kodiak

American Bouldering Series Regional Competition

Following today’s rugby match against Berkeley (we won, 2-0 on the season!), I headed to Planet Granite to watch the American Bouldering Series Regional Competition. Wow, can they climb. It is crazy to watch these people, most of them kids (well younger than I) flashing routes that are probably somewhere between V6 and V9. Unreal!

Some notes on the pictures. My sister hooked me up with a gift certificate from Adorama for Christmas and I turned that into an external flash unit for my D50. I went with the SB-800, which is capable of driving additional external flash slaves, and this was my first time using it. I am definitely still getting the hang of it, but compared with the built-in unit … well there is no comparison. The refresh speed alone makes the unit worth purchasing, but the ability to use gel filters- or even just a simple diffuser adds an whole new dimension to my photography. The last competition I attended, I was forced to use my 50mm 1.4f lens, which I love, but is not the best for closeups or sports. This time around I was able to use my 70-300mm lens, which has reach, but is slooooow. Using the flash unit, things came out a pretty well. I was using the diffuser, which probably wasn’t necessary, but all in all, I am happy with the initial results.