Triathlon

Today I shot the start of the Chinook Half 119.1 Triathlon at Lake Midnapore in south Calgary.

It's been a while since I shot a sporting event. I used to shoot a bike race or a triathlon nearly every weekend when I was part of that scene in Toronto. It definitely brought back memories of early morning starts along with the beautiful early morning light. A couple of friends were participating in today's event, so I tried to pay attention to where they were in the pack so I could grab a few stock shots.

Then, this afternoon I attended an artist's market at the Carpenters Hall in Kensington. I bumped into a few of my former ACAD students (Amy Wakefield, Heather Reinhart, Pat Wong and Aimee Qiu) and it was from talking to them and seeing their work, that I was inspired to play around with my triathlon shots in Photoshop, as they just seemed so plain and ordinary. Not that I wanted to fix them, I just felt the urge to be creative in a different way than I normally am.

I'm usually the type to shoot a photo the way I want it to look as I have little experience in "Photoshopping" those artsy effects I love so much. Truth is, I had never actually tried. So, armed with layer masks, blending modes, and some experimental brush techniques, I came up with a few "sketches". I must say it was quite liberating and fun to be painting on my photographs. I shall definitely keep experimenting.