Strobists at the Finish Line - Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon

Continuing our effort to deliver the best images to our clients, given the low and anticipated back light at the finish of the Twin Cities 10 Mile, we once again applied Strobist techniques to our sports photography. Jacob Gibb and Kevin Coloton were in charge of our finish line work. Here are Jacob's comments on the day!


Cold, dark and wet...

For those of you not familiar with Greg Brown, those are they title lyrics to a great song. However, in this case it applies slightly differently.

The Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, held in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN was the first weekend in October. It was cold, dark, and wet. Seems to me it's a perfect candidate for some off-camera lighting. However, let's back up a hair and set the stage.

I received an email from Kevin Coloton a few weeks ago, asking if I'd be interested in working together with him and the Competitive Image crew at the finish line of the US Women’s 10-Mile Championship, which was run in conjunction with the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. The 10-mile starts at 7:04 am, and finishes approximately 50 minutes later (yes, that's ten miles in about 50 minutes) - with the sun just peeking and the finish area in shade. Read: flat, boring light. Kevin and I set out to change this, by adding strobes to create that pop that we wanted.

Enter 5 strobes, 6 Pocket Wizard Multi-Maxes, and some creative fixturing (we would have used more light, but we had exhausted our PW supply). We visited the scene the day before the marathon to set up our lights and determine our exposures at the estimated time of finishing in order to leave the guesswork out of race day.

Saturday dawned sunny and beautiful. The initial plan was to use the PW Speed-cycler function to create two groups of flashes (with 1/4 CTO gels on each, to try and match the sunrise). This will allow us to shoot multiple frames a second and get flash pops for each. The first try was clamping to the TV bridge which went over the road 15 yards behind the finish line. Unfortunately, this distance required the strobes to be at 1/4 or 1/2 power, and when firing at 5 or 6 frames per second, it would only yield two or three correctly exposed images.


View from the bridge: Final strobe location is circled.




The next likely location was a nearby broadcast tent just off the finish line, yielding 1/8th power pops on heads mounted, aimed, and zoomed to cover the general center finish line area. We had two banks of strobes, one front and one rear. The Speed-cylcer groups were set up to fire a front and rear strobe together (we actually had 3 strobes in the rear group, so one channel had a little extra light). Test fires at 6 frames a second yielded consistent pops. Perfect.


Final Finish Line Setup




Finish line with lighting




With our general malaise set and ready to go, we were ready for race day.

5:30 am: Driving to pick up Kevin. Was that rain on my windshield? Nah, car in front of me must have been using their washer fluid. Wait... it’s 5:30… I'm the only one on the road. Drat.

6:30 am: Dark. Cold. Damp. Cloudy. Rain impending, but just spitting for now.

7:40 am: Finishers coming in 10 minutes. Light is off about two stops from yesterday with no sun and thick cloud cover. Strobes are hot and not giving us an even ambient/strobe balance. Typically, this would be an easy adjustment; shutter speed would be slowed two stops (from 1/250th of a second to 1/60th of a second) to allow for extra ambient. Unfortunately, we need as much shutter speed as we can get to effectively stop the motion of the bullet trains about to cross the finish line. I quickly try to make adjustments to 5 strobes wrapped and gaffer-taped into Ziploc-baggies.

7:42 am: A group of race officials decide to stand in front of the lights (we had them as high as we could get them). Run crowd control.

7:48 am: Crowd control is successful. Kevin is shooting with the wizard, and I'm shooting ambient. Wanted to make a time-exposure and take advantage of the flash pop but forgot. Next year…

7:53 am: Finisher crosses uncontested – Olympian Kara Goucher wins the US Women’s 10-Mile Championship.

Kevin motors through several exposures, and all strobes fire according to plan. Lovely.

8:00 am: Downpour starts.

We hadn't planned on shooting with strobes for the marathon finish as light at that time is usually quite nice. Considering the circumstances, we left our rig up and kept blasting away.



All in all, it turned out quite well. Our background was darker than we would have liked, but considering the situation, we were pleased with the result. Depth was added to the runners, and all strobes and cameras survived the rain. I'd call it a success. Now if I could only get my shoes to dry out...

Our final shot of the Women’s 10 mile National Champion Kara Goucher crossing the finish, published on the front page of the marathon website slide show immediately after the race and on the front page of the Duluth Tribune newspaper the next morning.

Which D-SLR Should I Buy?

Without a doubt this is the most common photography question that I get this time of year. As we approach the holiday season and the amazing D-SLR technology continues to decrease in price, more and more people are considering a purchase of a D-SLR. Based on my totally unscientific conversations, my sense is that this group is made up of people that have previously owned a film SLR and also have a digital point and shoot.

These are the people who want a bit more creative control over what they are shooting, as well as additional flexibility in lens choices and quality.

There are very few instances when I can offer advice and unequivocally know that it is good advice, but here it is –

1. First decide how much you are going to spend –

• Put a total dollar limit on the amount you want to spend since it is easy (and I mean VERY easy) to get carried away with an additional lens or two, memory cards and a card reader. Based again on my totally unscientific research, I think about the minimum you will need to spend is $600. This can increase rather quickly if you have the interest and of course the money.

• With your budget in mind, go to a camera store! Not Best Buy, not Wal-Mart, and not Target. This is your opportunity to become a more informed consumer, so you want to talk to sales people who understand photography. You want to talk to people who are passionate about photography and particularly those who want you to have a successful photo experience. If you have a friend who is a photographer and they are willing to join you, invite them along!

• Within your price range, look at Canon, Nikon and one or two other brands. Make sure that you are comparing apples to apples when you compare them. Some may have several lenses and other things included in a kit, but you should be looking at comparable priced cameras – this should be below your total budget.


