If you ever want to experience what it means to be passionate about something, come meet Pia Douglass at a fencing event. She heads up the Grand Canyon State Fencing Foundation (www.gcsff.org) and with the assistance of her two sons and others, knows how to put on a nice program.
The venue was a conference room with low ceilings, fluorescent lights and nothing too exciting for backgrounds. Not really the makings for a great photo expose. Fortunately I had a softbox with me and decided to shoot some portraits as well.
To see all the photos, click the link below each frame.
The folks at Arizona Bridge to Independence (www.abil.org) requested I take some photos for their 2010 calendar which would celebrate 30 years of the ADA act. I agreed to shoot them all when the deadline was July 2010. Then they upped it to December of 2009 and I only managed to deliver them 5 shots.
All of the photos along with other similar ones are for sale at Photoshelter.
Woman in Wheelchair watching NASCAR race at PIR in Arizona
Man in Wheelchair Fishing at an Urban Park
Young Girl in Wheelchair Swinging in an Adapted Swing Set
Man in Wheelchair Next to a Lightrail Train
Girl in Wheelchair at a Lake with Bridges Overhead
#24 - Dusty Ferreira or the Phoenix Suns, and #12 - Gerard Ah-Fook, of the UoA Wildcats cover one another during the tournement held in Mesa, Arizona.
This was billed as a tournament including 6 teams. On Friday there were only 3 teams. So I focused on getting some solo shots of the players. Once the sun goes down and there’s no ambient light, the Broadway Rec Center goes fom crappy to virtually unusable. Even with a few strobes, it’s pretty dismal.
I didnt return for the games on Saturday due to prior commitment. Addition Photos are here.
The Desert Challenge is the biggie for adaptive sports in Arizona. The annual event, sponsored by Arizona Disabled Sports features swimming, weight lifting, archery and various events in track & field. The 3-day event is held in Mesa and is sanctioned by the various governing bodies for the respective sports. Basically it’s fun event for local athletes of all ages and a tune-up for a few of our national athletes with 2012 London Paralympic ambitions.
A special thanks to Jodi of Jodi Davis Photography for letting me come shoot with her. She’s the ADS team’s official photographer. Any participant wanting event photos should visit her site. She does great kid photos too.
Click the jump for some photos of Track & Field, Swimming, Weightlifting and Archery.
On Saturday, the 3rd annual Over The Line tournament took place in Phoenix. OTL is a 3-man sport that’s somewhat like baseball. The sport has been adapted for people in wheelchairs. Each team tries to score runs by advancing ghost runners around the bases. The event was held in the parking lot of the North Phoenix Baptist Church. This year eight teams participated, and there was a 2nd event for youths using a wiffle ball.
The sport allows you to photograph up close but unfortunately in a tournament like this, the backgrounds arent too pleasing. So I got a lot of experience looking for photo opportunities that didnt include j-johns and trash cans in the background.
I had to leave before I got the rosters, but I’ll add the teams, rosters, and winners pretty quick. More photos are inside article. Read the rest of this entry »
The NRA hosted it’s first ever Open Range Day for people with disabilities at Ben Avery Shooting Range today. As a student, I briefly worked for the NRA. So I know that NRA never does any event half way. True to their reputation, Vanessa Warner and team didnt show up with a few hand-me-downs and the old pea-shooter. Participants got to shoot new Ruger semi-auto pistols and AR-15’s rifles, Remington and Baretta shotguns and there was plenty of ammo for everyone to make lots of noise.
We in Phoenix have one of the country’s premiere shooting ranges just north of town. The Ben Avery Shooting Range offers every type of shooting (and archery) you can imagine. Even better, the entire facility is very accessible. So the National Rifle Association (NRA) selected Ben’s to be the venue for their first ever Open Range Day.
Unfortunately it was a rainy cold day so we didnt have great turn out, but for the 15 or so that did arrive, there was that much more time on the firing line. Ben Avery is a big range and so hats off to the NRA for getting accessible buses to hussle the groups around and for catering a good lunch.
