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]

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? :dunno

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

[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]

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! LOL. 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:

http://canadian-ann.smugmug.com/photos/28519580-M.jpg

And the shot he got from close:
http://canadian-ann.smugmug.com/photos/28519816-M.jpg