Under Perform Under Pressure

Well there's a title that doesn't inspire confidence, I guess I should elaborate quick before I lose my fan base.
This happens occasionally, a parent will come to Debbie or I and either point out or describe their athlete for us, then follow it up with can you get a good picture of my daughter? When we first started shooting events and this happened, I would be like a guided missle from that point on, until the athlete in question was no longer a target. I would try and track them around the entire venue in an attempt to make sure I did not miss "the shot". The inevitable result of this? I ended up missing shots of other athletes while being preocupied with the target. When the time came to get "the shot"?...

I was so ramped up trying to get the cover shot that the resulting pictures were less than remarkable. Now, when this happens I will explain that I do my best to get as many great pictures of all the athletes that I can. I will also try not to fixate on any one athlete, and remember what we are there for, to get the shot's so the parents can enjoy the show.
This works perfectly right up until it comes to my kids and step kids. The problem?...well part of it is the same thing that all of the parents experience while watching their kids, we're too excited watching them to really worry about capturing a great photograph. For me there are a few other reasons, but the main reason I can't get a shot that I'm happy with? I've already made plans for those great shots. A few years back I got this great idea to give each of the four kids a poster print of themselves in their respective activity. The posters have been perfectly conceived in my head now for quite a while, but not one image has been made to fit into that pre-cut space. We have a lot of awesome shots of the kids, one has even been published in a magazine.

Sorry kids, no posters yet.

I should probably lay out the morale here, I guess that would be, sometimes you need to sit back, turn on the auto pilot, and let yourself do what it is yourself knows how to do, whether it's photography, brain surgery, or parenting. Well, maybe brain surgery doesn't fit here. The real problem above isn't that I'm too excited about getting the shot, it's that I'm worried I will miss the shot.
So for my choice from the favorites this week.
Again, the shots with the flag in the background always seem to find their way to the top of my list. There were quite a few from the state meet, I went with this shot because of the angle, the pose, the concentration, the flag, all around I really enjoy this photo.If this is your gymnast let me know and I'll send you a 5x7 print of the image. If you know who it is let them know they can get a free picture.
Thanks for reading everyone, please let me know if you have any comments or questions. Oh good news too, I met another person that reads our blog, so I think we may be into double digits now.