Breaking the Taper

One of my best friends is a professional photographer. She recently got an intense new camera, a fancy transmitting flash thingamajig, and an intern. Before she's scheduled to shoot an upcoming wedding with her new equipment, she wanted some practice with the new custom settings.

Figuring I'll have no good photos from the marathon this weekend (let's be honest: not many truly look good running, let alone while running 26 miles), we had a pre-marathon photo shoot this afternoon.

I laced up, headed out to the Greenway, and did a few strides in my race outfit with her and her intern. It was a slow, boring photo shoot because her "intern" was actually more of a "job shadower" and had no experience with a camera. She shot slowly, paused to set up each scene, and asked a billion questions. I think she ended up doing well -- she took some good photos and did her best trying to pose me while my friend spurted out a million tricks for her to remember.

I ended up running a lot more than I anticipated simply because the intern was having a hard time catching on, setting her focus, and figuring out the ISO (don't ask what that means; she's got me beat there!). I redid many hill repeats while she trashed photo after photo. It took my friend a while to figure out her new settings as well, but it quickly started making sense to her. She's happy with her new toy, and I'm happy that I have some not-so-crappy photos of me doing something I enjoy.

Even though the Brooks ID outfit is, uh, very "noticeable" this year, I got pretty pumped up putting it on and doing some forbidden running. :) Here's to hoping I'll look this smooth while running Sunday!

(Julie -- here's the outfit you should look for. :) Best of luck to you during your half!)