...bowling for good of the many?

Had a really nice change of pace today, my first sports-related assignment for nearly a year now... was shooting the Canon Charity Bowling Challenge 2007 today.

In all honesty, I have only ever been on a bowling alley about 3 times before and not even once did I play, all I did was look and that it was. So, this was a really eye-opening experience for me in terms of how and what bowling is as well as how to shoot bowling.

Just a little bit of background, this bowling competition is organised by Canon Marketing Malaysia as part of it's 20th anniversary celebration. Proceeds from this event is to be donated to the TAR College Student Loan Fund and the Multicutural Ladies' Association of Kuala Lumpur... both worthy causes. Each team is to contribute RM1,000 and the team consists of a team of four and a national team bowler was to join each team during the competition.

Right... let's cut to the chase and talk about shooting bowling. First of all, I found out soon after I tried to shoot people bowling that my angles were limited as all the lanes were used and the only place I could stand were the 2 walkways on the side of the bowling alley leading towards the back.

Would a tele-zoom helped me in shooting bowling? I would say, "Yes"... it will something like a 70-200 would be quite ideal.. but the aperture on those lenses would be quite limiting. The bowling alley isn't too badly lit but it isn't as bright as daylight either, I was shooting at ISO1600, F/2.0 and 1/200s; with a F/2.8 lens, I would've to drop my shutterspeed to 1/100 or use ISO3200... both of which is not an option.

Technique-wise, keeping a focus lock on the player that you want to shoot is actually very difficult as there is just too many distractions behind the bowler as the entire place is packed with people.

Anyway... there is so much that I have learnt today and I guess it's time for me to digest all of it.