Over the weekend I went to a swim meet with my camera. Swim meets are good to practice photographing because:

1. You have to not only be quick with your finger, but you also have to practice anticipation and timing. Swimmers only breathe every so often, and unless the swimmer’s face is out of the water then it’s a boring picture.
2. A wide range of emotions are present. Nervousness, excitement, determination, disappointment…it’s all there.
3. A lot of swimmers like being in the spotlight; they aren’t camera shy.

That being said, I shot old friends but I went to the meet to shoot emotions.

Johnny, looking over a list of his opponents’ seed times:

Daniel, after gaining a couple seconds on his personal best:

Jamie after being told that he dropped 10 seconds (!) off his previous personal best: