Unparallel

"North Carolina Tar Heel, Christine Nguyen, who took first place in the all-around competition, performs a practice floor exercise routine during the 13th annual Governor’s Cup Meet at the Towson Center Friday night. The Tar Heels earned a 194.000 team score to win first place in the meet."

I didn't start shooting gymnastics until I was in college, but to this day, I still think of Australian born photographer Chris Mcgrath's gymnastics image on his Web site (SPORT -image 27).

If you have never seen the photo, it portrays these events impeccably. There are many different competitions going on at the same time, which can be overwhelming.

His image captures six different gymnasts all doing something unrelated to one another at different levels of the image. The shutter speed at which it was shot also gives the image an artistic feel, one which I don’t think would be as effective if shot at a high shutter speed freezing the three main competitors in the photo.

The clean, black background which it was shot is something I could only wish for during any indoor sporting event I shoot.

The Towson Center, where I shot four different collegiate teams in action Friday night, has to be the most distracting, unclean background arena in Maryland.

If the complex wasn't ugly enough, as mentioned, these contests are puzzling.

What I try to do is find the top player of each team and shoot them at their best event, even if it’s just during practice.

This way I can go back and move an image of the points leader at the conclusion of the event. Luckily I caught the Towson player I needed during her first place floor exercise routine and the overall points leader from North Carolina during two of her top events.

The above image is something I saw when looking for a vantage point to clean up my background. Although these girls can twist, twirl and spin flawlessly, I am continually staring at their hands and feet. And I must mention, these girls could put on a dress and go out on the town as all of them have their hair and make-up down perfectly, even after a routine.

Nonetheless, I love Chris' image. He is very talented photographer. Definitely check out his Web site.