Jan Luursema said:
Well I'd have to disagree with you there.. I enjoy swimming and find it much easier then running. You float on the water, and you move forward by pushing against the water. When you stop you're still going forward, with running you fall down when you do that! It's also much less strenuous on your joints and muscles. But then again, I don't do much competitive swimming
But to stay ontopic, I enjoyed your photos! I would like to shoot some swimming in the near future too.
What focal length did you use?
By the way, your daughter is a pretty girl, if you don't mind me saying that..
Jan- I used a Canon 70-200 and the Sigma 50-500 (when the light was favorable). The 50-500 was particularly effective. At 500 I could fill the frame will swimmer's facial expression and at 50 I could capture the entire upper body at the turns. Worked out very well, didn't have to move, change lenses or switch cameras ... just twist the zoom ring.
"... You float on the water..." I can stand, sit or lay on the earth, usually for very very long periods of time without fear of death by drowning or my skin wrinkling up.
"... and you move forward by pushing against the water." When I'm moving on the ground I push against the earth ... since the earth has less give than water I get more "work" for every calorie spend then pushing against water ... water tends to give and escapes between the cracks of my fingers and toes.
"When you stop you're still going forward, with running you fall down when you do that!" When I stop when running, usually I remain standing up ... but yes you are right you can coast while swimming but not while running (unless you're running down a very speep hill ... but that is a painful mode of coasting). I used to swim alot, I'm a Marine Biologist, my swimming was completely different than competitive swimming. Remember in competitive swimming, one does not "coast", like running, you are stroking nonstop throughout the entire race. Coming up for air slows you down ... so you keep your head underwater until your lungs nearly burst to gain every fraction of a second. A swimmer on the team swam her entire 50 yard freestyle race without coming up for air ... even once ... she was tough to shoot.
"It's also much less strenuous on your joints and muscles. But then again, I don't do much competitive swimming." That is very true, the pounding involved in running will giggle your guts and wipe out your knees and feet.
As to Sarah being "pretty", thanks for the compliment (and I don't mind). I will pass your kind words on to her :<)
Gary