Off Topic... Sanderson of Utah wins Olympic wrestling Gold!

[Dan Smith]

Cael Sanderson, Heber City, Utah, 4x NCAA wrestling champ, 4 outstanding wrestler at the NCAA tourney, 159-0 in college, just won the Olympic Gold in his weight class in Athens. Cael is an artist, though not a photographer. An artist on the mat as well. Congratulations to him & the USA wrestlers.

[John Kasaian]

Dan,

Is it true the wrestlers from Heber City, Utah refer to thier shorts as "Heber Creepers?" (I couldn't resist that!) My congrats to Cael & all the atheletes!

[Andre Noble]

I saw that. He's an impressive wrestler, I felt sorry for his opponents.

I am much more inspired by Hicham El Guerrouj's 1500 Meters and 5000 Meters double gold medal performance after 8 years of trial and tribulation.

He's the best middle distance runner since Sebastion Coe.

The passion, courage, and faith El Guerrouj showed throughout is career is something that we as photography niche enthusiasts can draw upon for inspiration.

(I would have given anything to be there to photograph him on both homestretch duels)

[Lars Åke Vinberg]

Wow, this thread is really off-topic! Anybody care to bring it back in to LF-related?

[Ralph Barker]

Just for you, Lars . . .

I was rather disappointed by the whole thing. I didn't see a single photographer using 8x10 or larger there. Harumph! ;-)

[Merg Ross]

Also for Lars,

"I have not been to a track meet since the days when I wore spikes. My distance was the century and I was better than average: built for distance with the necessary nervous energy, I might have, under a wise coach, developed into championship timber. I held for some time the Junior record for two laps at Central YMCA, Chicago. I dreamed and lived on the cinder track! But photography entered in and my track days were over."

Edward Weston, 1928

[Lars Åke Vinberg]

Thanks guys! As for myself, I have spent most of the last two weeks (during the Olympics) _wrestling_ with scanning 8x10 transparencies on a Microtek 1800f.

[Chad Jarvis]

During the US-Greece men's basketball game last week, I saw a guy at one end of the court shooting with a 4x5 Graphic of some sort.

[Bruce Watson]

You are right - that's way off topic. Can he wrestle a LF camera into compliance?

[Dan Smith]

How about this. I wrestled at BYU. I know his dad from the wrestling days at BYU. I photograph wrestling for some of the papers here & will photograph Cael with the 8x10 & print a pt/pd (and an Azo in Amidol) for him & his family. I photographed him at State tourneys when he was in HS.

Or, how about Rulon Gardner being told to put away an American Flag he & his family were being photographed with at historical sites in Greece, while a bunch of rowdies were hanging a 35 foot communist banner? They started hassling him, including a greek cop & Rulon & his training partner, Dremiel Byers(also former hwt world champ in Greco-roman wrestling) backed down the crowd. Photo related... hassled for taking photos. Though he was the "large format", not the camera.

[Sergio Caetano]

Hang Lee Lu, chinese from Kung Bum province, 25 miles from Dum Xu hills, southeast from Bu Kan, won the gold medal of Tae Kuon Do . It is great, isn't?

[Ole Tjugen]

How 'bout this attempt to get back on topic:

Of the 6 medals (5 gold, one bronze) won by Norwegians, 4 were won in various boats. Through trial and error, I've found out that the best camera to bring with me when sailing is - the Voigtländer Bergheil 9x12cm from 1934!

The stabililty of a LF camera wins over the convenience and speed of a 35mm, and the negative doesn't have to be quite as pin sharp since the enlargement is so much less. I'm thinking of putting a tripod head on the camera for a little extra weight...

[Bob._3483]

... and, six of the nine Great Britain gold medals were won sitting down... (horse, various boats and cycling)... And, (tenuous link coming up) I spend a lot of time sitting down while waiting for the light to change when making photographs... Gosh, I feel so proud to have contributed in such a major way to the athletes' successes.

Cheers,