#5318 - it's not the equipment, it's how you use it
everything seems to be bothering me today.
this weekend (friday through sunday) is the "nightmare on 95" eastern regionals roller derby tournament, hosted by the charm city roller girls and the dc roller girls. at first i was interested in seeing if i could be a photographer for the weekend - i had been a photographer for a few other championship tournaments before - but since my schedule was and is still up in the air for a bit of the weekend i didn't want to try to get credentialed and possibly take up someone else's spot who would be able to shoot more of the weekend than i could. getting credentialed is also usually a pain in the ass. i've had times in the past where getting credentialed meant that WFTDA had rights to all my photos i took (and i don't mind that if i get my admission comped, but it was weird one year when i noticed a photo of mine on the front of some WFTDA brochure with no credit or anything, but whatever), but there are always forms to be filled out and papers to be signed and so on. lots of hoops to jump through.
a week or two ago i asked cynicalscribe if there was a photographer's list for eastern regionals since she had mentioned that there's a list now for ccrg's bouts, but she wasn't sure. since the website just said that info was coming soon, i reached out to the nightmare on 95 twitter account to see what to do since the event was fast approaching and was told that i should get in touch with WFTDA directly and the dc roller girls. at that point i figured that it was going to be too much work to bother, and realized that even if i was accepted that it wasn't likely that i'd be able to make it for much of the weekend, so i threw in the towel. i thought about buying a ticket for the weekend, but at $75 for questionable attendance over the weekend that was a bit steep, and even $30 / day was a bit much. i ended up buying a single-game ticket to just the ccrg vs. boston bout friday night for $15 though. i figure that if i really want to see more then i'll probably catch the broadcast feed over at bad decisions.
but even though i'm not going to be officially taking photos, i still was thinking about bringing my camera. why not? well, the nightmare on 95 facebook account put an end to that idea by noting how videography rules were going to be stricter than usual and that while point-and-click cameras would be allowed, more "professional" style equipment wouldn't be allowed in, which i have always thought to be a really bullshit thing to do. i know professional photographers who do professional work with cameraphones and toy plastic holga cameras. i also have seen people with digital SLRs who had no idea about what they were doing and still produced crappy photos. to use the vague term "professional equipment" to restrict what people can and can't bring in is ridiculous.
i suppose i should just go there and shut up and enjoy the bout since i wasn't going to worry about taking photos anyway, but policies like this really annoy me.
i think i've been slowly coming down with a case of allergies. either that, or i've been slowly getting sick. the past few days i've been feeling more and more congested and more stuffed and more nasal-drippy, and i've noticed myself coughing and sneezing more as well. today i figured it had to be allergies since i wasn't feeling sick, just suffering from a bunch of symptoms. well, a little after i declared it to be allergies, i got a headache that was really bothering me and i think i might have been running a small fever. after work i came home and took some medicine and i'm feeling better now, but i hope i'm not getting sick in time for the weekend. besides the eastern regionals bout all weekend, there's also the h street festival in dc, helping with yardwork for money off rent (since my landlord is in canada and can't exactly help with condo upkeep, if i volunteer with the landscaping committee then i get $25 off rent for each hour of work up to 4 hours per month), and a dc metro minis meet-and-greet, and probably a few other things to keep me occupied too.
i took off of work tomorrow, but i still have to wake up early so i can go to the dmv to try to get my license plates. why do i have a feeling that even with the bout tomorrow night that tomorrow is just going to be a bad day for me? here's one thing that's neat, though - one of the guys who controls the mars rovers "spirit" and "opportunity" now follows me on twitter:
ok, i think i'll make it an early bedtime tonight. tomorrow's going to be a long and possibly rough day, and if i'm starting to get sick then i'm going to need my beauty sleep.
eta: oh yeah, i had a dream last night that i was greyplanet. in any case, i lived in austin and kept telling people how i have an awesome dog, so i must have been the joseph grey, there's no other explanation.
