Well, I've been away with my family on vacation the past few days. They went to a lake in NorCal and hit up the water sports. Since I could wakeboard or tube, I figured I'd become the photographer. Anyway, here's some shots of the weekend. Hope you all enjoy!

You mean you couldn't wakeboard or tube, right? Leg is still recovering?

The photos are nice. Crash ones are fun, but I like the one of the guy on the tube the best. His face is great. Looks like he's not quite sure whether he's having fun or not. I like the color in that one, too.

No wakeboard photos? I shot wakeboarding once. I have some friends who run a wakeboarding school and they paid me to come out to the Delta and shoot for a day. It was a fun day and I enjoyed shooting wakeboarding. I think it's a cool sport and great for photos. It presents some interesting problems, with the water and boats. I shot from the back of a boat. We had two boats and I was going to shoot from a different boat until the second one died. Shooting from the back of the boat is comfortable and focus is simple. But the lack of creative angles is a bit frustrating. Since then, I've found that some pros shoot from a tube being towed behind the boat. That way they can use flash and a wider lens and be more creative. I've wanted to try that, but don't have an underwater housing.

You gonna try it again? Maybe get some boarders or skiers? It's a mellow way to spend a day, for sure.

John, thatnks for proof reading. You're right...still recovering. The surgeon said, today, that I could stop wearing the robot like brace, to expect swelling for at least 2-4 more weeks, and I could "test the waters" with driving my Jeep. :) I asked about riding, shudder, a roadie and he laughed. Said at least a month or two more before I could venture into those waters.

You sound a little disappointed. I have skiing and wakeboarding shots. The tube shots you like is my dad sporting "the boys tat". We all, my dad/brother/and I, got our coat of arms tattooed on our arms a little while ago.

Here's some more shots.

And a few more: You guessed it, the last one lost his shorts - one hell of a tube ride!

I'd like to try it again - especially since my 1D will be here on Saturday. :) Unfortunately, I am not sure it'll happen anytime soon. I actually went shutter happy. I took 1100 frames in about three days. I was trying a new 4gb Transcend CF card.

It was nice to be able to photograph the family. The silhouette skier is my mom and the last tube crash in the first set is my mom. I'm pretty lucky to have a young family!

I'm really looking forward to the Dew Action Tour coming up in San Jose. I got credentialled, so I hope to have some great shots!

Them are some great captures ... I used to tube and ski, never did any wakeboarding .. then it became too hard to get any use out of the boat time wise .. so we sold it:(

Tube wipe-outs are great to capture .. always alot of great expressions on the rider too...

none of our group did any wake-boarding we were just skiers and tubers ... 1 buddy was a barefooter ...

You have some great shots there ... I am sure you have alot more in the 1100 :thumbsup:

watersports are fun cause there is something to do for everyone ... really drains the energy out of ya though ... hard to believe a hard 15 min. ride on a tube can totally drain your energy !!!

Yeah, 15 mins is a kick *ss work out. My dad used to barefoot and my brother actually wanted to try it this trip, but wakeboarding ended up getting the better of him. In the pic where he's holding his head, he'd just face-planted pretty hard trying to do a 180*.

This was the first year I've ever sat out of the water sports. It was really hard for me! But, atleast I got to do what I like and take a crap load of pictures.

Nice Pics.... I love the shots with experssions. I think that photos with people's expressions are the best. Captures the "moment" and the "thoughts" of people.

Cool shots! Which lake is that? It looks lkinda like Anderson but the shore doesn't look quite right.

Also, how'd you get credentialed for the Dew Action sports tour? I'm still debating if I want to go or not, but almost all of my friends arent interested in those type sports.

no pics of the boat doing the work ????

Scott, it was actually Clear Lake about 4 hours north of Santa Cruz, a couple hours north of Santa Rosa. Usually, they go to Pedro but they ended up renting a house onteh lake this year. My fiancee and I got to go for a few days escape. I PM'd you about the other thing.

Nope, no pics of the boat. It's a 19'0'' Four Winds open bow (white and blue).