It’s Got To Be The Shoes.

This was a popular Nike commercial in the 1990s starring Michael Jordan and Spike Lee as Mars Blackmon. Blackmon asks Jordan what makes him so great and repeatedly asks him if it is the shoes. Jordan just replies, “No Mars.” This may be my new reply when someone says that my sports pictures are a lot better since we got our new Nikon D3’s at the paper.

Sure, the camera is awesome and the image quality of the pictures is a lot better, but the comments come from sports assignments that I have lit with strobes. These assignments, mostly basketball or wrestling, always looked good, even going back to my Kodak DCS520 days. The comment also diminishes the efforts of the operator, namely me. I am the one with the timing and that is very important since with strobes you basically only get one shot and then have to wait for the strobe to recycle. I am the one composing the shot. And I am the one who decided to use the strobes to begin with.

The comments only seem to come after an assignment that I have lit with strobes. Since we got our new cameras I have bounced back and forth between using strobes at games and shooting with available light. The awesome D3 gives great results even when the ISO is jacked up to ISO 4000. These shots are usable in the paper and actually look pretty good, but they lack the pop and sharpness of a well-lit shot.

I guess my point is, it is not the new chisel that the artist used to create the masterpiece that made it great - it was the talent and vision of the artist. I really appreciate the new camera and it does make it easier to shoot in tough conditions, but lets not forget the artist.

1990's Nike commercial.