April 30, 2020 at 4:14 p.m.
Weather helped create special shot
Photo Focus
Weather helped create special shot
Editor’s note: Sports editor Chris Schanz has taken thousands of photographs since starting the summer of 2013. In this “Photo Focus” series, he will take a look back at a handful of his favorite pictures and describe the story behind them.
••••••••••
One of the downsides to sports during spring is the unpredictability of the weather.
The temperature could be below freezing one day, then doubled the next, or more reminiscent of summer months. Each of those can happen within the span of the same week.
Spring showers tend to make the season more difficult, forcing the postponement or cancelation of games. A couple years ago, Jay County High School’s softball team had the first 10 games on its schedule either postponed or canceled because of inclement weather.
While cold temperatures, wind and precipitation make games or meets difficult for the athletes, the situation is difficult for those of us who have to cover said events.
Personally, I don’t mind being out in rain or snow, but when I have camera equipment I have to protect as well as paper to keep dry for my notes or stats I’d rather be somewhere else.
Rain and snow, however, can make for some excellent pictures.
April 6, 2018, was one of those days.
The Fort Recovery and South Adams track teams were participating in the Celina Relays at Celina High School, just a few blocks from where I live.
At the start of the meet, athletes had to take shelter from constant rain. At a football field, it’s a near impossible task. Students and coaches were huddled under the bleachers. An overhang near a storage building was jam packed with athletes, coaches and spectators seeking reprieve from the rain.
After about an hour, the rain subsided, although the chilly temperatures did not. High winds made the evening even more difficult for runners. It aided the long jumpers and short sprinters. (With the wind at his back, Fort Recovery’s Jared Timmerman set a career best in the long jump at 19 feet, 3 inches.) But anyone who had to run a lap or more around the track were greeted with gusts in their faces while on the backstretch.
As freezing as I was that day because I was slightly underdressed for the rapid changing of the weather, I was able to go the short distance home to warm up with some coffee and a change of clothes.
As the meet was winding down, precipitation again began to fall from the sky. But because of the dropping temperatures on that Friday night, it wasn’t rain.
It was snow. At a track meet.
Despite the challenge and slight nervousness of shooting sports in the rain — I tend to concentrate more on keeping my equipment dry than making photographs — precipitation can aid in making some spectacular pictures.
Stopping action at the right moment to get an awkward facial expression or the exact moment of a collision creates a great photograph all by itself.
Freezing a moment of precipitation adds another element.
It gives the viewer an idea of precisely the conditions the day or night presented for these athletes.
One of those final events of the night was the 4x100-meter relay. As expected, Fort Recovery’s male quartet was the top seed.
They were coming off a season during which they placed eighth in the Division III state meet as underclassmen, and finally as upperclassmen they were ready to make a bigger splash.
(They went on to finish fourth in the state finals.)
Owen Moorman began the race and passed the baton to Jared Timmerman for the second leg. Timmerman handed off to Brayden “Butch” Schoen, who then gave the baton to Robby LeFevre, the fastest sprinter in FRHS history.
On this night in particular, the Indians were leaps and bounds faster than any of the other five teams in their heat.
With 20 meters to go, the closest runner to LeFevre was a boy from Parkway, and even he was 40 to 50 meters behind.
This “Snowy sprint” photo shows LeFevre blazing down the front stretch, no one nearby, with the precipitation perfectly stopped in action.
It’s not a picture many would expect to see from a track meet. The weather that night was more suitable for skiing than a track meet.
But the stop action of the snow falling with LeFevre leaving everyone else deep in the distance was exactly the type of photo needed to tell the story of that night.
It encapsulated at least two things: the uncertainty of spring weather and just how dominant the Tribe relay was with LeFevre on it.
••••••••••
One of the downsides to sports during spring is the unpredictability of the weather.
The temperature could be below freezing one day, then doubled the next, or more reminiscent of summer months. Each of those can happen within the span of the same week.
Spring showers tend to make the season more difficult, forcing the postponement or cancelation of games. A couple years ago, Jay County High School’s softball team had the first 10 games on its schedule either postponed or canceled because of inclement weather.
While cold temperatures, wind and precipitation make games or meets difficult for the athletes, the situation is difficult for those of us who have to cover said events.
Personally, I don’t mind being out in rain or snow, but when I have camera equipment I have to protect as well as paper to keep dry for my notes or stats I’d rather be somewhere else.
Rain and snow, however, can make for some excellent pictures.
April 6, 2018, was one of those days.
The Fort Recovery and South Adams track teams were participating in the Celina Relays at Celina High School, just a few blocks from where I live.
At the start of the meet, athletes had to take shelter from constant rain. At a football field, it’s a near impossible task. Students and coaches were huddled under the bleachers. An overhang near a storage building was jam packed with athletes, coaches and spectators seeking reprieve from the rain.
After about an hour, the rain subsided, although the chilly temperatures did not. High winds made the evening even more difficult for runners. It aided the long jumpers and short sprinters. (With the wind at his back, Fort Recovery’s Jared Timmerman set a career best in the long jump at 19 feet, 3 inches.) But anyone who had to run a lap or more around the track were greeted with gusts in their faces while on the backstretch.
As freezing as I was that day because I was slightly underdressed for the rapid changing of the weather, I was able to go the short distance home to warm up with some coffee and a change of clothes.
As the meet was winding down, precipitation again began to fall from the sky. But because of the dropping temperatures on that Friday night, it wasn’t rain.
It was snow. At a track meet.
Despite the challenge and slight nervousness of shooting sports in the rain — I tend to concentrate more on keeping my equipment dry than making photographs — precipitation can aid in making some spectacular pictures.
Stopping action at the right moment to get an awkward facial expression or the exact moment of a collision creates a great photograph all by itself.
Freezing a moment of precipitation adds another element.
It gives the viewer an idea of precisely the conditions the day or night presented for these athletes.
One of those final events of the night was the 4x100-meter relay. As expected, Fort Recovery’s male quartet was the top seed.
They were coming off a season during which they placed eighth in the Division III state meet as underclassmen, and finally as upperclassmen they were ready to make a bigger splash.
(They went on to finish fourth in the state finals.)
Owen Moorman began the race and passed the baton to Jared Timmerman for the second leg. Timmerman handed off to Brayden “Butch” Schoen, who then gave the baton to Robby LeFevre, the fastest sprinter in FRHS history.
On this night in particular, the Indians were leaps and bounds faster than any of the other five teams in their heat.
With 20 meters to go, the closest runner to LeFevre was a boy from Parkway, and even he was 40 to 50 meters behind.
This “Snowy sprint” photo shows LeFevre blazing down the front stretch, no one nearby, with the precipitation perfectly stopped in action.
It’s not a picture many would expect to see from a track meet. The weather that night was more suitable for skiing than a track meet.
But the stop action of the snow falling with LeFevre leaving everyone else deep in the distance was exactly the type of photo needed to tell the story of that night.
It encapsulated at least two things: the uncertainty of spring weather and just how dominant the Tribe relay was with LeFevre on it.
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