OK, so the motto of this blogsite is ‘It’s only rock ‘n roll (but I like it)…’, which could of course mean it should feature just music related photography. But then again, rock ‘n roll is as much about music as it is about not being fenced in. So as my photographic mission for this year I’ve decided not to fence myself and my photography in either and to broaden my horizon! And as it happens, there are actually lots of things out there that might not be directly music related, but are just as much about the true rock ‘n roll spirit as music can be…
Last weekend, a trip to Amsterdam to see a mixed scrimmage of the Amsterdam Derby Dames (ADD) proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that it doesn’t get much more rock ‘n roll than Roller Derby!
One of their players (who’s also a good friend and allround great person), ‘Dirty Job’, wanted me to come and give derby photography a try for quite a while already… It took me a while, but I finally managed to make it to one of the ADD sessions. Only to reach the conclusion that I should have done it much sooner! I’m afraid the roller derby virus has managed to nestle itself inside me already, hehe.
For those of you not familiar with the sport I could try and explain everything about pivots, blockers and jammers right now, but think I’ll do that sometime later. But let me tell you right now that this sport is as much about the thrill, the excitement, etc. as it is about the empowerment of women. The women involved in roller derby don’t just do the sport, but they ARE the sport. They don’t just participate, but also organise everything from training sessions, matches, global networking, right up to promotional activities. Cool!
Roller derby is a full contact sport, but great attention is paid to fair-play and protection. The refs play a very important part in this.
As an added bonus, a team from national television (from the programme ‘De Week van Filemon’) also visited the mixed scrimmage session. As I’m writing this, the programme didn’t air yet, but hope it will do soon. Looking forward to that, but especially looking forward to my next time at a real roller derby match… Can’t wait!
Huge(!) gallery after the break…
Not 100% happy with the shots yet (far from actually), as I’m still on a learning curve to get to know how to shoot this sport and the light in the venue also basically was too low to get the shutterspeeds I needed and for the autofocus to function properly… But then again as a series, I think the shots are cool…
Enjoy the photos!
Hey Dennis,
Thank you soooooooo much for coming out to our scrimmage and taking these awesome shots!! I love the blog too. You really get the feeling of derby across!
I hope you get a lot of people enthusiastic for this awesome sport of ours.
See you on the 25th!
Furrrocious
Hey Furrocious, like I already said on FB, it was a real pleasure to be there
Can’t wait for the 25th! Grtz, Dennis.
Woah! Good work Dennis. Photos are great. How did you like shooting derby? I’ve been going to bouts here for two yearrs now (I think) and have always taken my camera, flash is still unfamiliar terrority for me I’ve only used it once. Good sport though.
Thanks a lot Charlyn!
Totally loved the experience and definitely want to do more roller derby photography! Your cool derby photos have also inspired me to give it a try…
Of the three derby events I have been to now, this was the one that was lit the best. Lots of derby photographers use strobes on tripods (taking care of course to hinder no-one). See http://www.flickr.com/groups/rollerderby/ for examples (the discussion also has a lot of info on using flash).
The AF hunting for focus is apparently to be expected (I am not just a beginning derby photographer, but also a beginning photographer, so all I know about what to expect is just what I have read about (indoor) sports photography).
Thanks for the link to the flickr group!
Will have a look at the photos and try to learn something from the discussion…