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Belated Post-Assignment..
Shooting the SEA Games gave me the opportunity to shoot the sports I would otherwise have never gotten a chance too, here at home. We did a lot of Diving, which made pretty photos, Taekwando, Track and Field, Soccer, Sepak Takraw, Table Tennis andof course Swimming. I also chanced upon this Wushu sport called Sancho. I still have no idea what it's about but it gave nice action pictures.
One note worthy thing I have to mention (because I am very greatful to the canon team in singapore and thailand), I was also privileged enough to try out the Canon 7D. It's not brand new (watch out for the Canon Mark IV soon guys) but it's very very efficient. I would normally use one Canon Mark IIN and a Canon 5D Mark II body for work but with the Canon 7D, I literally left my Mark IIN as a spare and practically shot the whole S.E.A Games assignment on the 7D. The quality is wonderful, the colours are tolerant and accurate, plus it had this very sophisticated Auto Focussing tracking device which worked very well when I was shooting Soccer.
Many times, I would point the camera quickly towards the action and click almost instantaniously, and the action is captured. It was that quick. Don't mind if I go on about the technical bits in my blog but I don't normally get to play with good gear, so this really took away all stress from me when it came to equipment. I know they often talk about how the eye is the camera and the camera equipment are just tools. True but they do have limitations especially in some situations _ in this case, Sports. Another added advantage for me was that it was at a 1.6 magnification. So I had a lot of advantage on my 400mm lens. I got closer and sharper! The batteries were the same as my 5D Mark II so I didn't have to fuss about carrying too many different types of battery chargers.
Overall, I was very impressed that a camera, so simple and with the same make up as the Canon 5D Mark II could do so much more. It was so quick with its continuos shooting mode, I hardly missed a thing.. I could shoot 5 frames (because I don't believe in shooting more than that) a second and it was quick. Small but hot. That's what it is. The best part is, it cost less than half the price of the 5D Mark II... I had to give it back last week and feel a little separation anxiety but it gave me all these wonderful photos you see in the blog... So Laos.. Besides, i've never been to Vientiane and this was a great excuse.
"Don't expect anything! This is Laos!"
Ya. Everything was shut early during the SEA Games period as there were curfews! I don't understand that concept but that left us with a lot of instant noodles dinners but we saved a lot of money.
"Lao PDR = Lao People Don't Rush"
Turned out to be true as our driver would drive _ well actually all the drivers there would drive at an average speed of 50km/hr. And when we asked politely for him to speed up, the engine would rav slowly to a grand total of 60km/hr. Nice.
Strangely, we were never late.
I guess in a way, Sakchai was right. "Don't expect anything." Though he was sarcastic at first, I think that was pretty much the right attitude to take along. When you manage your expectations, you feel less disappointment, and you are ready to put in whatever it takes to make whatever it is work.
I hope for another assignment like this soon.
(:
Does that title even make sense? Can a post-assignment entry be belated since it's already past? Anyways.
I've always wanted to cover a sporting event for work. I've covered sports assignments but they were normally just individual sports. Covering a slightly more major event where you have multi-sports at an international level allows you to put your multi-tasking abilities to the test. So this past month, I was fortunate enough to cover the 25th Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane, Laos. "Nobody cares about the S.E.A. Games!" .. a phrase I would hear all the time.
At first it can be a little disheartening but i've always had this mentality which is, to do your best in whatever situation you find yourself in. It can totally suck or you could suck it in and make the best of it.
"Great! Then I can really try different things without risking too much!".. would be my reply instead.
And it couldn't have been bad, especially when I found out I was working with one of the bests colleagues from Bangkok.
He's a firecracker full of energy and TOTALLY FUNNY. Sakchai. Thank you for making this assignment so fun and dark. Also for insisting on speaking just THAI to me and nothing else so that I can improve on my language. I think I have because i could understand everything you said.. well almost (80percent) except when you broke into drunk folk songs on the way home to make our very serious civil servant driver laugh. And he did.
Shooting the SEA Games gave me the opportunity to shoot the sports I would otherwise have never gotten a chance too, here at home. We did a lot of Diving, which made pretty photos, Taekwando, Track and Field, Soccer, Sepak Takraw, Table Tennis andof course Swimming. I also chanced upon this Wushu sport called Sancho. I still have no idea what it's about but it gave nice action pictures.
One note worthy thing I have to mention (because I am very greatful to the canon team in singapore and thailand), I was also privileged enough to try out the Canon 7D. It's not brand new (watch out for the Canon Mark IV soon guys) but it's very very efficient. I would normally use one Canon Mark IIN and a Canon 5D Mark II body for work but with the Canon 7D, I literally left my Mark IIN as a spare and practically shot the whole S.E.A Games assignment on the 7D. The quality is wonderful, the colours are tolerant and accurate, plus it had this very sophisticated Auto Focussing tracking device which worked very well when I was shooting Soccer.
Many times, I would point the camera quickly towards the action and click almost instantaniously, and the action is captured. It was that quick. Don't mind if I go on about the technical bits in my blog but I don't normally get to play with good gear, so this really took away all stress from me when it came to equipment. I know they often talk about how the eye is the camera and the camera equipment are just tools. True but they do have limitations especially in some situations _ in this case, Sports. Another added advantage for me was that it was at a 1.6 magnification. So I had a lot of advantage on my 400mm lens. I got closer and sharper! The batteries were the same as my 5D Mark II so I didn't have to fuss about carrying too many different types of battery chargers.
Overall, I was very impressed that a camera, so simple and with the same make up as the Canon 5D Mark II could do so much more. It was so quick with its continuos shooting mode, I hardly missed a thing.. I could shoot 5 frames (because I don't believe in shooting more than that) a second and it was quick. Small but hot. That's what it is. The best part is, it cost less than half the price of the 5D Mark II... I had to give it back last week and feel a little separation anxiety but it gave me all these wonderful photos you see in the blog... So Laos.. Besides, i've never been to Vientiane and this was a great excuse.
"Don't expect anything! This is Laos!"
Ya. Everything was shut early during the SEA Games period as there were curfews! I don't understand that concept but that left us with a lot of instant noodles dinners but we saved a lot of money.
"Lao PDR = Lao People Don't Rush"
Turned out to be true as our driver would drive _ well actually all the drivers there would drive at an average speed of 50km/hr. And when we asked politely for him to speed up, the engine would rav slowly to a grand total of 60km/hr. Nice.
Strangely, we were never late.
I guess in a way, Sakchai was right. "Don't expect anything." Though he was sarcastic at first, I think that was pretty much the right attitude to take along. When you manage your expectations, you feel less disappointment, and you are ready to put in whatever it takes to make whatever it is work.
I hope for another assignment like this soon.
(:
2 comments:
Awesome awesome pictures as usual, Maye!
eh thanks la joan.. not the best but i tried my best!!!! You looked really photogenic and good in your elephant bathing shots btw.
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