Mad Rollin' Dolls: Flat Track Roller Derby. Feb. 14, 2010

I shot some roller derby photos at the Coliseum in Madison today. I've been photographing the Mad Rollin' Dolls off and on since 2004. Like many action sports, derby is quite challenging to shoot. The usable indoor light is very low which makes autofocus fairly slow on my Canon 5D. The maximum sync speed I get is 1/160 sec. which does not always freeze the action. To get an adequate amount of light-I mount strobes up on the second level of the arena and fire them remotely as well as using an on-camera flash for fill light. Unholy Rollers skater Rita Slayworth at the line.
A jammer for the Paper Valley Roller Girls racks up points. Reservoir Dolls jammer Charlie Hustle.

The photo gallery is online at: www.th-photo.net/Dolls/2-14-10/

Reservoir Dolls team photo shoot (roller derby)

I had such a blast on Saturday! I photographed one of Madison's best derby teams at my studio and hung out with 20 kick-ass derby girls! After the shoot we headed to the cinema and the Mad Rollin' Dolls set up a booth and introduced the movie Whip It. After that, we hung out for a few hours at the lounge in the theater. What a great day. Here are a few shots from the day.

Roller Derby photos: Feb. 1, 2009

MADISON, WI - FEBRUARY 1, 2009. Mad Rollin' Dolls roller derby league plays its second bout at the Dane County Memorial Coliseum. Final scores were as follows: The Reservoir Dolls, 73; Quad Squad, 68
The Chicago Outfit, 100; Unholy Rollers, 52

Mad Rollin' Dolls vs. Mile High Club (Denver)

Photos from May 31, 2008 bout. Used 3 strobes for lighting this time. The rest of the shots from the bout can be seen here.

Dairyland Dolls team photo

Yesterday, I snapped a few team pics for the Dairyland Dolls who are the league's traveling team. One 640 w/s strobe on full power through large softbox. Canon 5D body with 16-35mm lens at f/9.0.

Favorite shot from the February bout...

After much deliberation, I've decided this photo of Unholy Roller "Jewels of DeNile" is my best from the bout. 85mm lens, overhead strobe plus fill flash.