this weekend (friday through sunday) is the "nightmare on 95" eastern regionals roller derby tournament, hosted by the charm city roller girls and the dc roller girls. at first i was interested in seeing if i could be a photographer for the weekend - i had been a photographer for a few other championship tournaments before - but since my schedule was and is still up in the air for a bit of the weekend i didn't want to try to get credentialed and possibly take up someone else's spot who would be able to shoot more of the weekend than i could. getting credentialed is also usually a pain in the ass. i've had times in the past where getting credentialed meant that WFTDA had rights to all my photos i took (and i don't mind that if i get my admission comped, but it was weird one year when i noticed a photo of mine on the front of some WFTDA brochure with no credit or anything, but whatever), but there are always forms to be filled out and papers to be signed and so on. lots of hoops to jump through.
a week or two ago i asked cynicalscribe if there was a photographer's list for eastern regionals since she had mentioned that there's a list now for ccrg's bouts, but she wasn't sure. since the website just said that info was coming soon, i reached out to the nightmare on 95 twitter account to see what to do since the event was fast approaching and was told that i should get in touch with WFTDA directly and the dc roller girls. at that point i figured that it was going to be too much work to bother, and realized that even if i was accepted that it wasn't likely that i'd be able to make it for much of the weekend, so i threw in the towel. i thought about buying a ticket for the weekend, but at $75 for questionable attendance over the weekend that was a bit steep, and even $30 / day was a bit much. i ended up buying a single-game ticket to just the ccrg vs. boston bout friday night for $15 though. i figure that if i really want to see more then i'll probably catch the broadcast feed over at bad decisions.
but even though i'm not going to be officially taking photos, i still was thinking about bringing my camera. why not? well, the nightmare on 95 facebook account put an end to that idea by noting how videography rules were going to be stricter than usual and that while point-and-click cameras would be allowed, more "professional" style equipment wouldn't be allowed in, which i have always thought to be a really bullshit thing to do. i know professional photographers who do professional work with cameraphones and toy plastic holga cameras. i also have seen people with digital SLRs who had no idea about what they were doing and still produced crappy photos. to use the vague term "professional equipment" to restrict what people can and can't bring in is ridiculous.
i suppose i should just go there and shut up and enjoy the bout since i wasn't going to worry about taking photos anyway, but policies like this really annoy me.
i think i've been slowly coming down with a case of allergies. either that, or i've been slowly getting sick. the past few days i've been feeling more and more congested and more stuffed and more nasal-drippy, and i've noticed myself coughing and sneezing more as well. today i figured it had to be allergies since i wasn't feeling sick, just suffering from a bunch of symptoms. well, a little after i declared it to be allergies, i got a headache that was really bothering me and i think i might have been running a small fever. after work i came home and took some medicine and i'm feeling better now, but i hope i'm not getting sick in time for the weekend. besides the eastern regionals bout all weekend, there's also the h street festival in dc, helping with yardwork for money off rent (since my landlord is in canada and can't exactly help with condo upkeep, if i volunteer with the landscaping committee then i get $25 off rent for each hour of work up to 4 hours per month), and a dc metro minis meet-and-greet, and probably a few other things to keep me occupied too.
i took off of work tomorrow, but i still have to wake up early so i can go to the dmv to try to get my license plates. why do i have a feeling that even with the bout tomorrow night that tomorrow is just going to be a bad day for me? here's one thing that's neat, though - one of the guys who controls the mars rovers "spirit" and "opportunity" now follows me on twitter:
ok, i think i'll make it an early bedtime tonight. tomorrow's going to be a long and possibly rough day, and if i'm starting to get sick then i'm going to need my beauty sleep.
eta: oh yeah, i had a dream last night that i was greyplanet. in any case, i lived in austin and kept telling people how i have an awesome dog, so i must have been the joseph grey, there's no other explanation.