Things I learned from photographing the bike show

I spent the better part of this weekend taking photographs at the Great American Motorcycle Show. Here is what I learned:

• Concert photos come out looking really bland when there’s no lighting.
• It’s a pain in the ass to shoot someone standing behind a mic stand.
• I wish I had 6 ft. stilts so I could be even with the stage.
• For shots of people up on the stage, I could really use an 80mm lens for close-ups.
• It’s damn near impossible to get a good picture of a snake as it strikes at 200 mph.
• When taking pictures of a live snake show, I resort to the “spray & pray” method of shooting.
• My Canon 50mm lens takes amazing detail shots, but it’s very difficult to keep things at multiple distances in focus.
• Taking photos of all the bike comp awards probably isn’t going to do me much good if I can’t match up the builder with the bike.
• Doesn’t matter how much they tell me they want them, overview shots of the show rarely look good because it’s tough to get an overview with a strong focal point that doesn’t make it about that focal point rather than the overview.
• With so many people asking me if I’m selling copies of my photos, I need to come prepared next year to do just that.
• Must get faster at lens swapping. Or get an assistant.
• I HATE manual focus. When I’m looking in the viewfinder and focusing, something may look perfectly in focus, but then when I take the shot, it’s all blurry. That makes no sense!