Tasked with a Photo Shoot at the BMW Dallas Marathon! Yikes…

I love it when I get to try something new with my camera! This past weekend, I had the opportunity to photograph my nephew as he ran the BMW Dallas Marathon.

I was so excited to give this a shot. I had never photographed anything like this before, so I carefully packed my backpack and made sure I had every lens I thought I might need.

Since I’m not a runner, I didn’t know much about marathons and how they worked, but I did know that on TV I had always seen huge crowds – of both runners and spectators.

I wasn’t sure how this was going to work. How was I going to pick my nephew out of the huge crowd of runners? Would I see him in time to capture some good photos? Would there be too many people surrounding him and in the way of my shot?

Yes! There were tons of people everywhere! And yes…there always seemed to be someone in the way of the shot. Either another runner, or another spectator cheering on someone running the marathon.

My sister was so excited that I was there to take photos of her son, so I was hoping that I’d get at least a few good pictures for her. The pressure was on to pick the perfect spot to catch a glimpse of my nephew coming around the bend at just the right time to get the shot.

Easier said than done… At the 8-mile mark, our first stop, my nephew was suddenly about 15 feet away from me before I even noticed him! Darn! Didn’t get a shot of him looking.

It may have been because I was so totally distracted by all that was happening around me. So many interesting outfit choices for the marathon – not spectators – – runners! A few examples below!

So we packed up and moved on to the 16-mile mark. Did much better here! It wasn’t as crowded, and the runners doing the 1/2 marathon had turned off, so the crowd of runners had thinned out quite a bit.

By the time we made it to the 25-mile mark near the end of the marathon, I had it all figured out! I was able to get several great photos of my nephew running. Phew…

What a fun day! Wonder what’s next? Maybe a cycling race? Mountain climbing? Who knows… Can’t wait for him to tell me what he’s training for next so I can start planning my photography adventure!

Way to go, Travis! We are so proud of you.

Until next time…