ACME Digital Studio

Why I shoot sports

2009-08-03T16:42:00.005-05:00

I shoot sports because I have the best seat in the house - bar none. I have always talked my way right on to the ice/field/court right next to the judge/ref/umpire.
I am often shooting with what amounts to a 400 - 600 mm lens and can easily pick any detail anywhere. Shutter speeds are 320/sec and higher for total stop action.
I get to see every move - good and bad. Every facial expression - from agony to victory. I never photograph the falls - they don't need to remember those. Hopefully the judges don't remember either.

When this young lady started her routine she has that great "I'm going to do this" smile that every skater has. As she launches into her spiral her look changes to "Got to hold it - got to hold it!" Remember that she is standing on a knife edge at 30 mph. The judges will knock off points for any wavering, dips, anything short of "angles - clouds - flying". Go ahead try it at home just standing still in your living room for 30 sec. Were you really perfectly still? Was your leg really that high? Maybe....

But the last image just says it all - "I'm DONE and I know it was GOOD" priceless!
Best seat - bar none!

And that's what brings me back to cold ice rinks and muddy fields time after time....

Talk about intensity!

2009-01-27T17:53:00.004-06:00

This past weekend was spent shooting mite hockey at the new Oregon Rink. Sure there small and not as fast as the high school and college players - but do they make up for it in intensity!

When you look at the better players at this level (and how young they are) it becomes quite clear why hockey survived and has quickly come back as the #4 overall sport in the USA.

Most of the teams were mixed boy and girl - often evidenced by bright pink stick tape for the young ladies - and do not think for a moment that there was any difference in that drive.

The coaching was uniformly excellent - always driving sportsmanship above winning. The refereeing not so much - a couple of really bad calls had to be gently discussed from the stands. OK, not so gently - but no bad language and the refs did miss all of those issues.
The attendance was good and the new rink has finally finished all the little things that makes a great facility. Considering that the outside temps were below zero standing around in an ice rink all day watching hockey through a 300mm lens didn't seam all that bad.....

Want more ? check out their site http://oregon.pucksystems2.com/

Congratulations America!

2009-01-20T10:03:00.003-06:00

I just a few minuets our country will have a new president. Power will transfer from one party to another with nothing more outrageous than a quiet cup of coffee shared between two families. In the future as we get our country back, as we return to the rule of law, we need to remember that this peaceful transfer alone is one of the many reasons that this truly is a great country.

Barack and Joe will need our help to dig us out of our many problems. We are not covered yet - and spring will come soon to help melt away the snow. Until then congratulations America!

Who would of thought?

2008-12-15T14:51:00.008-06:00

Our countries greatest president frequented this doorway, and practiced law across the street. The history making president elect announced his candidacy on this spot. His election goes a long way to prove that America has indeed grown up and is ready to lead again.

I encourage all Americans - and visitors as well - to visit Lincoln's home town and especially the Presidential Library. Here you will gain insights as to the contentious nature of American politics, our ability to fight hard for issues and yet to come together again, united as a country.

Those were tough times, yes violent times - perhaps the toughest our country will ever face. To be shooting at your neighbor and dividing your new country in half is way beyond whether GM will make another Hummer. Or Toyota another Prius.

We need to remember that we as a country have faced lots of problems, tough times, hard decisions - and we will have to again. We beat those problems by acting as a country, working together as Americans, remembering our common goals and needs.

And so when some companies in your state or town, who employ your neighbors, ask for a loan to help them change and be better for the future, don't let the short sighted ruin those companies. Think big, think about the whole country, and step up and be an American.

Kansas City, MO USA

2008-06-21T14:52:00.004-05:00

This past week I had the pleasure of holding a color / image management seminar with the folks at the American Truck Historical Society. What a great group!
Guardians of the entire collection of images from the White Truck Co., dating to about 1921 they protect a treasure trove of industrial engineering information and detailed Americana. We spent two days together - solved a bunch of problems and significantly improved their production. Saved them a ton money too!

The only gripe I might have is that I never really got to Kansas City. Since the ATHS is located near the airport I never really got to go into the real thing. So this image out my hotel window looks just like any other area around a big city airport - not much character . I did get to have some good Bar-B-Q though...

