Profesional Paintball! NPPL Commanders Cup (15)

[Jimmyhickey]

Way to mess up the spelling of "Professional"
sorry about that...

Hrmm well this was the first time I have had the opportunity to take photos at a national paintball event, so I was really excited to get this opportunity. I know I find it difficult to try and get the shots that no one has seen before because after a while, all paintball shots look the same. So I tried to put some originality into a fair bit of shots, a long with the large amount of your mediocre "here's a paintball player playing paintball shot" I didn't capture anything really amazing this weekend, but I feel I did get a fair amount of decent stuff.
So anyways, here are a few of my favorite shots from the weekend, I spent a lot of time and money on these and I would greatly appreciate some review from other photographers.
Thanks
1
http://www.jimmyhickey.net/photos/228918263-L.jpg
2
http://www.jimmyhickey.net/photos/228918501-L.jpg
3
http://www.jimmyhickey.net/photos/228926701-L.jpg
4
http://www.jimmyhickey.net/photos/228942162-L.jpg
5
http://www.jimmyhickey.net/photos/228903342-L.jpg
6
http://www.jimmyhickey.net/photos/229001489-L.jpg
7
http://www.jimmyhickey.net/photos/229005807-L.jpg

[Jimmyhickey]

8
http://www.jimmyhickey.net/photos/228903971-L.jpg
9
http://www.jimmyhickey.net/photos/228917853.L.jpg
10
http://www.jimmyhickey.net/photos/228932185-L.jpg
The night games where challenging...
11
http://www.jimmyhickey.net/photos/228945786-L.jpg
12
http://www.jimmyhickey.net/photos/228942871-L.jpg

There was a lot of other photographers there...
http://www.jimmyhickey.net/photos/228924295-L.jpg
http://www.jimmyhickey.net/photos/228921711-L.jpg

And of course Gary Baum
http://www.jimmyhickey.net/photos/229025687-L.jpg

Both Saturday and Sunday albums
http://www.jimmyhickey.net/Paintball

Thanks! sorry for posting so many...I just got carried away

[TopGear1Ds]

LOVE the shot of the guy reloading his hopper. That one really stands out to me. (maybe number your shots so it's easier to comment). Great action!

[Jimmyhickey]

Thank you and thanks for reminding me to do that:) they are now numbered.

[rhyno]

did anyone try to shoot the train, jk

[ootsk]

I think they're great photos. Sharp, clear, and some different angles and points of view make them winners.....

[IBLinKYI]

Fantastic shots! I enjoyed them a lot.

[Dan-o]

Very nice.

[DwightMcCann]

Now that I have caught my breath from laughing at my friend and paintball shooting mentor Gary let me say that I love #13 of the 'togs! No amount of explanation of your intent will mean anything to anyone who hasn't done this and for those who have no explanation of your intent is required. I would urge you to put a little commentary with each image ... if you know who they are or what was going on or why you felt ones posted stood out from ones not posted, etc., to bring a little depth to the characters you portray, like with Paintball Gary Baum ... you do know he tortures children as a profession? Anyway, nice stuff!

[hawk911]

Love #2, 4, 6. the paint spilling out of the hopper is really cool.

[pbpancho]

I was talking to you on Sunday, in the PB2X shirt. You got some nice shots, but now the photos aren't loading and your Smugmug is reaaaaally slow.

Did you happen to get any of Air Assault Factory? Jerseys looked like this:
http://www.mnpig.com/minnesota/paintball/tournaments/2007/nppl/kansas_city/pictures/page2/IMG_6296.jpg

[Jimmyhickey]

Ah yeah good to hear from you, I remember. Anywhoo, I noticed my site was kind of slow lately too, try double clicking on the thumbnail. My NPPL albums have had a ridiculous amount of views though, so perhaps that has something to do with it. Even though SM offers 1pb :/

And ehh I don't think I got any pictures of you guys, sorry:/ I might have got one of you taking pictures though I'm not sure.

Thanks :)

[michael_]

urban warfare at its finest i love it

[bigfredtn]

How do you keep your gear from getting hit?

[Jimmyhickey]

How do you keep your gear from getting hit?

lol you get hit a lot:confused::D

I got shot more this event taking pictures, then I did last season actually playing the event.

[MNEEME]

GREAT PHOTOS! As a player, I would love to have photos like these. Keep it up mate.

[Anke]

Great series, Jimmy. One question though, how difficult is it composing your shots through one of those masks you have to wear?

[kozmix]

Great series! Must be tough to protect all the equipment, but i'm sure the end results justify it.

[Livinthalife]

lol you get hit a lot:confused::D

I got shot more this event taking pictures, then I did last season actually playing the event.


LOL!!!!

Nice pictures! Love the reloading, and the silhouette.

[drandtus]

Great series! I love #12 and #1 is a friend of mine, so that's very cool!

[Jimmyhickey]

Thanks everyone:)
Dantus, I guess the guy in #1 is a popular guy, I've had multiple people say they know him:p

Great series, Jimmy. One question though, how difficult is it composing your shots through one of those masks you have to wear?

It is fairly hard to actually see through the viewfinder with a mask on, I have cut off countless legs and messed up the horizon on many a shot because of this, but for the most part it's not too different from shooting without a mask on, and you don't even notice it after a while. But I find for the first 10-15 minutes it feels sort of unnatural.

[drandtus]

He played on an x-ball team at cup with us. Supercool guy. And his last name is Chronic.:D

[NZDoug]

WOW!!!
These are fashion shots!
Kinda a cross betwixt motocross and Hezbolla...
WILD!

