Find out whicn leg of tne relay he will run, that will determine where to set up. The exchanges are a good place to capture the action.

With the other races, you'll want to set up as close to facing the finish line as possible. Catch him coming over the final hurdle and leaning for the tape at the finish.

You'll want to shoot with the fastest shutter speed possible with the big zoom. To capture the runner's full body, shoot in portrait orientation.

If you're lucky, your runner will be in a heat other than the first, so you can practice on the prior races and make adjustments for his race. You could also get a second opportunity to shoot him if he makes the finals.

I'm heading over to Williston, ND to view the Upper Missouri Camera Club's annual show. I just found out about it, so I won't bave anything entered. I do plan to find out more about the club, do some networking, and maybe join.

I'll take the camera along and maybe shoot some oil drilling rigs, rural churches and old homesteads along the way.

The point I was trying to make was being professional in any field isn't necessarily measured by your income. The "wedding photographers" who have caused many headaches chronicled in other threads here may get 100% of their income from photography, but looking at their work you'd hesitate to call them "professional photographers".

So if the doctor who treats me has substantial other income, he's an amateur doctor?
:-D

I wish I had been there. I'd love to take my 16 year old nephew (who lives in Minnesota BTW). He's a huge Yankees fan. He and my brother, who's also a Twins fan saw the last major league game in the Metrodome 2 years ago when the Yankees beat the Twins in the one game playoff.

You got some great shots Matthew. Even with a 300mm zoom, you must have had great seats too. I'm not a Yankees fan (Go Twins!) but I'm still jealous. :)

We artistic types are all pretty passionate about everything we do I think. It can be both a blessing and a curse. Don't think we need to get the government involved though because they'd want to set a 3 day waiting period before you can post. LOL

Thanks Newfie...I decided to just take down what I wrote earlier.

Screw it, if I can't say something nice, I'm just going to keep my mouth shut!

I'm not a professional photographer. My day job is working with my voice as a radio air talent and voice over artist for radio & TV commercials. My rule of thumb there is I will donate my time to organizations who do work that I support, but if they have a budget for paying vendors on a project, then I expect to be considered for a paying gig.

When I donate my time to a non-profit organization, I'm also not shy about asking for a receipt for an "in kind" donation for tax purposes and to be listed in any advertising for an event as a donor to the event. That's never been a problem.

Donating my time and expertise is sometimes as important as donating cash and I usually seem to have more time than cash anyway.

One last thing, even lawyers do pro bono work from time to time!

I bought an inexpensive set of close up filters through Amazon and use them with the Nikkor 18-55mm kit lens on my Nikon D3000. They're good enough to experiment with and get a feel for macro photography.

I shot the attached photo with the 10x filter. The background is simply poster board that I purchased at the drug store. Lighting was with a aluminum fixture designed for heat lamps in a chicken coop that I got at the local farm co-op.

For the education of myself and others posting here, feel free to add some constructive criticism.

I'm thinking a monopod will be helpful in keeping your photos sharp. It will be especially helpful when you're shooting with that zoom at 300mm.

Don't discount the photo ops around the static displays. There will be all sorts of interesting colors, angles and reflections as well as some real characters on the flight line.

I've given my photography talents at my church and to my Knights of Columbus Council.

Last month I donated a small framed photo to the local Ducks Unlimited silent auction. I had an ulterior motive there, I wanted to see how my work would sell. I didn't set any auction records, but I learned from the experience. I would gladly donate photos to another silent auction if I agreed with the work of the sponsoring organization.

I plan to get involved with 4H in my county as a volunteer photography leader. My first experiences with photography really came about because of the 4H program. If anyone else is interested, this link should automatically bring up your state 4H office in the USA, with a menu to find your local County Extension Service: http://www.4-h.org/get-involved/find-4-h-clubs-camps-programs/ In other countries, just Google "Find a 4H Club [insert country]"

See my answer in the other thread you started.

Looking at it from the point of view of the birthday party dads, if I looked up and saw a guy with a camera, high up as Dietxanadu said (not sure if that meant he climbed into a tree), I might think he was some sort of pervert who liked to take pictures of little boys for purposes that aren't exactly pure.

And taking pictures of someone who's made it clear they don't want their picture taken is not a good idea. You can't make anything from the sale of those photos unless you're a working journalist and the newspaper, magazine or website you working for is paying for them. If you can't sell the photos, how are you going to pay for your medical bills when you get the crap kicked out of you and the guys who did it are unemployed and judgement proof?

Just my 2¢ worth.