With all the sports I shoot it sometimes impress me that I don’t see more injuries than I do. It’s your typical sprained knee or whatever. I covered a soccer game last night and I was following two players battling for the ball at full speed. The both fell and the ball was put in the net on the rebound of sorts. The players cheered and the opposing player was still on the gras. My first thought was that he was just pissed off that he didn’t prevent the goal. I realized he was favoring his arm and looked to be in quite a lot of pain. The trainer rushed to the field and I heard the injured player say the other guy landed on him.

I checked the entire sequence on the LCD and found that I had indeed caught where his arm is bending kind of awkward when they fell to the grass.

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM + 1,4x TC @ 420mm, f/4,5 1/1250sec, ISO200. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

A shot of the player with the trainer behind the net shows the trainer supporting the arm while the player shows just how much pain he’s in.

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM + 1,4x TC @ 420mm, f/4,5 1/1250sec, ISO200. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

The player was taken away in an ambulance.

What an interesting week it has been. Two car crashes, snow and the rehearsals for a hip hop theatrical play. That’s just some of the stuff I’ve been covering this past week.

I actually started out covering a car crash on the very first day I worked for the paper. Since then I can only recall arriving at a crash scene maybe twice where the cars and stuff was still there. This past week I was called out to two major crashes.

Friday (last week) some guy had to dodge an old woman crossing the street with her dog to avoid hitting her. He ended up hitting a light post and running over three small trees before coming to a hold when hitting a fourth tree.

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM @ 70mm, f/2.8 1/400sec, ISO250. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

A front view of the car shows the damage.

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM @ 17mm, f/4 1/100sec, ISO250. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Monday as I arrived at the paper I got a phone call a colleague who had seen fire trucks and ambulances fly down the street past our office. The police scanner didn’t really give anything so I just drove in the direction I was told the fire trucks was going. I had a pretty good idea where it could be and I was right.

I never heard what happened but from what I saw at the scene it looked like somebody ran a red light broadsiding a car, plowing it into a traffic signal post.

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM @ 23mm, f/4 1/800sec, ISO200. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

I woke up Wednesday morning around 6.45am, having an assignment at 7.45am. I looked out the window and saw white trees and snow covering the grass and parking lot. My boss has been bugging me for ‘winter’ shots almost for as long as I can remember. Last year’s winter was basically only a couple of days. It’s hard to get good winter (read: pictures with snow or ice) shots when it’s over cast. So I was waiting for a sunny day with snow. You can’t exactly buy that on Ebay so when I saw that the sun was out and everything was basically what I was waiting for, it was all about getting out of the door as fast as possible before the snow melted away. On the way to the morning assignment the snow began falling from the trees as it was melting, so no time to chat at the first assignment. It was just getting it done and on my way again. I got what I wanted.

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM @ 70mm, f/2.8 1/1250sec, ISO100. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM @ 70mm, f/2.8 1/1600sec, ISO100. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Thursday I was assigned to cover the rehearsals to a hip hop theatrical play that a local boy is in. It was pretty cool. I enjoy watching those guys dance!

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM @ 17mm, f/4 1/320sec, ISO1250, flash fired. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM @ 23mm, f/4 1/320sec, ISO1250, flash fired. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

This is the local kid. I figured it would be a good idea to shoot a solo shot of him.

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM @ 28mm, f/4 1/320sec, ISO1250, flash fired. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

I don’t shoot handball that much. I enjoy it a lot but it doesn’t have as high a priority on the paper as soccer and hockey. Plus the facility they play in is darker than hell.

Wednesday night I was assigned to cover two games in a row. First the Men’s game and then the Women’s game. Apparently it took me half the men’s game to get into the groove again. Here’s a few shot from the Women’s game.

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM @ 190mm, f/2.8 1/320sec, ISO1600. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM @ 140mm, f/2.8 1/320sec, ISO1600. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM @ 170mm, f/2.8 1/320sec, ISO1600. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/2.8 1/320sec, ISO1600. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f/2.8L USM @ 300mm, f/2.8 1/320sec, ISO1600. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Here’s a sport where I wish I had two Canon 1D Mark II N’s and not a Mark II N and a Canon 1D. The facility is too dark to even attempt to push my old 1D. So I have to swap lenses every now and then. The 300mm gives me blurred backgrounds and some
nice up close photos. Plus I can shoot the action in both ends.

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/2.8 1/320sec, ISO1600. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Here’s one of the up close moments I mentioned. Unfortunately there is no ball in the picture.

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/2.8 1/320sec, ISO1600. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Shooting with the 300 does give you a lot of this because they jump when they shoot:

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/2.8 1/320sec, ISO1600. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

I’ve been busy not updating the blog, so I figured it was time to spam you with a series of photos from recent assignments.

Every year the city and local track and field club arrange a race. This was the start of the 5km run. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 70-200mm f2.8L USM @ 200mm, f/2,8 1/500sec, ISO500)

Road construction resulted in a broken gas pipe, so the fire department and police blocked off a longer section the street. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 70-200mm f2.8L USM @ 70mm, f/2,8 1/800sec, ISO125)

Teachers might have to run faster in the future. A potential budget cut in the teachers budget, will not allow for payment for extra hours. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f4L USM @ 26mm, f/4 1/125sec, ISO250)

The Dane Mikkel Bodker was selected fifth overall in the CHL import Draft by the Kitchener Rangers who plays in the Ontario Hockey League. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f4L USM @ 33mm, f/22 1/250sec, ISO100)

A rally car blazes past spectators during a local Rally Sprint. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f4L USM @ 40mm, f/20 1/50sec, ISO100)

Skjold goaltender picks the wrong side on a penalty kick and can only watch the ball go in the net. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/2.8 1/2500sec, ISO400)

A shakespeare comedy theater show. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/2.8 1/400sec, ISO640)

One thing I had never taken pictures of prior to starting on the newspaper, was car accidents. This happened on the first day at the job as well.
I was doing an assignment - an outdoor event - and all of a sudden the sound of sirens broke through the ambient sound of cars driving by. A look down the street revealed fire trucks blocking an entire intersection. Right away I knew something had happened. I finished the assignment I was on and went up to the intersection and was met by a minor chaos. A car had slammed into another car before hitting a third car just about head on.

I gotta be honest here… My adrenaline started pumping for sure! It was kinda surreal to stand there taking photos of other people’s misery.