Business air travel was crowded, food-less, and boringly efficient. And of course expensive. But how else can you go from Madison to Detroit to Kansas City to Minneapolis to Madison in less than 5 hours air time? You just can't. So as fuel continues to climb those air travel tickets are going to cost a lot more.
Got to go and earn some carbon credits to offset this trip....

What's wrong with this picture?

2008-06-14T15:13:00.002-05:00

Driving by my town's softball field Thursday night was an interesting experience - to say the least.
A few minuets after this shot was made the entire complex was submerged, effectively ending the season until repairs can be made.
All over southern Wisconsin this scene is being repeated - or much worse.
To say nothing of what happened in Iowa - Cedar Rapids a city that I lived in for 5 years - is closed, maybe for weeks, until the waters recede.

And it's just the start of the summer.......

What a long strange trip it's been...

2008-05-27T16:29:00.000-05:00

Twenty eight years ago this May 23rd "ACME Photo" opened it's doors!
Originally a custom B&W only lab, ACME Photo became a CibaChrome center, a Kodak Q lab for E6 slides, and eventually a PMA Digital Processing Center. Now all digital - but still remembering how we did it with film - ACME Digital Studio is delighted with the amazing new products that we can now make! Ask us about books, on demand Glicee Art Prints, custom transfers and storytelling - just to name a few. Digital photography has allowed us to bring the studio to you for Portrait Parties and capture the most amazing sports.
In the future? It's only limited to your imagination !! Join us for the next 28!

She hates this image - I love it of course...

2008-05-01T18:50:00.000-05:00

This is Cayley just about to launch into her first axel at WIM. The look on her face is everything..... remember she is moving backwards at about 25-30 mph. She has another one to do in her program, as well as a couple other types of jumps.

Till this event she had not landed a single axel in any competition - not one. It's a big point for a figure skater, no axel jump and your pretty much done.

And she was pretty nervous - very unusual for a kid who has been skating out to the middle of a big sheet of ice alone for years.

But we listened to one of her favorite bands (really loud) on the drive to the rink and afterwards she said she just played that music in her head. "Ready Steady Go!" are some of the few English words - sums it all up.

Oh, yea she aced 'em - ALL of 'em - you go girl!

Had any trouble getting through on the phone?

2008-04-17T11:13:00.001-05:00

This was just un-covered from a pile of snirt (snow + dirt) behind our studio. You could not see the snow plow damage till a couple of days ago. Lots of thses kinds of problems are being found all over Wisconsin - record snows will do that.

Please no "though it was supposed to be global warming" jokes - it's the extremes and variability of the weather that proves the effects of all that CO2....

So when your phone bill, insurance, and taxes go up to pay for just this year's damage - may be waiting till 2030 to have a "significant" reduction in emissions is not a real good idea.......

What I do on Tuesday and Thursdays Break

2008-04-15T11:19:00.000-05:00

It's called "PickleBall" - sort of a hybrid of Tennis, Badminton, and Ping Pong - named after a dog - having absolutely nothing to do with pickles. Played both in and outdoors it's a ton of fun, even when 70+ year old women mop up the court with you.

Want to know more?

http://www.usapa.org/

Just what is so important about this image ?

2008-04-11T14:50:00.000-05:00

You will find this on our wall at ACME Digital Studio as a constant reminder of how things change....

Set your way back machine to 1999...

Shot with my brand new Nikon 950 (yes 2 whole megapixels!) after a whole day of shooting with 4x5" chrome film and Polaroids......

The film, processing, Polaroids and rental of extra lights equaled the cost of the Nikon! Client loved the large transparencies and told me the digital file was going to be "garbage". Still they used it in their next catalog - looked great. Six months later they bought their own digital - shot the products out back and told me how cool they were.... I never should of showed them how.

New Location - 1731 Thierer Road Madison,WI

2008-04-09T16:26:00.000-05:00

Wellcome !
Now that we have all dug out of a record snowfall here in Madison, and you can actually see the front of our studio. I thought I might show you what our new sign will look like !

The oval part will be lit with LED's - part of our effort to "go green" that started 28 years ago.

More to come.....