Photographing Paintball Competition

Today and tomorrow (which is Saturday and Sunday) I was very lucky and thankful for given a chance to cover an event in Bukit Jalil called the Independence Cup of Paintball Competition. It was the worst job I had so far to maintain this photography hobby of mine. For a fact the air gun they used can shoot 10 pallets (their bullets) at one second burst. And the pallet went out at amazingly around 100m/s speed.

Given a media pass I set out scouting the girls, and the area in general (hehe). Just making a full use out of it. Whats wrong with that eh? Anyway the field is fully covered by netting till height around 6 metres or so. So in order for me to get a good photo we (me and other 3 photographers) were allowed to go in on any field (there were 3 fields) to cover hundred of matches. Did I just say 100s? Maybe a little less.

There were around 30+ teams if not mistaken with Philippine, Indonesia, Iran, South African and others joining our 20 local teams fighting for the cup. Things that I learn today. Where do I start. Bring cap to cover the head. Well wearing a mask is a must on the field. But the top level of your head is not covered. So being unlucky today, I got hit just above my mask with some misguided missile while taking photos. Now I can see clearly the lebam and benjol. Added to that, while wearing safety vast like those bullet proof, I managed to get shot at the side of the vest leaving me a good circled mark with blue red color. So thick cloth might help eh.

Conclusion of the day, new experience, learning new things, snapping sport photos are not easy, learning about paintball, girls team can beat boys team – possible 100%, got hit here and there, rain is enemy for outdoor picture but overall very tiring but yet really rewarding.

If you people interested to see paintball in action, please come behind Stadium Hockey Bukit Jalil. Fun stuff!

A sample of the many shots I got from today…

~ oleh ampin di Ogos 25, 2007.