Cricket to us was more than play, it was a worship in the summer sun.
~ Edmund Blunden
Over the weekend, I had an excellent opportunity: there was a company staff event, a cricket tournament no less and everyone was invited (otherwise it wouldn't be much of a staff event, now would it?).
While it's been a while since I played cricket (read: never), and my knowledge of the game has since become rusty (i wouldn't know a bowler from a batsman from a wicket), I was interested in attending for a variety of reasons.
First, it was a good chance to finally understand what all the fuss was about (my indian colleagues swear it's bigger than religion). Second, I get to try my hand at sports photography (something i had never done). And third, a colleague tempted me: he was willing to lug five back-breakingly heavy lenses if i was willing to come along and sort of quietly volunteer to cover the event.
Naturally, I asked what the lenses were and he obliged: a Tamron 17-50mm 2.8, and four Canons: a 55-250mm, a 24mm 1.4L, an 85mm 1.2L, and a 135mm 2.0L.
Where do i sign up, indeed.
Over the course of an afternoon, I sweated, ran, grunted, and stumbled my way across the cricket field in blistering singapore heat, sunburned both arms and legs and my back, questioned my sanity and the wisdom of trying to voluntarily kill myself with heatstroke while wiping drool off my face as i tried out the lenses.
It was worth it: I took about 500 pictures, and thereafter threw about 150 away, and could barely keep my finger off the shutter release.
Of course, I have such a lousy reputation: I haven't gotten around to completing my Bali posts, and have gigabytes worth of pictures quietly gathering digital dust in my pc, unprocessed, unposted.
so you just know i will not post 500 pics. i will not post even 2% of the 500 pics that i took. not so much from lack of effort or desire, i can assure you.
A couple of pics here and there, though, is something i can manage completely.
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| Tamron 17-50mm 2.8. For someone who saw the world through 50mm eyes, it certainly offers a whole new way of seeing things |
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| Canon 85mm 1.2L. The bokeh is so smooth, it could have been a field of butter. |
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| Canon 85mm 1.2L Sharp as a tack, I can make out the white stubbles, blinding 1 megawatt smile notwithstanding. |
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| 55-250mm. i wouldn't quite call it an ultrazoom but it certainly does have reach. |
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| Canon 135mm 2.0L + AI servo mode = OMG what can i sell to buy one of these? |
I couldn't believe my eyes while I was chimping and looking at the pics using the camera's lcd.
when the day was over and it was time to go, i barely knew the score or who won, and still knew nothing about cricket other than that it is played with a ball and a bat. i composed myself and said my curt goodbyes to the lenses and started on my long journey home, made longer by the fact that i was dog tired, sunburned, and aching all over, and missing lenses that were never mine.
the following sunday saw me being barely able to get out of bed and walk. with every groan and aching muscle i wondered, why on earth did i subject myself to this kind of punishment.
still, i managed to prop myself up on the bed, open my laptop to go through the pictures, and when i saw them, i was just blown away.
Canon L series lenses, where have you been all my life?
Probably in a store somewhere, just a few thousand dollars out of reach.
Anybody got a spare kidney?
