The facility is located in Flowery Branch, and is a little out of the way but easy enough to find. You park across the street in the high school complex, and then walk over to the 'hill' that overlooks the practice fields.
But the important rule is:
"Q: May I bring my camera to training camp?
A: Still cameras with lenses under 12" and without flash attachments are permitted for use during all training camp workouts at Flowery Branch. No flash photography of any type will be permitted at any time. No audio or video recording devices are allowed, including camcorders or cellular phones with video capabilities."
Last year we had no problems using 300 2.8L or 70-200 2.8L lenses with the hoods. So it will depend on who is watching what your shooting with I'm sure.
The first practice is July 27 - 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM and on Friday the 28th there will be a morning and evening session. After the evening session they are planning fireworks.
I will be attending Friday for sure, but I am open to join people on any other days.
Anyone else want to go bake in the Georgia sun? Bring some drinks
Didn't get to do much except take a bunch of family snaps. Mostly we just stayed in the water and chased nieces and nephews around. We were able to teach 4 of them to surf...
Finally, after being bugged all week I took 3 of the oldest on a camera expedition. Katherine took this of her sister and cousin. It was fun seeing pictures through their eyes...
Ok- so I'm happy to report that the setup for training camp is much better then last year
- They got rid of the horrible orange plastic fencing and replaced it with a rope line. That means you can shoot from the ground!
- The fields have been rotated, so the main viewing areas are one sideline and one end zone.
- You don't have to walk up the damn hill to the upper gate, just so you can walk back down to the field... I have a beer for the staffer who implemented that.
- No hassles with security about my cameras. (That is the same as last year)
Suggestions for anyone going.
- Arrive early, the gates open 1 hour before practice and you can bring chairs if you want. You need to stake out a posistion on one end of the field or the other. The players rotate during drills all over the field but the action seems to happen from the 40 to the 20.
- Try the morning practice (815-1015am). The players were backlit this afternoon which makes it difficult to expose the face under the helmet. The morning sessions should put the light on the "right" side for good shots.
These pics got a little chewed up when I resized them. I will put up a gallery from the first few days of practice sometime this weekend.
Good job Lowbyte. Thanks for the report. We did not make it over there as I had hoped. I am still pushing for one day this week
I see Vick still has not learned to setup and plant his feet to pass.
okay time for an Atlanta outing. School's back in session next week which means the week after should be good for a visit to the aquarium. Any interest?
Welcome Danielle, you should get in touch with Tracey (user:tlong). It appears that you are both NC natives and fellow Nikonians. You should have lots in common...
I am working on a list of places to go in Georgia. Will try to get it up in a bit. My thought is if all agreed we could use it as a checklist of places to go. Some will be familiar and some won't.
See ya, mark
Edited by trailblazenyj on Aug 06, 2006 at 10:36 AM GMT
Gee, MArk...we may both use Nikon and both be from Charlotte, but she takes beautiful pictures and I just pretend! Did you check out her website? Maybe she will take me under her wing!
Sorry I've been busy the last couple of months. I just got back from QuakeCon where I am a staff photographer. I have lots of photos that should be available in a few days. I sure do like that 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens.
Here are a few that I got while up on a scissor lift:
trailblazenyj wrote:
Robin, cool stuff. I was a quake fan for years. I would like to go and just walk around and see everything some day.
If you ever make it to QuakeCon, I can hook you up. It will probably be at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas again next August. We'll have to wait for an announcement. The vendor/sponsor area may grow a bit since E3 has scaled back.
The 17-55mm f/2.8 IS worked out real well for this event. It was on my camera most of the time. I also used the 70-200 f/2.8 IS, the 10-22mm, and the Peleng 8mm fisheye. I should have used the 24-105 f/4 IS some, but didn't. I carried the 60mm f/2.8 macro and the 85mm f/1.8, but didn't use them either. For event stuff, I love the zoom. It keeps me from switching lenses so often.
