Malice in Derbyland - Rollerderby Exhibition

We were handed a pair of free tickets to see 'Malice in Derbyland', a rollerderby game (match? exhibition? what the heck do they call them?) being held in Calgary this past weekend, and so off we went on Saturday night, not really knowing what the expect. If you pictured girls on rollerskates going around in circles, you've hit the mark. But you have to also add in that the girls really ham it up for the crowd in their cheesey to the point of being tacky outfits and player names, and that they are unrelentingly vicious towards their opponents during the match. I can't begin to count how many times girls were sent flying off the track by merciless hip and shoulder checks, with the crowd shuddering in unison as they landed on their knees, elbows, wrists, and occasionally flat on their backs. The meaty thuds and entangled mess of limbs that accompanied these not so graceful landings made you grimace, yet you couldn't peel your eyes away, as you watched wondering if the latest blow was enough to actually injure or not (thankfully, none were).

I stupidly brought a manual focus 58mm prime lens to the event, and so had a hell of a time trying to get anything in focus. Eventually, I gave up trying to pan with the action, opting instead to pre-focus to a set area, and when the girls would come screaming through there, I'd snap away. I shot at a fully wide open f/1.4, whose limited DoF made focusing even that much harder to nail.