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Thursday, February 4, 2016

View Award Nominee Profile- Dustin Mack- Photographer

Photo by Casey Lemay
I've taken pictures at about 11 events this year. I try to take some at every event I got to, though some are obviously easier than others.

I'm honestly not sure what I keep in mind when photographing, if there even is anything. I feel like I've got my timing down pretty well to capture combat, getting a shot just as a sword connects or an arrow leaves the bow.

During tournaments, one of the biggest challenges is positioning in a way to keep marshals from getting in the way. I know them seeing the fight is more important than my picture so I do my best to work around them. At quests the challenge comes from staying alive while taking pictures. And of course there is the challenge of taking pictures that can compete with what the other photographers get :)

Off the top of my head, one of my personal favorites was from Tournaments of Creathorne maybe 3 or 4 years ago. There were some people throwing a hula hoop in the air and trying to shoot arrows through it. Bean comes over to give it a try and I got a picture of the arrow just as its going through the hoop.

For advice, I'd say just grab a camera and get shooting. I don't use anything fancy, right now I just have a Nikon Coolpix. Practice timing your shot. We all know combat is very fast, sometimes a fight is over before you can aim your camera. I try to be prepared from the moment the fight is starting and will wait and follow the competitors until I see a sign the one is about to strike.


 Photos by Dustin: