Hiking in Forest Falls

Finally I'm on vacation for a few days. With the wife and kids still on vacation I thought it would be nice to get out to the snow and do a bit of hiking a just plain having fun. I asked my two sisters if they and their families wanted to come along. One was able to come and the kids had a blast.

It was about an hour drive to Forest Falls, which is decent place to go that's not all that far and will usually have snow this time of year. We hiked up the trail for about a mile while the kids played in the snow and climbed around the rocks.

I made a lot of rookie mistakes while taking pictures of the action, but then again that's why I shoot sports. I really need to get out more. So with all that said, here are a few shots to share with those that come here to look. Enjoy.

My sister's and my family

My family

Lakewood vs Jordan

This game was an away game at Jordan High School. I didn't plan on attending this game but was having a rough day at work so I left early to shoot it. Getting out there shooting a game cheers me up no matter how bad a day I've had. Any hoot, the weather was terrible with dark clouds overhead just waiting to unleash their load, it did sprinkle a bit, but nothing bad.


For these shots I used the beast (300mm) with my camera set at aperture priority, f/2.8. My ISO started at 400 and ended at 1600. It got dark pretty quick with the sun going down and dark clouds overhead.

Long Beach Middle School League Track Meet

Another full day of track. Started at 7:30am and ended at 11:30, but a day well worth it. For our middle school track meets we start with field events consisting of the shot put, long jump, and high jump. Since I shot all the shot putters during the last meet I decided to put my early morning focus on the long and high jumpers. The school I do some shooting for was jumping on both long and high jump spots where I was shooting into the sun. I thought the came out pretty good considering this. Towards the end of the field events I moved to the other high jump where I had great lighting.

As for the running events, I was very pleased with what I got. I ended up shooting about 1400 pictures and keeping just under 1300 of them.

All pictures were taken with the beast (300) and shot at aperture priority at f/2.8. So enjoy and let me know what you think.

Lakewood vs Millikan - Girls Soccer

Another game of girls varsity soccer action. This is my second game of the season and am enjoying it greatly. For this game I only used the beast, my 300mm. I shot at aperture priority (f/2.8) and from ISO 100 to 400. I started at ISO 100 while the sun was still fully out and covered the whole field. But as the sun when behind the bleachers and shade covered a big part of the field I increased my ISO to 400 to maintain a high shutter speed.

Middle School Track - Pratice Meet

This track meet was scheduled for last weekend but was rained out and it looked like it was going to happen again. New was calling for rain all day Saturday but wouldn't you know it was clear and sunny all day, which made for a great day to shoot some track action.


Ever since I bought the 300 f/2.8 I have used it as much as I can and try to use it whenever possible. This was a practice meet so why not bring the 300 and practice with it. Could I use a beast like that for a local track meet? The answer is yes and no. With that kind of lens you have to keep your distance, which leaves a lot of room for people to jump in front of you. This happened while trying to get some shots of the long jumpers. I did get a few but not as much as would have like to get, so maybe for the next meet I'll bring both the 70-200 f/2.8 and the beast (300 f/2.8).


All of these shots were taken at aperture priority (f/2.8). I used an ISO of 800 for the shot put but dropped it back down to 100 - 200 for the rest of the meet.