UW Basketball: Remembering What It Is I Do.

There's a very distinctive smell to any basketball gym in the world. My best guess is that it's a mixture of sweat (mostly), leather, rubber and popcorn (although the popcorn smell has gone away in recent memory since vendors don't pop it on site anymore, they just bring it in bags).

As a sports photographer, a basketball official and a lifelong hoops nut, I can say with all certainty that I LOVE the smell of the gym.

And when I sit on the baseline to shoot, even the specks of gritty dirt on the court feel familiar.

Weird, I know. But that's what a lifetime of basketball will do to you.

So I was excited to get away from the phone and the computer (where I've been doing a lot of business prep — website, contacts, etc) and back into an arena to make photos.

The game was a college men's contest between the University of Washington and California. I had assorted things to shoot, but spent time working on my shooting (with the cameras, that is, not the roundball).

It had only been a few weeks since my last assignment, but because I'm not in a regular shooting schedule, packing up my gear to head out felt like a brand new thing, even thought I've done it for nearly 20 years now.

In the past when shooting UW basketball, I've had the benefit of shooting with arena strobes. I've always considered strobes a benefit, because if you can be patient, you can make nice images, popped on strobes, at relatively low ISO's. The challenge is that because the strobes need time to recycle, you can only shoot once every couple of seconds.

Without the strobes, one is left with shooting at a high ISO like 1600, but you get the advantage of shooting eight frames per second on the motor drive.

It can be a difficult decision — shoot ONE frame every 2-3 seconds with great quality? Or shoot with lower quality and with the ability of shooting 24 frames during that same 2-3 seconds.

Since I no longer work for the paper, strobes weren't an option (they owned the ones that I used to shoot with). But this gave me a great opportunity to do more high-ISO tests on the Nikon D3.

Prior to the game I ran into my friend Donna Verretto. Donna does marvelous work for the Make-a-Wish Foundation and she'd brought to the game a cool little dude named Arjun. Arjun got "backstage" with the Huskies right before the pregame introductions and posed for a picture with the Dawgs.

(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 44mm, ISO 1600, 1/125th sec.,f2.8 + flash)

Following that, the Huskies included him in their pregame chant, just before they took to the floor. Arjun seemed a bit intimidated standing among the giants.

(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 24mm, ISO 1600, 1/125th sec.,f2.8 + flash)

But then the group started to sway and chant and laugh, and there he was right in the middle of it all.

width=900>

(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 24mm, ISO 1600, 1/125th sec.,f2.8 + flash)

I didn't shoot a lot of the game as I was working on other non-action things, but I did capture a decent sequence that illustrated the "strobes vs. ambient" discussion I'd been having with myself (yes, I tend to talk to myself. Is that weird?  I'm not sure. Wait. Am I doing it again?)

Washington's Darrnell Gant found himself posted up defensively against Cal's Jamal Boykin. While defending, Gant got his hand caught up in Boykin's jersey. Boykin first screamed for a foul, and when none came, he tried to shoot anyway. Eventually the foul was called.

As you can see, it's a decent series, with Boykin "giving good face", especially in the early frames. Not sure whether or not vertical is best, and you can see that I cropped the first frame horizontally as well.

(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 42mm, ISO 1600, 1/640th sec.,f2.8)

(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 42mm, ISO 1600, 1/640th sec.,f2.8)

(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 42mm, ISO 1600, 1/640th sec.,f2.8)

(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 42mm, ISO 1600, 1/640th sec.,f2.8)

width=900>

(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 42mm, ISO 1600, 1/640th sec.,f2.8)

(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 42mm, ISO 1600, 1/640th sec.,f2.8)

It was nice to back on the court shooting pictures. It's what I do, and despite the fun of starting out on a new adventure and all that brings, getting the camera back into my hands reminded me why I'm going through all the other steps.