Photography is Kind of Physically Demanding

Two warriors sparring.  The "Chinese" or "Mongolian" wrestling.  "Shuai Jiao"

This is the third or fourth time I felt exhausted after shooting an event.  The first was the Red Hook Crit in Brooklyn, the second time was the Red Bull mini velodrome and the third was the UCI downhill in Windham.  I can understand why some people opt for the smaller sized mirror less cameras.

For most of the shots I took.  It was done with the following:-

Nikon D700, with battery.
Nikon D700 motor drive, with battery.
Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 VR with hood.
CB mini bracket
mini ball head for attaching the flash
Sunpak 120J with 4 AA battery cells and Paramount household sync cable to the D700
Sunpak TR-Pak II and 6 sub-C pack, power cable to the flash, mostly sat on the floor.

I was holding this rig on eye level most of the time from 10AM  to 5PM.  And toward the end of the day, my wrist was hurting my right rib cage was hurting, my neck was hurting.  And my right eye eyesight wasn't getting any better.

Every shooting experience is somewhat unique.  Shooting cycling, especially in the velodrome is somewhat predictable as they almost always come back to you.  Shooting downhill is like "once in a life time experience, hey it is gone it's not coming back."  Tennis and martial arts are somewhat unpredictable.  I guess if you are familiar with the Kung Fu form routine then it helps.  I am not familiar with the routine.  Composition and focusing are always a challenge when subjects move and move fast.