Bobcats vs Spurs Pictures

[Man in Black]

It took me long enough to get these processed, but they are not too bad from the nosebleed seats.

Charlotte vs San Antonio

Time Warner Arena - Charlotte, NC

2010

And as usual you can see the whole gallery
with the original image sizes at my gallery at the link below...

imageevent.com/afap/photographix/sports/spursvsbobcats
























The REAL KING!






The Bobcat... thing

[Jason]

I love the bubble chat you threw in. Haha.

Great pics, even fron nosebleed. That's where I was at the San Diego game. Didn't get many good ones.
In the second picture, is Ginobili shooting? Or getting a rebound? It looks like he's shooting, but his hands are in an awkward position.

[Man in Black]

Ha, that's funny you asked that. That one I know he is shooting, but there are some that I took really tight on the action and I can't even tell who was on offense... I didn't upload many of those.

Ginobili is one of my favorite players because he plays like I used to. No form whatsoever. He can take 10 shots and none of them look anything alike. That's the way I would shoot. I learned like that from being so short and still having the attitude that I'd take it to the hole on you even if you were 10 feet tall. I bet his style happened the same way... only he was MUCH better at it.


On another note, I'm proud of those pictures because it's so hard to take telephoto shots inside in dark gym like that. There are so many manual adjustments you have to make with my Nikon to get the grain and blur out while capturing enough light. These are the first ones I've been comfortable and confident while doing it. They are not masterpieces but they are sort of a personal milestone for me with a professional camera.

[Jason]

I never played basketball on a team, but I was usually pretty good as a kid. My form felt natural when I shot, and it helped for hitting baskets.

Those pictures are good. I'm no expert, but I know I could never take photos like that from so far away. I wouldn't have guessed you were in the nosebleeds until you mentioned it.

[Man in Black]

Thanks, but I'm sure if you wanted to and worked at it you could do it too. That's all it is for me. I just want to do it really bad so I keep learning and working at it.

The next ones will be even more fun. I used the Amazon gift card Marii gave me for Christmas to get a new 2X Teleconverter for my zoom lens. It's a 200 power lens and the converter doubles whatever you add it to. It will be hard to get moving shots at that extreme zoom but I'm excited for the challenge.

[Jason]

Speaking of photos, my brother took some of the mountains I was telling you about, and I'll probably post them, here. I took one, myself from the roof of my house, but I didn't like it, so much.

[Man in Black]

Cool mountains... I replied there as you already saw....


Long winded story alert...


The key (in my opinion) to shooting a basketball has much more to do with your form and/or body movements than your vision. You should only use your eyes to get your body in the position you want, never use them to sight the basket like a target. Good shooters take advantage of muscle memory.

We tested this theory pretty well once. I have a really good friend (moved away ) who was blind in one eye. He was a tremendous athlete and had a great game. He was about six-two and seriously strong. He could literally jump over my head with me standing up straight. We played together for many years in a couple of leagues and one day he asked me how I shot 3 pointers and free throws so well. I thought about it and didn't have a good answer.

So one day we went to the gym by ourselves to figure it out. I told him to just get on the free throw line and tell me what he was doing and thinking and I'd try to help. He was trying to line the basket up with his good eye. I told him immediately that this had to be his biggest problem because things appear at different places with your head and eyes in different locations. He had no stereo vision.

So then I got up there and we analyzed my shot. I realized that I didn't use my vision at all except to get to the line and set up my feet. I was using muscle memory... as I basically paid no attention to the basket with my sight. It was then I knew we could fix his shot.

We put him back up on the line and I told him to just start throwing it up in the way that it felt the best to him and then try to repeat the motions of the ones that went in. We did this for a couple of hours and no kidding from that day on he was nearly as good a free throw shooter as I was... and I'm not bragging but at that time I shot about 98 percent on a bad day. He even started hitting some 3 pointers in games and he'd never even try them before. It was pretty cool to see him do it.

[Jason]

Now that you mention it, it feels true. I have very bad vision, and in baseball, I was never able to hit the ball very well. But in basketball, I had a pretty solid shot. My Dad and I actually went over pretty much the same thing you did with your friend when I was a kid, about shooting. I told him that I get a feel for the ball and invision how I should shoot it before I do. it usually worked, but I was never a 98% free throw shooter.