Team IDC Blog – 2007 LPIDC

Michelle’s Wrap-up Blog

For the fifth consecutive year, I was heading to Lake Placid, NY to cover the Ice Dance Championships. Once again, I was pulling double-duty, providing coverage to both U.S. Figure Skating and Ice-Dance.com. Every year, Daphne and I have tried to surpass IDC’s coverage, drawing upon prior year’s experiences to be more efficient. Last year, the competition was just a couple weeks after my car accident, so we were able to recruit some volunteers to help out. This go-around, complications from my head injury made me concerned I would not be able to do my best, but I wanted to try. I have been doing between 2-6 hours a day of various therapies, and this was the chance to see how much I improved from the last event I covered.

My doctor advised me to take it very easy for the days preceding the trip. That was the plan, but as we all know, sometimes plans don’t work out that way.

According to all the how-to websites and home improvement shows, fixing a kitchen faucet is extremely easy. What they all neglect to tell you is that after you turn off the water, you need to bleed the pipes. Not bleeding the pipes leads to a buildup of pressure. If a pipe connection elsewhere in the house is slightly weak—oh, say in the vanity under the bathroom sink—an explosion could occur that, if it were not August, could lead to a skating rink on the bathroom floor. A person could also experience a new waterfall cascading down into the kitchen. Said waterfall would make an interesting conversation piece and decorative element to the previously waterfall-less kitchen, but I would highly recommend reconsidering this design option. It is much more peaceful to pack for a trip to the Adirondacks and then look at the waterfalls on Route 73 on the drive in to Lake Placid.

Last year we had a few photographer volunteers who shot both the early morning events and the ones running in the 1932 rink concurrently with the ones I was shooting in the 1980 arena. This year, we expanded the volunteer opportunities and held an informal skating photography workshop. I wrote to my Canon rep and he sent me lots of nifty equipment to use for the week. Canon rules!

The drive to Lake Placid was wonderfully uneventful for me. For Daphne, not so much, as her car had major issues and she had to spend a few hours at a garage about half an hour away. We both arrived at nearly the same time, and once again called Art Devlin’s Olympic Motor Inn our home for the week. Our room was way in the back on the first floor, the first time I had ever stayed in that part. As always, the room was spacious and comfortable. The first thing we did when we got in was boot up the laptops and see if the wireless internet was working. It was. Art’s rules, too!

As is tradition, the first stop was to Howard Johnson’s for a welcome meal and then off to Price Chopper for some groceries for the week. My favorite thing to do when I travel is go to the local supermarket, whether it’s in the U.S. or another country. I guess I’m pretty easily entertained. Daphne then hit the Gap outlet while I went back to the room to unpack.

On Tuesday, practices were on tap at the Olympic Center. We went over to meet up with the volunteers and to check out our workspace. Section 8-9 was our home once again, and fortunately this year the official videographer did not have the big hump of wires with an attractive yellow shell cover running across the concourse. It is definitely easier to transport all the camera and computer equipment without having to do the stop and lift thing.

Dee Eggert, the only returning photographer volunteer from ’06, stopped by to check in and used some of the Canon equipment to shoot practice. The high-end pro equipment has such a different rhythm from what most people are used to, so it definitely helps to practice your timing. The equipment is also really heavy, so physically working with the bulk takes some adjustment.

Pro cameras are fast. If they are set for multiple frames, it is very easy to press the shutter and wind up taking ten pictures in just a second. Fortunately, since this is digital, it means you can just delete the bad ones. However, when you are shooting a competition that doesn’t have a lot (or any!) of down time, you just download the pictures as fast as possible and move on to the next flight of skaters. Needless to say, the unedited photos take up a lot of room very quickly. A lot. Very. Quickly.

Over the years, we’ve come to know that one can never have too much hard drive space. I did not want to spend my nights burning DVDs instead of sleeping. This time things went much better, but we know we can improve even more in 2008. Here’s hoping that 1TB external hard drives come down in price over the next 51 weeks.

By the second day in the arena, I noticed a trend that amused me. When someone would stop by our section and look out onto the ice, many times they would say, “Oh, Canadians” in this rather disappointed way. It wasn’t that they had anything against our neighbors to the north. It seemed more like “yeah, they won’t be competing against me/my kid/our team at U.S. nationals, so I don’t have to pay as much attention.” After this had happened a hundred times or so, someone quipped, “Do you think at Thornhill they go, ‘Oh, Americans’?”

Over the next day and a half, everyone had checked in and the photographers had the chance to work with the pro equipment. Howard Mager, whose son Travis was a competitor (and volunteer) (and medallist), had his own Nikon pro equipment. He did check out the Canon 200/1.8 drool-worthy lens, though. Greatest lens ever!

Last year we had some of the skaters take off-ice photos to enhance the coverage. This year more had signed up, and we had some do action photos as well. Genna Deutch, who was competing solo dance, came over during her free time to shoot. Genna may not have a ton of photography experience, but she has an excellent eye and natural instincts that were incredibly impressive. Like with most of the workshop “students,” I would sit with them to review the photos and make suggestions on how to improve. Skaters are exceptional at stopping, getting feedback, and turning around to incorporate it. Genna rocked the photography over the week, and her photos continued to improve.

Elyse Matsumoto was another apprentice photographer. Her partner, Patrick Mays, has mono so they weren’t able to compete as a team. Elyse came to do some solo events and keep her season’s competitive rhythm going. Every day Elyse photographed was better than her previous. Molly Raymond didn’t have as much time to shoot because of her competition schedule with her brother, Nathan, but she came when she could and also got better each time she picked up the camera.

When Connie Sells, one of our assistants, asked if she could try shooting, I handed her some gear and she went to work. Her daughter, Grace, who competed in novice with partner Robert Cuthberson, came over and was laughing at her mother. I challenged her to do better and gave her duplicate equipment. I think I created a monster.

Two volunteers, Katie Weigel and Melanie Hoyt, were the last to arrive. Melanie’s friend Michelle was recruited into helping, too. Mel and Katie were amazing photographers! Mel’s progress was wonderful, and by the end of the week we were submitting her photos to U.S. Figure Skating. Katie had more experience with higher-end camera equipment, so I wasn’t surprised when she was generating top-notch photos. I remember saying to Daphne that Katie was giving me a complex because she was better than me.

One of the volunteer tasks was pulling the best photos to be published on USFigureSkating.org and ice-dance.com. While that sounds like an easy job, it does take a bit of practice. What makes a good photo? That depends on the target audience. The first rule: two faces, no crotches. Easier said than done in ice dance! If the costumes are moving, even better. Let’s be honest: what most people are looking at in photos at this stage of the season is what the outfits look like.

US Figure Skating runs the photos at 300 dpi and ice-dance.com at 450 dpi. The size difference is another consideration in choosing the photos. At 300 dpi, it helps to have a more compact photo that isn’t a lot of white space. At 450, you have more room to showcase arms and legs. Not that this is set in stone, but it is a guideline. A four arms/four legs photo on USFS can make the skaters’ head very tiny, and nobody wants to look like a pinhead.

In the middle of a very busy morning, with questions coming at me from literally all directions, my phone rings. It’s my sister, Monica. She just bought a very nice point and shoot digital camera and is still learning how to capture the best images. Her question: what settings should she use for very, very, very bright outdoor photos. I asked her where she was. Her reply?

A graveyard.

Hmm. Not going to ask.

I give her some suggestions and she hangs up. I later find out she was working on our family tree. Ah, that makes more sense. I guess.

The pace of the event was beginning to take its toll on me. Mel needed help getting the 200/1.8 lens on correctly. I got up to take care of it and managed to send the camera body flying. It hit the cement floor, so I did what any reasonable person would do when they drop a $4,000 borrowed camera.

I started crying.

I managed to get the lens and body ready for Mel and then found myself a dark corner of the arena to have a bit of a meltdown. Daphne came to find me and offered me what helps the most in a situation like that: a chocolate chip cookie. A soft, bendy chocolate chip cookie. Yum.

When Howard Mager stopped by later, I showed him the camera and the part that had fallen out. He said it was just he focus screen, and much to my incredible relief, popped it back in. We used that camera body the rest of the week and it worked perfectly. Howard rocks!

Because I knew that Daphne, Katie and Mel could handle things on their own, I skipped the much of the next day and stayed in bed. My goal was to make it over to the arena for the original dances. I wanted to see the folk/country interpretations. I shot the senior OD from the top of the concourse, while Genna took the lower position. It was a huge help to me, because I was able to get a few “safety” shots of every team (AKA their opening pose) and concentrate on those I thought might medal. I knew Genna had my back. Katie then took all the junior ODs, moving up to the balcony for a change of pace. Howard came over to try some super slow shutter speed photos and see what kind of artistic images he could get. It was a good evening.

My award for the most interesting costume goes to Canadian novices Ariane Beaudry and Marcus Connolly. They skated a Corpse Bride free dance, complete with her in a veil and a painted skeleton across her body. And of course you can’t forget the bloody slashes at their waists.

And speaking of novices, if you’ve looked at the photos of the top four on USFigureSkating.org, you may notice that novice compulsory super final action shots have a posed medal shot of Megan Evans and Nathan Truesdell. My job for that event was to assist Daphne by downloading her photos to the appropriate folder and pulling the best ones. I think this is the only time it happened all week, but I messed up and gave her the memory card back without downloading it. We didn’t realize this until it was too late. I felt horrible, especially after Nathan swung by and wanted to see how they looked.

(Sorry, Nathan!)

My other apology would be to Rachel Richardson and Brad Coulter. They drew to skate first in the Cha Cha Congelado. I was late getting to the arena and missed their performance.

(Sorry, Rachel and Brad!)

We had a few visitors over to section 8-9. Loren Galler-Rabinowitz and Attila Elek stopped by to say hi. They are training in Lake Placid with coach Natalia Dubova. I asked why they didn’t compete at this event and was informed they had only been officially together and practicing two weeks, so they were certainly not ready with their programs. Loren was telling me how much I would love photographing Israel. She had lived there for about nine months recently and said the country is a photographer’s dream.

Madison and Keiffer Hubbell also made a visit. I was very disappointed that both them and Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates had to pull out due to injury. Madison and Keiffer made the trip anyway, since they had meetings to attend. Keiffer also worked extensively with the physical therapists at the Olympic Training Center. Madison wanted to make it clear that she did NOT break her brother. He admitted that blades do not actually go perpendicular to themselves, and if you try to make it happen, your hip makes a very rude acquaintance with very hard ice. Oldest Hubbell sibling, Zachary, is interested in photography, so I handed him some equipment and he was able to shoot some of the intermediate free dance. I think I made another Canon convert.

I know I’ve left out a ton of things, but I have to stop at some point. It was a challenging week for me, but I’m glad I tried my best. It may not have been the results I wanted, but it was definitely a learning experience.

And isn’t that what the Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships are about?