Saturday, January 3, 2009

Orange Bowl Classic Swim Meet - Key Largo, 01/03/09










photos © Stephen Frink

Today we had the Orange Bowl Classic swim meet at my hometown pool, Jacobs Aquatic Center in Key Largo, FL. Beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the mid-80s. No wonder teams like University of Michigan like to come down here and train over the winter break. We have this pool, 25-meter short course, and just down the road in Plantation Key there is a 50-meter long course pool at Founder's Park. Two excellent venues for competitive swimming, and the community is very happy to have the kids in town for the holiday.

Shooting competitive swimming is somewhat challenging, but doing so in the context of a swim meet is far more difficult. Access is the issue. In a discipline where achievement is measured in 1/100ths of a second (as Michael Phelps and Milorad Cavic will attest after their 100-meter butterfly at the summer Olympics) no one wanted me and my housing swimming around in their lanes with them. Which meant the only place I could work underwater was in a narrow shoulder-lane near the diving well.


photo © Andy Newman

If this had been a two-day meet I think I'd devote tomorrow to remote shots with an underwater tripod or polecam. However, as it is, this year's meet is a wrap I've got 12 months to plan how to shoot the Orange Bowl meet new/different/better next time.

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