Wednesday, January 31, 2007

A New Dawn in Beaverton

I packed my SB-800 strobes and remote Pocket Wizards to shoot a game at Beaverton High School last week. When I walked into the Beaverton gym, I couldn't believe my eyes.

Beaverton opened its doors to students in 1902. It is the oldest school in the Beaverton School District...the oldest in the Metro League. It has been through several remodels over the years; the facilities are a mixture of historic and modern. Despite its age, the gym did not lay claim to having the worst lighting in the district...ironically, the District's newest school, Southridge, holds that honor. Beaverton has a low ceiling, and I have had some luck bouncing my strobes off the ceiling to add just enough light to capture the action, but not so much as to give the photos a heavy flash look. That was to be the plan de jour. However, when I walked into the gym with its newly installed lighting, I first instinctively reached for my sunglasses, then I put aside my strobes and enjoyed shooting under the best lighting in the Metro League.

Metro League rival, Jesuit High School, also installed new lighting this year, greatly improving its dungeon-like gym lighting. So come on Southridge, shine some light on that back-to-back state championship girls basketball team.




1 comment:

Roland Simmons said...

Maybe I should stick around town and shoot some Metro League games. Good stuff.