2. There are a few key features that each of these cameras must have:
a. Inter-changeable lens;
b. At least 8 Mega-Pixels;
c. Ability to control shooting modes, beyond programmed modes, including: Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, and Manual.

• Don’t worry much about the additional features such as, frames per second, start up time, number of focus points, ISO range and others, at this point you are likely only comparing things that will have nominal importance to you.

3. Finally, here is the deciding factor, which camera feels the most comfortable in your hands, the most intuitive and the easiest to use? Pick it up, see how easy it is to access the controls, see if you understand it or immediately feel compelled to pick up the manual.

I shoot Canon and I have for years. The functional set up of the camera is completely natural to me. It is easy to pick up and shoot. Nikon’s are in many ways set up exactly opposite of Canon. I am not advocating one over the other; both are great cameras, just different.

Most of these cameras are sold as Kits, with a zoom lens that is typically a moderate wide angle to a medium telephoto. If you are considering getting an additional lens with your camera, instead of getting a longer lens, consider getting what has always been considered a normal lens. A 50mm, f1.4 lens from Canon is about $320 and is really a great value. Although, the zoom included as part of your kit will give you the same magnification as this lens. However, an f1.4 lens will let in almost 8 times as much light as an f4.0 lens and will dramatically expand your ability to get good photos in low light situations.

Right now I think the best value on the market is the Canon 40D, which I have seen listed at $999, including an 18 to 55mm lens. Last summer the 40D was selling at about $1,500, however with the introduction of the Canon 50D, they have reduced the price of the 40D. This is NOT a discontinued model and continues to be featured in current Canon advertising.

Where to buy your D-SLR? If you are an online shopper, consider B&H Photo Video or Adorama. However, for the first time D-SLR user, many local camera shops offer classes with the purchase of a camera. This will go a long way toward having a successful experience with, and ultimately getting the most value from your new camera

The good news is that the technology has come so far that you can’t really make a bad decision. Have fun with what ever you decide upon, always remember keep shooting, those photons are free!

Somehow I couldn't post to the blog without including a photo, so here is one of my favorites from this summer. It is the start of the Hy-Vee Womens' ITU Triathlon last June.

What do you mean Summer is over already?

I know the snow flurries, the neighbor’s Christmas lights and the studded tires on my mountain bike should be a give away, but it’s still had for me to believe that summer is over already. It has gone by in a flash, with some great events and trips to show for it as well. It is easy to say that you are committed to keeping current on a blog, but doing so is quite another matter. My hat is off to those who do this both professionally and personally! It is a challenge for me to find the time. I have been keeping a spiral binder with some great topics, but it seems that too has just been a collection of notes.

Both to try to get caught up and provide somewhat of a Readers’ Digest version of the summer, I am going to just include a few of my favorite photos and some notes and thoughts. Nothing too extensive, but I hope you enjoy it.

The Hy-Vee ITU Race in Des Moines was the qualifying event for the final spot on both the Mens' and Womens' Olympic Triathlon Team. The spring and early summer flooding almost make it look like it would be a tri, without a swim! With the high water levels, also came high bacteria counts. A change in venue, some luck and the event was a great success! Hunter Kemper and Sarah Haskins claimed final tickets to Beijing.







Next up on the tri scene was Life Time. Always a great event, with the weather ranging from a downpour in 2003 to oppressive heat in recent years. Emma Snowsill continued with a win and another outstanding performance in what turned out to be a prelude to her Olympic Gold. The most amazing performance was Andy Potts finishing third after breaking one of his aero-bars.






The next big tri was Accenture in Chicago. I recall driving down and trying to figure out why I was so far behind on everything. Counting in my head, I realized this was the 7th or 8th tri that I was shooting and that since May 1, I had also shot 2 running events, 3 bike races and over 25 soccer games!

I like Chicago. My mother lives there and my son is living there while he is finishing school. It was a beautiful weekend and the Cubs were playing at home at Wrigley Field. As luck would have it, Jonathan works at Wrigley Field and was able to get me a pass to shoot. After moving around the outfield, I settled in to the photo-bay on the first base side. Even though I don’t understand the subtleties of the game, I was able to get a few fun shots.





With over 8,000 athletes, covering the Accenture Chicago Tri, offers many challenges. I did get to meet Sarah Reinertson and get a few shots of her.




Two weeks after Chicago, I was back in Madison at the Ironman. Another beautiful day and a great race! Both the men’s (Chris MacDonald) and the women’s (Hilary Biscay) winners had just raced at the Louisville Ironman the week before, each with a finish near the top!





I also spent a bit of time in the studio working on a few set up shots. Certainly more fun than products. Julie, my friend and favorite victim / model came over to help. Julie also shot with me at Wisconsin and at the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. In addition to having a good eye for composition, she has great eyes for intensity as well! (Although Julie races at an elite level, this is as much of a race face that you will ever see.)




Back at home, there is the Aflac Iron Girl Duathlon - one of their biggest events in the country.



The final clue that the summer was really over should have been the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. If the Get in Gear 10K is the annual rite of spring, this is certainly my rite of fall. In total we had a crew of 15. Eight photographers, six drivers and one coordinator (not me). The Saturday 5K and kids events were great, bright sunshine and big crowds. Marathon Sunday was another matter, with the rain starting at about 8:30 and continuing for the next two hours. We were cold, wet and most of us had equipment issues. Having said that, we did shoot over 16,000 images that weekend and delivered 1,800 to our client for promotional and marketing use. Similar to at the TC 1 Mile we did some very special early morning lighting. More on that later in a separate blog post.



This one is by Matt Moses -



I know I could have posted more images, passed on more stories about the incredible people I have met along the way, and provided more technical information, but then it would be another month to get it completed. So, there you have it, a thumbnail of the summer. It has been a good year! More soon - I promise!