Ocotober 2012: Freedom Belles Rooky Mixer Double Header

 If there was ever a day when one had to choose between a roller derby bout and a hurricane, the October Freedom Belles bout was on that day.

Of course, since it was a double header, the choice was obvious. Even if NoVa had to share a bunch of players to make full teams.

I think I should experiment taking pictures of the backs of skaters a bit more so I can string together a better narrative. I never have the names of the away teams handy.

It was a really interesting bout with excellent photography conditions. I took 3000 photos. Of course, I only kept 250 and only 50 or so are even worth sharing.

If you look closely, not only do you see an abstract photo of skaters setting up a rink, but the overhead lights in the arena were two different colors. This foiled color accuracy in about 30% of the photos I shot. If someone looks a little pink, it's because the light over head was a little pink too. It was also a smidge brighter there than at Dulles Sportplex. End result: lots of well exposed photos.

This is a photo of an artificially pink person.

Doom socks.

Dominos.

I'm not sure if Johnny is messing around or if he's trying to hit the wall feet first.

The jammer is, I think, Booba Fette. She has the best Killing Face of the whole bout, reliably displayed in every jam.

Dogpile.

Windup for a whip.

I like this one because of what all the skates are doing. The black pivot's trucks are sunk down to the plates (a tad too loose?), the front black blocker is full up on her toe stops, the white blocker is really mid lunge, and the white pivots... maybe missed the whistle...

A jammer and opposing blocker make eye contact.

Pain oreo.

I normally try to frame skaters looking into the frame. I think going into the burst of photos Catz was looking into the frame. Then he took a hit. Now I think he wishes he was looking into the frame.

I'm pretty sure that's not a legal hitting zone.

Yup. Totally bogus.