... 38,000 images later, I'm done. The video wall in the main arena made for some ugly backgrounds during cheer, but the BG's in dance were just the opposite. ESPN is showing this all this month during select times. Not sure when though...

As always, it was fun spending time with everyone.

First cheer:

1)

awesome shots, I liked #6 the best

My sentiments, exactly. Thanks for posting!

Amazing shots of amazing action. Wow.

Paul,
Nice series. One observation: in #6 you mention a disclaimer. Spotters are not a component of team toe touches. Maybe the remark belongs with a different image? I could be wrong. I don't follow all-stars and their rules are much different than high school and college.

Indy... they reside on the back of the mat at all times preparing for any stunts.

Sorry I missed meeting up with you Paul, I saw you just couldn't get between teams to get over to you. It was crazy for those two days. I'll have to post up some of my stuff. All mine is of one team though.....and no where near as good as yours.

3, 4, and 6 are stunning.

Great set! Really like #6, but all are great.

Bill

Paul,
First off great to see you again as always. And great images also. That WA is sweet I never did like spotters anyway always getting in the shot. I was supposed to shoot Wide in the HP on Sunday but with Lukes camera issues I switched up with him. Turns out my shutter lasted up to about the last ten teams, had to grab my back up back from Luke, crazy ending to a great weekend.
Kind of missed shooting dance this year but still got some great images too but as useual still working on going through them got them reduced from 80 Gig down to about 20 gig now its time to get busy.
That little Russian girl in #12 and Thialand (same as last year) really stole the show.
The video wall was horendus for BG's. i think Hammy said he was getting one just like it for next season, cant wait to tear that down after 14 hours of shooting. Did you get a chance to look at the back of that thing?
4,6 12 and 14 for me.

knight, hope I wasnt to short with you when you came up to talk. It was nice meeting you though.
Jeff

Fantastic images! As always, just out of this world. Hard to pick a favorite here, love the color and overall power of the images. When I show these images to my wife and tell her these are the kinds of shots I would love to get... her silence says it all.
My daughter is shooting for level 5 this coming season so she can hopefully make it to Worlds next year.. if so, maybe I might cross paths with some of the great shooters there...

Great work, Paul.

#'s 1 and 4 for me.

Kevin

Paul I know we always preach backgrounds and make it a checklist item for what we shoot...and you know this....there are times we can't control it. Like here. Given that, and looking beyond the bg's, Dude.....you nailed these. That #6 is off the charts. And I like #5...even with that bg....you caught that right at the right moment.

On the first quick glance...#3 was a double take for me because the way she had the makeup on her eyes....it give the impression like her eyes were rolling back like she passed out...but after the 2nd look I noticed they were closed.

On #4...that curtain on the left is throwing me off a little with the crop. Do you have the room on the right to line the left side vertically? I tried it and it seems like it flows better and lines up the light rack on top more horizontal and the supporters on the bottom....Just my two cents on that one..

I am really liking the dance ones the most. You get these kids just at the precise times. Did you use the 200 on these?

Awesome stuff.
Frank Lauri

Paul, I love the facial expressions and eyes on 4 and 6, so did you machine gun the action or did you time the sequence. I have been shooting my daughters synchro team (water) and have found timing is mostly a miss shot since they the girls have their eyes closed over 75% of the time.

Master creations, Paul. Love #4.

Paul, then here is what I would do re: #6--remove the disclaimer. It doesn't belong with a toe touch, which by the way is the best group toe touch I've ever seen on here. Any all-star cheerleader or coach who googles "Worlds 2011 something-something" and finds this thread will marvel at the images, but they'll also wonder why you placed a "spotters were removed" comment with a toe touch. If that same floor remote captured group stunts unspotted, then the disclaimer makes perfect sense.

For those playing at home, "spotters" refers to the extra spotters on the mat provided by the event organizer for added safety during basket tosses and group stunts. The term does not directly reference the team side base and back base positions during group stunts, which also are called side spotter or back spotter.

Just some friendly C&C, Paul.

I cant speak for Paul but he probebly mentions this as he knows that people who were there (photogs) and others that know the spotters are always there at this level despite the manuver/stunt that is currently going on. They are always near the edge of the mat at the very least.
Probebly didnt need to mention it though as Indy said but...
This shot would not have been possible the second half of the second day though as ESPN had thier camera guy and and sound equipment set up at center stage at that point.
Jeff

I felt there had to be some mention of digital altering for that image due to ethical reasons.

flauri wrote:
On #4...that curtain on the left is throwing me off a little with the crop. Do you have the room on the right to line the left side vertically? I tried it and it seems like it flows better and lines up the light rack on top more horizontal and the supporters on the bottom....Just my two cents on that one..


Frank, are you talking about correcting the visual horizon or trying to crop out the red curtain streak altogether?

Well if you take 38,000 images you are bound to get a few keepers

Great shots, I don't know how you keep your focus through that much shooting. Nice job and thanks for posting.
Jack

Paul....the visual horizon (but more so vertically). Here's a rough crop of what I was talking about. It happened to also eliminate the red.