The Downside of Photography

Originally I was going to shoot film for the Colour Run, because a disposable film camera would be much cheaper to buy (used) than a disposable dSLR. As it turned out, the d100 fit the bill better than any Nikon film camera I could get for the same money (none at all) so off I went with the d100.

Which turned out to be a good thing, as I shot near 700 shots from inside the race.

The downside to that, is I had to sort through all 700 shots, and find the ones that stood out. In the end, it's taken several days to dig through and decide which ones I want to keep. I have a ton of colourful portraits of smiling people, hands in the air colour storms, party shots, and so forth, but before I dumped the entire batch, I decided I liked this one well enough to post. So, here it is.

Anyone Want a Nikon, Slightly Used?

Although I did tape up some of the seams of the D100, I really expected it to die. I'm pleased that it didn't, although now I"m faced with the task of cleaning it up.

Anyone want a slightly used Nikon D100, cheap?

The New Face of Covergirl

Ok, well maybe not. But she does have bright white teeth, and isn't that what's important on a magazine cover?

I was mostly in purple across my head, and my glasses were totally purple, my arms were red and yellow and my legs, shoes and socks a bright pink. I wish all runs could be this fun. I had brought an .mp3 player filled with speed metal tunes for motivation, "Angel of Death" by Slayer, "144,000 Gone" from Agent Steel, "Death From Above" by Bathory, but the .mp3 player died after about 6 songs played and as it turned out, the enthusiasm and excitement from the crowd was all I needed to keep going.

Another View of Colour

The organizers of this event said the colour washes off. This isn't entirely so. I'm still multicoloured after several showers and I have colours in places I thought were rather well covered during the race. And I got off lightly, with the bystanders reluctant to nail a guy carrying a camera. S'ok, I am still grinning like these girls are, and probably will be for the next week or so.

Circle of Dust

Most of the shots I will be posting are from after the race, the celebration of the event and the party going on. Lots of colour circles, like this one, on the soccer field nearby.

It's funny, I didn't feel tired, or strung out, or worn out, or exhausted or in pain, after the run, in fact, I was ready to go again. Only later on in the day did my body remind me I'm not 20 anymore (but today I'm ready to run again, so go figure.)

What I loved was how everyone was smiling and laughing and carrying on after the race, like it really was a huge (5000+ people signed up for this) colour rave.

Just a Splash of Colour

I was planning on documenting my experience with the run, the emotions I felt, the (expected) pain from the run, and so on, but what I found was it was remarkably easy to run this. I made it in well under an hour, and this included the stops for pictures. I ran, on average, a 13 minute mile, finishing the whole event in 39 minutes. Not bad for a first timer.

The Nikon D100 hiccuped a few times (but it had been doing that before the race as well. What do you expect for free?) but once it settled down, it was a real workhorse. In addition, it survived the race and I'll be posting pics of what it looked like after the race.

Running

I entered a 5 kilometer colour run over the weekend. The object was to run 5 kilometers through bystanders (and volunteers) throwing paint bombs at you. I've never run before (I generally view exercise as something other people do) and I honestly didn't think I'd like it, or ever survive. While I am thin, I fully admit I'm not in shape. I made a silent promise to myself that I'd run this in under an hour (20 minutes a mile)

Also, I was going to shoot from within the race, which meant picking a camera to work with. As I'd recently acquired two spare dSLR bodies, a Nikon D70 and Nikon D100, I felt confident I could sacrifice one for this event. So here are some shots from the D100. As you will see, *everyone* loved doing this run!

Chapter 9

Too rapidly to see, Radu thrust Mjolnir deep into Ninja.

"Aieeeee!" yelled Ninja

"When will your kind learn," asked Radu, "you cannot defeat me. No mortal on this planet can."

Ninja lay silent on the ground, still forever more.

"Now, "said Radu, dusting off his hands, "where is that pesky Werewolf you travel with?"

Ninja said nothing, the wind whispering through the trees was the only reply.

Chapter 8

"Here I am Ninja," whispered Radu.

Ninja paled beneath his armour, the fiend was so fast, he'd never seen any creature move like that. In one split second, Ninja knew he'd made a final, and fatal mistake.

"No!" shouted Ninja.

"Yes." spat Radu.

Chapter 7

Ninja landed on the wall, ready to send another blow to the vampire (as Ninjas are often wont to do) but suddenly, Radu was gone!

Ninja looked around, where could Radu have gone?