Met another sports photog last night

Ann McRae

He was shooting from the other sideline of the field my son was playing on. He had a full frame canon and had a huge lens on board. Afterward I started a conversation with him. He was using the 200mm f1.8 last night but prefers the 300 mm with a tc, and is planning on moving up to a 400mm. (dang, I didn't ask if he would be selling his 300mm!!!). He then showed me a pic he had of Colin making a save, and told me that was what I should be getting. I suggested that I could get shots like that (especially if I could get clearance to stand behind the goal!). He told me he shoots almost exclusively for the local U sports teams, (why he was at this game I do not know) and if I searched his name I would find his shots everywhere. So I asked him his name (I suspect I was expected to know!). He points to a billboard center field at this club! Oooops, how naive of me!

silly old ann

David_S85

Ann McRae wrote:

and if I searched his name I would find his shots everywhere. So I asked him his name (I suspect I was expected to know!). He points to a billboard center field at this club! Oooops, how naive of me!

silly old ann

So, did he own the club?

And... more importantly, did you recruit him to Smugmug or Dgrin?

mercphoto

Cool story Ann! Reminds me of a time shooting my neighbor's 7th grader at football last year. Away game in the most affluent part of Austin. I'm there with a 20D, a grip, and a 70-200/2.8. Expensive enough on its own. But I see a guy on the other side with a 400/2.8. He eventually gets to my side of the field and its a 1D Mark II. I get next to him, look at his rig, look at my rig, then say "yours is bigger". That gets a chuckle and a friendly shrug. So I start talking to him. Friendly fellow. Was thinking he worked for the paper or was a pro. Nope, his son was in the game for the opposition. He does that purely as a hobby. Over $10 grand in equipment for a hobby! Wow! Says its an excuse not to sit with the wife in the stands for two hours. :laugh

Man, I felt so worthless after that ... :sob

wxwax

His name?

wxwax

mercphoto wrote:

Cool story Ann! Reminds me of a time shooting my neighbor's 7th grader at football last year. Away game in the most affluent part of Austin. I'm there with a 20D, a grip, and a 70-200/2.8. Expensive enough on its own. But I see a guy on the other side with a 400/2.8. He eventually gets to my side of the field and its a 1D Mark II. I get next to him, look at his rig, look at my rig, then say "yours is bigger". That gets a chuckle and a friendly shrug. So I start talking to him. Friendly fellow. Was thinking he worked for the paper or was a pro. Nope, his son was in the game for the opposition. He does that purely as a hobby. Over $10 grand in equipment for a hobby! Wow! Says its an excuse not to sit with the wife in the stands for two hours. :laugh

Man, I felt so worthless after that ... :sob

Oh man, I should have thought that you of all people wouldn't feel that way.

Ann McRae

Hi everybody

Well, his name is Uwe Welz, and if you google his name you will find he is both an active photographer and community active kind of guy. I gave him my card and contact info so he could sell me the photos he took of my son (rather than just point out I should get photos like that myself) but he has yet to respond.

Amusingly, I am trying to clean up some hard drive space, and came across 2 and 3 year old soccer pics from my 707 days. Well, let me tell you that gear does make a difference to a certain degree! . But Bill, not enough that you should feel inferior to a guy who has more cash than you or a dislike of his wife strong enough to spend it all!!!!

ann

wxwax

A few of his shots. He seems to have mastered indoor white balance.

http://images.google.com/images?q=Uwe%20Welz%20sports&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=wi

Ann McRae

Mr. Welz at work:



And the shot he got from close: