the same distance from the boat. Then the focus is never shifting to the background trees or foreground water splashes.
Brock in the air above the wake
Sattie spraying as much water as humanly possible
Pulling hard on the slalom ski
A masterful railslide, with a bit of jetski in the background
Nice work by the ladies as well...
Now there's something you don't see every day. Yep, there is some spray from his fingers...
My recommendations: if you are visiting a warm area in the States near a lake or river, try a bit of wakeboarding or waterskiing (though if skiing, you might want to start on a pair instead of starting slalom). There are plenty of schools and rental shops where you can learn & get gear. If you’re near Richmond, VA, try to persuade my friend Sattie to open a slalom waterskiing school–just kidding.
If you’re (unluckily for this sport) living in Germany, where powerboats are basically not allowed on the lakes, try a Wasserskianlage where you get pulled around a small lake by a cable from above. There’s no wake, but at least you’re on the water. That’s probably a future “Munich” post, for those that might want to try out the Aschheim Wasserskianlage. Sign up for RSS or email updates with the orange links in the left sidebar if you want to read about it!
Posted 5 months, 1 week ago. 3 comments
Okay, so I’m guessing most of you don’t know what Ultimate Frisbee is. You think it’s just a fancy name for running around in the park and playing with a disc. I know this by the number of strange looks I get every time I say, “I sprained my ankle playing Ultimate Frisbee.” So, here’s the breakdown!
Dave’s Simple Rules of Ultimate Frisbee:
- The field is rectangular with two end zones, similar to American football.
- There are 7 players on each team.
- At the start of each point, two teams line up on opposite ends of the field, both facing toward the middle. The team that scored last “pulls” the disc to the last point’s losers, like a kickoff.
- A team scores when one of their players catches the disc in their end zone, at the opposite end of the field from where they started.
- To keep possession, the disc has to be caught in-bounds by a player on one’s team. No running after one catches the disc.
- If the team with possession doesn’t catch the disc, it’s a turnover and the other team takes possession.
- The winning team is the first to reach 21 points in a regulation game (although often games are shorter).
Okay, enough explanation. On to the pictures! To score, your first point of contact when landing must be inside the end zone.
Just in the end zone
Passing is a tricky prospect, as you have to make sure your target is open, with no defenders who will snatch the disc away. (The thrower is me! Can you spot my ankle brace?)
Forehand pass or "flick"
Sometimes you catch it…
An artful catch
And sometimes you don’t.
The most artful miss ever caught on camera?
Now for some gratuitous shots of people jumping and fighting for the disc! Note that Ultimate is a non-contact sport, but occasionally you may bump into other players when going for the disc. Play friendly and live the spirit of the game.
High jump
He who jumps first...
Skyhook
Nice jump!
You can see that Ultimate is quite a physical sport. Even on a non-competitive “pickup” team like this one (the Toytown Munich group), many people are wearing cleats. There’s a lot of running and jumping, quick direction changes, diving for the disc, and the occasional (of course accidental) collision.
So the next time someone tells you they tore their ACL or sprained their ankle playing Ultimate Frisbee, just reply, “Whoa, hardcore! But did you get the disc?”
If you live in or visit Munich and you want to play: follow the link below and check when the next game is on. Beginners welcome! Toytown Ultimate
Posted 7 months ago. 2 comments
