Capturing the Champs with Alex Grace of Graceful Images

I recently attended a workshop & was asked to bring along things that inspire me. I took images from magazines and the web, copies of paintings and lots of other things.

The only down side of the weekend, was that we were in a location with no cell coverage or internet.

I mention this because... during my ride home, my phone started chirping away that I had messages, one of which was from my friend Alex Grace of Graceful Images. I called him back and he told me his big news that he was pursuing his dream of opening his own photography studio. I was so excited for him, because I know he had the drive to make it happen and the talent to see it through.

Alex hates when I say he is young but to me he is. In my eyes he will always be that kid that pushed out of his comfort zone because he loved photography so much he couldn't imagine not moving forward with it.

We met in Las Vegas in 2010 at Photoshop World

and stayed friends, sharing ideas and chatting about photography throughout the year.

This year we got to hang out together again at PSW.

The thing that has always struck me about Alex is that he works hard to get where he wants to be, educates himself and settles for nothing less than working toward being more than just an ordinary photographer, pushing to be exceptional.

Hmmm. So when I thought about what inspires me... I thought of my pal Alex and asked him to share some of his awesome action swimming photography and a bit of himself as well. Enjoy ~ Trish

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Wow, my first guest post on someone else's blog! Very exciting! I'm a portrait & and commercial photographer/graphic designer from Scottsburg, IN.

I met Trish at Photoshop World two years ago and she has graciously asked me to write a guest post for her blog about my swimming photography!

Capturing the Champs

I've been shooting the Scottsburg Swim Team for over three years now. I was only sixteen when I first asked Jason, the coach, if I could take some pictures of my friend Jess during practice, he responded "I don't care, just don't get in the way."

I started small, just taking a few shots here and there during practice, always making sure I wasn't in the way. The one advantage I had then was the fact that I was the same age as most of these kids. I made some really close friends, and even Jason started to warm up to me. The more comfortable they (and their coach) got, the longer I stuck around.

With the large amount of time I was spending with them I finally started getting some great shots. The second year my friend Brooke's mom asked if I wanted a ride to the sectional meet,

I excitedly said yes.

That night I got some of my best pictures so far:

I was happy, but not content with those shots. They were just too far back, I needed more reach!

The next year I made a deal with a fellow photographer exchanging some assisting time for use of a 70-200 2.8 lens. Now it was on! I went to the Warrior Invitational

& got more of the kind of shots I was looking for:

The team was thrilled with their pictures, and their huge trophies from winning both boys and girls for their one home meet. A month later the boys & girls teams took conference titles again!

Now we're all awaiting another exciting season of Scottsburg swimming! The team is wrapping up their fall sports, and are going to start conditioning next month. The coach is getting in his hunting trips before the season begins. They'll make a run at continuing their domination of the Mid-Southern Conference

and I plan to be there to record it!