Dave Albo laps field when it comes to masters track shots at LSU

Dave’s shots of “Grandpa” Bell are as historic as M95er.

Dave Albo was among the youngest M60s in the 400-meter dash at LSU nationals. He squeaked into the final with an eighth-place 68.85. In the final, Ben James won his 5,000th national one-lap title at 58.43 with Dave nearly 10 seconds behind at 68.12. But Dave’s shutter speed and masterful eye made him a champion at Baton Rouge. And he went home not to rest his bones but exercise his editing and posting skills. On Tuesday he shared a stellar set of William Bell vaulting at 95. He said he posted them on Facebook “just because,” stealing my trademarked excuse for anything. (You’ll be hearing from my lawyers, Colleen Barney and Rita Hanscom.) But maybe not. He might already be a Colleen client (judging from photo). In any case, here’s a case of an artist whose skills absolutely improve with age. Can’t wait to see Dave shoot at 70 and 80! Order some prints from him. And see my bonus Q&A:

Kudos to Joy Upshaw for this shot of Dave (with vest inside out) and her Joy’s Jack Rabbit teammates Gabrielle Johnson (left) and Colleen Barney.

Masterstrack.com: How many shots did you take at LSU?

Dave Albo: Just under 8000 images.

How many are you posting for sale?

Just over 800 images (so far, could easily double if there is demand).

What lenses did you use?

I shot exclusively with a Sigma 150-600mm super telephoto and a Nikon D500.

How many hours were you shooting?

It’s hard to remember, I think I averaged 5 hours a day, so 20 hours total.

Any water or humidity damage to bodies?

No damage, but when I first took out my air conditioned equipment, it immediately got a lot of condensation.

Any other interesting things happen while shooting nationals?

Of course I missed about a million great moments. Shooting is a lot like competing. I want to do my best — it is not a given that I will physically be able to perform (shooting while roaming around with a supertelephoto is physically demanding), so I make sure to enjoy the experience.

I was able to get it done this time around, which felt good. A technical detail is that I switched from Adobe Lightroom to Capture One Pro 10 for processing, and the latter is a lot faster, which is good when you are editing 800 shots.

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July 18, 2017

5 Responses

  1. dave albo - July 20, 2017

    Thanks Ken, I appreciate your entertaining and informative post here. To let people know, I’ve now finished my ‘first round’ of uploads to my website and am slowly working through some requests. I feel pretty happy when someone asks for something, and I actually have it.

  2. louise guardino - July 22, 2017

    My thanks to Dave Albo for some terrific shots. (yes, I bought some). I was able to see the action I missed or had long distance view of. I also saw how it was that Paula Dixon Taylor’s arm got broken when she fell in the 100m.

    I like both the action shots and those of the athletes off the field – celebrating or relaxing.

  3. James Malin - July 22, 2017

    I false started in the short hurdles (65-69), but was given a warning and a second chance. I REALLY appreciated it, and although I fell over one hurdle, I still managed to get a bronze…something I would not have if I was DQ’ed..Thanks officials

  4. SimonM - July 23, 2017

    Few people can match Dave’s unbounded enthusiasm for the sport. He trains like a sprinter, but his photographic work requires extreme endurance! Probably some mental/physical coaching tips to be revealed there.

  5. Gary Dixon - July 27, 2017

    Where can I order hammer and discus photos?
    Nevermind….I can answer that myself.

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