Lilgirlbigcam goes to London

  It has been a while since my last post. I apologize I have been working so hard to save up for my trip to London to watch the Olympics. We booked our accommodations a little late, but managed to score some tickets to the Men's Beach Volleyball, Women's Team Table Tennis Final, and Men's 10m Diving Semifinals. This is my first Olympics and I am looking forward to taking photos and exploring the beautiful city of London.

  Before the trip, I did some research on camera equipment requirements. London posted regulations on large photographic equipment which explains: "You are allowed to take camera phones, compact cameras and DSLRs into Olympic and Paralympic venues, as long as the equipment fits into a bag no bigger than 30cm x 20cm x 20cm.  Also, it did state you can bring a medium size bag that would fit under your seat.  I happen to stumble upon a post from MCP Actions and saw this backpack. It is the Tenba Vector Daypack 2 which I thought was perfect and purchased the bag in red.  I manage to fit the following items:  Nikon D3S, Nikon 24-700mm, Nikon 70-200mm, Teleconverter 1.4, PowerGen Mobile Juice Pack (charges any cellphone and Apple products), Memory Cards, Laptop, Cords, Adapters, and Batteries. There are tons of pockets for your small misc items.  It even has a rain cover.  The dividers are detachable which makes it easy to arrange your equipment.  I am loving it so far!  I have been going through the x-rays with no issues.

  We arrived in London on Aug 4th and will be staying for 10 days. We decided to go in the 2nd half of the events. We had to make it in time for the Women's Marathon and the Men's Marathon which is on the last day.  The Women's Marathon was held on Aug 5th and since this was a free event, it was a great opportunity for me to take some photos. It rained majority of the time, but that did not stop me and other spectators from cheering these amazing athletes on. The first place finisher was Tiki Gelana, Ethiopia, 2nd place Priscah Jeptoo, Kenya and 3rd place Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova, Russia.  The US runners Shalane Flanagan placed 10th and Kara Goucher 11th. Here are some photos from the race.

  What a great way to start off my first Olympic experience! I will be posting more photos of the events, so stay tuned.  Check out my FB fan page and Instagram - lilgirlbigcam in the meantime.  Cheers!  

Sports Sundays: Chicago Fire vs Columbus Crew 6.23.12

 What an exciting back to back win at home for the Chicago Fire last night against the Columbus Crew. The Fire's teamwork led them to victory and of course, another amazing performance from their Goalie Sean Johnson. Sean Johnson had 8 saves! The game was so exciting that I seriously wanted to put my camera down to cheer. But I wanted to photograph Sebastian Grazzini, because this was probably his last game. Grazzini had an outstanding game! He assisted a goal made by Dominic Oduro in the 25th min. The first goal was scored by Marco Pappa 2 minutes into the game. If you missed this game, watch the highlights here.

  Here are some highlights of the game. I recently just purchased a Nikon AF 1.4x teleconverter and tried it with the Nikon 400mm f/2.8 lens last night. It was like having a Nikon 600 mm f/4. Actually it was really close I was shooting at 550mm f/4. You lose 2 stops when you add the teleconverter. The 400mm is much easier to carry than the 600mm, although I can barely carry the 400mm.  I was getting the stares and comments that the lens is bigger than me, hence the name lilgirlbigcam.  

Our fav Mascot - Sparky

  Pappa and the gang celebrating his amazing goal. (It was a little smoky since someone lit a smokebomb where I was shooting). 

  Gonzalo Segares received a red card when he slid into Columbus’ player Kevin George.

  Grazzini making a pass to Oduro for the Fire's 2nd goal.

  A few of Sean Johnson's saves...

  For more pics, please visit my gallery on my fb fan page. 

Sports Sundays: Chicago Fire vs New York Red Bulls 6.17.12

  What a beautiful sunny Father's Day at Toyota Park where the New York Red Bulls took a beating from the Chicago Fire 3-1.    

  Here are some highlights of the game.    

  Chicago Fire fans are the best!

  Bad call after bad call...yellow cards flying all over the place! 

  But the best part of the game were all the celebrations!

 The amazing goalie Sean Johnson! 

Keep it up Fire! 

Family Portrait Session: It's Game Time!

   Meet PJ, Michaela, and Darren. PJ and Michaela are big Chicago Bulls fans and they had asked me if I could take their family photos on the basketball court.  Of course, I said YES! 

Before we headed to the gym, we stopped by a few places in their neighborhood.  

  We got to the gym and it was time to play ball! The family sported their Chicago Bulls gear and Jordan kicks.  

  The best part of the shoot was when Darren came running to me to give me a hug. What a sweetie! Thank you PJ, Michaela, and Darren it was such a great and fun shoot!

  In a few days it will be Darren's Birthday.  Happy Advance Birthday Darren! Hope you had a fun time hanging out with me. I definitely had a blast photographing you!