Click here and go vote for this pic now!
My wife is becoming a photographer extraordinaire. I have always had some form of a Nikon 35mm SLR camera and she has had some variation of digital camera. We both converged on wanting a digital SLR (DSLR). Last spring, we broke down and bought the Nikon D50 and agreed, it was “our” camera.
It ranges from fully automatic to fully manual and anywhere in between. We opted for the D50 because it works with the lenses we already own and the D40 does not. Otherwise the D40 and D50 are the same camera. She has just taken off with it and is really learning how to set the exposure and get some excellent shots.
We were at a gymnastics meet this weekend and this is a sample of one of her shots, it’s of a friend of ours named Ashley who is on our girls team. I suggested that Mary submits some of her photos to JPG magazine and she has done just that.
Go here and vote for her pic, the more votes she gets, the more likely it is that this pic will make it into their magazine. So, please vote. It’s free and it’s just for fun. She will be submitting a photo or two to our local newspaper.
She has unofficially become the official photographer for the local YMCA and they used one of her pics of a local 5k run on the front page in the past month or so! Very cool but they didn’t give her credit, which was a bummer, it just said contributed photo. But, my point is, she’s getting into this and is really doing well.
Technorati tags: gymnastics, photo, jpgmag
I always give the conditions that any photo I take of an event can be used with a.) my specific permission, b.) letting me know where (and how, digital, print, etc) the photo will be published and c.) that I get credit with at least my name, and preferably a URL. And it doesn’t matter how “small” the publication is. I landed a photo in an evangelical newsletter in Zimbabwe this month. Who knows what the reach of that is? No matter. All those conditions still apply.
By the way, nicely exposed shot.
You should buy her the 18-200mm VR lens. 
(Or get the 55-200 VR if you are on a budget.)
I said “event” which is what I tend to shoot. But what I should have said was “any photo of anything”.
David, Jim didn’t mention that it was our local paper that didn’t credit me. I sent some photos today of this weekend’s meet and told them to credit me. We’ll see how that goes.
The problem with photographing gymnastics is that it is a low-light, action sport and you’re not allowed to use a flash for safety reasons. Since most gyms have lousy light it’s not easy to get great action shots. I was using Jim’s old 50mm f/1.2 lens for this one. I had to set everything manually so I could catch some decent shots. I got a few shots of other girls that were decent but not any mid-action shots of my girls. I have one photo with a friend’s daughter in mid-backhandspring. It’s not as sharp as I’d like but it is still okay. Her mom (a former professional photographer) likes it so that means a lot!
I love catching the action shots! It’s a challenge that is very rewarding.