You're Better off Shooting a Lion

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.03.10
Current Song - Benny Hill Theme

When I'm not writing articles for NISB, I'm taking pictures. I'm not the best photographer, but I try to be. As a staff of one, I sometimes have to pull double-duty to get both and article and a picture of what's going on. That's not an easy thing to do during basketball games. I did this during the Little 10 Girls Basketball Tournament championship night. The end result, I thought, didn't turn out good.

Early in my career with PSO, I was treated more as a photographer than I was a writer. It's one thing to have a D60 with you, and another to have a Canon Powershot. You can probably guess which one I have now. The photography still lingers in me.

There was an event today that I wasn't able to stay for the duration of, but could get some pictures of. I'll begin the story by saying this: It's been a while since I've been to a bowling meet.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't take a few hours out of my day to shoot sub-par pictures. I shoot pictures in an effort to make it the best shot I can get. That's what the newspaper photographers do, especially those who have to run to 2-3 games a night. In order to get that best shot, the flash really helps.

The pic I shot for a wrestling story I did a couple of weeks back was shot from in front of the scorer's table. I shot quite a bit of photographs at that angle. No complaints. For a little bit I wondered if my flash was distracting, but since I didn't hear anything from anyone, I kept it on.

I came to this bowling meet like I did any other event I'm shooting. I get to a balcony, "click!" Next thing I notice, there's people looking at me like an angry mob. Only then did I realize the problem.

Needless to say, I was embarassed and left the event. I drove back trying to figure out what the problem was. I mean, I shoot wrestling pics, volleyball pics, basketball pics, and I don't get dirty looks. What was the problem here? I didn't understand. I started to think that I now know why bowling isn't covered by the papers as much.

I get home and ask my dad why this is. He told me that it distracts the bowlers' concentration. I told him that every pic I shoot distracts concentration in some way. He told me that bowlers put forth more concentration in what they do than what other athletes do. I'll take his word for it: he bowled in a Friday night league for years.

I'll admit for a second this scared me from ever covering a bowling meet. But I learned something about bowling out of all of this. Bowling is often disrespected by the media, and doesn't get covered except for big meets and profile stories. Like my dad said, bowlers put in a lot of concentration. Does this make bowling a much tougher sport than, say, wrestling?

With that being said, I think I've developed a whole new respect for high school bowling.