I photographed a table tennis demonstration a little while ago and it really pushed my gear to the limit. The gym was relatively bright but I still had to shoot at iso 4000 at f/2.8. This gave me a shutter speed of 1/640 sec which I found to be about the minimum for this sport. At this speed the players could be captured quite sharply but still gave some motion blur during faster movements (which I am a big fan of). It is surprising how fast some of the action can be in such a small space.

This demonstration took place in Pleasanton in association with the Tri-Valley Table Tennis Club. It featured?Coach Hu Xiang, Coach Aaron Hu, and Ariel Hsing. Ariel, pictured above, is only 13 but she has already been selected for the?2009 US National Team. More photos after the jump…

Well, it’s been a pretty miserable couple of days for the Tour of California bicycle race. The rain has often been heavy and the temperatures cold. I staked out a spot on Highway 35 just past the Tunitas Creek Road. The rain let up to just a drizzle as they came through. I was really happy about that as the rain cover I have for my camera really annoys me. When they were a couple minutes away I pulled the cover off and stashed it in my pocket. If Think Tank comes out with a cover that fits the 70-200mm I will be all over that.

I was amazed at the crowd turnout this year. People braved the heavy rain and the cold, umbrellas at the ready. Crowds last year were ok, but nothing close to the numbers this year. There are more big name riders racing this year, but maybe it’s just the Lance factor that explains it. ?At any rate, it is good to see this level of support for bicycling. I was sad to see that Toyota was absent this year. I really wanted one of those red cowbells…

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The lead group had about a 4 minute lead after the climb. ?The main group was a sea of fast approaching rain coats. I think Lance was somewhere near the back at this point, no way to pick him out.

The mass of support vehicles follow. By the way, you can catch a glimpse of the road here and all the trees. This is a really beautiful road for biking or going for a drive.

This is the first time I’ve heard of Team Type 1. Eventually they plan on having a team ready for the Tour de France. Check them out here.