Pics Posted From the Suntrust National Marathon

After hours of tweaking and uploading, my pictures from the finish line at the Suntrust National Marathon in DC are up. Some highlights include separate galleries for the half-marathon and marathon finishers, as well as "America's Fastest Mayor", Adrian Fenty, after crossing the finish line and besting his personal record.
http://www.jonathanbruck.smugmug.com/Sports/742789

Elephant Parade 2009

Elephants from the Ringling Bros & Barnum & Bailey Circus march through historic Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Tuesday, March 17, 2009.

It was great to get out and start using the D300. I was blown away by the large, crisp display. The light was strange due to the overcast, but I felt like the camera was capturing pretty accurate color.

See more images on my Flickr page.

I finally did it

I finally ordered the Nikon D300. I'm hoping to take advantage of the upcoming season and work shooting more sports & special events. Amazon had it for $1499.99, which was better than my favorite store, B+H Photo. It was also better than Adorama, Ritz and Penn Camera, a large, local, true camera shop.

I charged it, but I expect to have money come in from some other work, including the photos I sold to Singletrack Magazine. Between that and some tax return money, I should not be hurting that bad. The good news is I upgraded my lenses when I only had my D70s, so I can hit the ground running.

I'm curious how hard the transition will be, but I expect the interface will be similar from one Nikon to the next.

First Basketball Shoot

Shooting my first basketball game was a humbling experience. The Maryland Boys' Basketball 4A Regional Finals was played at Montgomery Blair HS on Saturday. As soon as I got there, I knew the lighting was going to be challenging.

The gym was so dark, I had to crank up the ISO to 1600, then increase the exposure compenstion, and even then, the images came out passable. I was jealous of the other photographers there from the local newspapers, with full frame pro level D3s and Canon 1Ds. Even they had to set up strobes in the corners. I set up on the opposite end of the court, because with my ISO cranked up so far, the strobes would blow everything out.

The closest I can get to a pro camera right now is the D300, and even that is going to take some work.

I noticed another photographer on Saturday had set up a speedlight on a light stand as a strobe, and I wonder how effective that would be across a large area like a basketball court.