Guest Blog from Maui Part 1
This week UNC photography Karl Weatherly will be offering his insight on the games in Maui.
The Lahaina Civic Center seats only 2,400 but feels even smaller. The first thing you notice is how loud it is and how close the fans are to the floor. One entire side of the arena appeared to be clothed in sky blue except for a small group of Chaminade fans who stood up the entire game. I'm sure the Carolina fans behind them were not pleased.
The Nike rep asked me to get a photo of the cool UNC warmup shirts that were made just for this tourney with a nice Hawaiian print. I would kill for one of these. Other than the NCAA Tourney and possibly the ACC Tourney if you go to only one tourney in your life, make it the Maui Classic. The combination of a tiny gymn, 3 games in 3 days win or lose and the gourgeous island of Maui make it very special. The normal TV camera position is always from high above the court. Photographing the game from the baseline gives one an entirely different viewpoint. You get a true sense of the players size and speed being only 5 feet from the court. And the view is looking up instead of down which compresses the perspective. It is almost scary being that close to the action but exciting as hell. When the action is on your side of the court it is the best seat in the house. It will be interesting to see how UNC does against OR and the highly touted Pac-10. Aloha from Maui.
Karl Weatherly
You can check out some of my photos at
www.karlweatherly.com