[linty]

Seen your photos on pbn, these look much improved from what you had started off with. keep up the good work

[Obey]

#4.

[Jimmyhickey]

Thanks Linty...it's good to hear I have been improving, I feel this stuff is a lot better then when I first started, But still a long ways off from what I want. Hopefully when I get a camera that can actually handle movement ( I shoot a sony A100 with Minolta 80-200 2.8 and it has a really hard time tracking movement) I'll be able to get some better motion stuff.

Ah yeah Brad I took #4 through the legs of a ref, I did a few other ones like that, never tried it before, but I'm happy with the results.

[rockfordhx]

Loving the shots, I have been debating on taking my equipment out to the fields, but I would hate to get paint on my stuff.

#4 looks great but could use a bit more cropping
#8 is my favorite

[kyleturbo]

I am planning on taking some paintball game pictures this weekend. I see everyone is wearing masks. I would think it would be sort of a pain to look through the view finder with a mask on. ....then again a paintball in the eye sucks too.

Any special care for the lenses to keep from being hit by a paintball? Or do you just stay out of the way.

Nice pictures!!!

[DwightMcCann]

I am planning on taking some paintball game pictures this weekend. I see everyone is wearing masks. I would think it would be sort of a pain to look through the view finder with a mask on. ....then again a paintball in the eye sucks too.

Any special care for the lenses to keep from being hit by a paintball? Or do you just stay out of the way.

Nice pictures!!!
My experience is that you MUST wear a mask or the games won't start or at least the Refs will yell at you. Of course, if you're not at a park/field but just running around in the woods I guess you can risk your vision for the rest of your life.

Well, Gary believes the best pictures are taken from within the line of fire but he no longer has any feeling left in any exposed parts of his body (as a result of sky diving and rock climbing) ... you might consider not using a fisheye from 2 feet (Gary's favorite) and go with a 70-200mm which is much, much more common ... also note that Gary has a 300mm f/2.8 so if things get stingy he can move back ... way back! :-)

[PaintballPhotography.com]

Greetings Jimmy, I am sure we must have meet at the event…Great pictures if you want media passes for any upcoming events please PM me ….

I have not posted anything here for a while…all the magazines are keeping me super busy

Yes Dwight is correct to get good paintball photos you really need to stand right in the line of fire
http://paintballphotography.com/Public/Photos/Kolohebreak.gif

If you are worried about damaging your equipment in paintballphotography then you will never get any good photos as Dwight mentioned…believe me he has some experience with damaged “equipment” of his own at a Spyder Cup;)

If you find these images disturbing then you should shoot another sport.:cry:
http://paintballphotography.com/Public/Photos/Tampa%20NPPL%20lens%20hit%20.4.gif
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/701/biggamejicamerahitbx5.jpg
http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/2724/brokenfiltergorankoyd5.jpg
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/3451/1dmark2hitlv3.jpg
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/5894/BrokenFilter7-16-05.jpg

Gary
www.paintballphotography.com

[DwightMcCann]

Gary, My Man! My second 1DMIII and second 70-200mm f/2.8L IS should arrive tomorrow. Lord I wish I wasn't so busy shooting for money ... I need to try paintball again, sigh. See ya' on the flip side!

[Disclaimer: the "equipment" of mine of which Gary speaks that was damaged shooting paintball was 'private parts' not camera equipment (which I protected with Kata Raingear) ... and all because Gary forgot to mention that I should wear a cup!]

[TomTomTuning]

Id be pretty upset if my camera got hit with a paint ball..

I remember i was taking pictures at a girls softball game, and dont you know .. I was behide first base and the girl missed the ball.. It hit my 100.00 tripod and bent the leg.
I was pretty up set.. but i got over it.

Great pic's by the way

[2JZ-GTE]

Very nice shots.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/zakeatsfood/a1.jpg

Theres one of me getting blasted but its an amazing shot. A friend of mine took it this past summer, he uses a nikon d80 though.

[Jimmyhickey]

That' cool, good timing on your friends part, I am yet to capture that great of a splatter, although gary Baum seems to be the king of those, hopefully with my new MK II I will be able to accomplish those shots:)

Thanks Gary, I'll be sure to contact you...I really want to try some PSP events next season.

[PaintballPhotography.com]

Hey Jimmy PM me....the next PSP is in March

Gary

www.paintballphotography.com

[DwightMcCann]

Very nice shots.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q147/zakeatsfood/a1.jpg

Theres one of me getting blasted but its an amazing shot. A friend of mine took it this past summer, he uses a nikon d80 though.

This is great! Caught the barrel, too.

Gary, Camera and lens arrived. My first body is back at Canon for the sub-mirror fix.

[willy b]

6 is brilliant, but all are very sharp, good lighting etc...Noting wrong with any of them i don't think.

The course/pitch looked a little boring, tis all about the natural course/pitch

[McBride61]

WOW all those shots are awesome!!! Sorry for your lens man...

[Jimmyhickey]

Thanks guys, I'm a big fan of #6, but that wasn't my lens, it was Gary Baums:P I'm lucky, 3 direct lens shots to date and no broken glass:)

[PaintballPhotography.com]

Yes I am the only one who seems to get lenses damaged….I must be doing something wrong:oops::rolleyes::p:oops:

[DwightMcCann]

Yes I am the only one who seems to get lenses damaged….I must be doing something wrong:oops::rolleyes::p:oops:

Karma from torturing all those children! :evil: