emotions running high

On Saturday at the 2008 Canadian Championships, four titles were at stake. The senior pairs, senior men, senior dancers, and junior men all skated their free programs. The day was exciting, emotional, and definitely quite long. I didn't even stay for all of the junior men - I conducted some interviews during their free skate, but I was just too tired to stay for the rest of the competition, especially since I knew I had to be at the arena before 9 the next morning. Still, even just seeing three events wore me out! Here are highlights from the senior pairs and senior men, the first session of the day.


I don't remember much about Becky Cosford & Brian Shales' program, except that I think it was pretty decent, but I do love this shot. They moved from 12th up to 8th with this. 8th in this program, 8th overall. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


Jessica Dubé & Bryce Davison were supposed to win this title easily - they were the defending champions, and the only Canadian pair team to have made the Grand Prix Final this season. They'd already beaten one of the top teams in the world at an early international competition. But mistakes in the short program left them in 5th heading into the free, a particularly difficult position, since that meant they weren't even in the final group of skaters. But Jess & Bryce are certainly fighters, and they skated a beautiful program that brought the audience to its feet. Although they finished second overall, it was only by a fraction of a point, and they went on to win the bronze medal at the World Championships in March. 1st in this program, 2nd overall. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


Jessica Miller & Ian Moram are one of only three teams in the world that consistently try a quad throw, plus they have great lifts. This is their double twist, which got great marks, since she gets a lot of height and has a nice, tight position in the air. 6th in this program, 6th overall. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


I just love a good reaction photo! Here, Meagan Duhamel & Craig Buntin are absolutely thrilled at the end of their program. As a new team, they had a lot to prove at these championships, and they really lived up to the hype, earning a spot on the World Championship team. 3rd in this program, 3rd overall. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


Joey Russell won the junior title two years ago, and has had a pretty decent transition to seniors. I love the position he gets here. 8th in this program, 9th overall. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


Ken Rose had an awesome skate here - no major mistakes, and he skated with a lot of energy. This was snapped just as he finished his program. 4th in this program, 7th overall. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


I have such a soft spot for Shawn Sawyer, since he's a nice guy and always stops for a chat. I think I told the socks story a few blogs back. He definitely earned his "you rock my socks" socks with this program, which vaulted him back to the podium. He was 3rd in 2006 (and went to the Olympics), but had finished 4th last year, and when he was 6th in the short program this year, he knew he needed a big free program. I think this was the landing of his final jump. The best part about this picture is that he skated first in the final group, so at this point in time, he had no idea how the others would skate, and whether his effort was enough for the podium or not. He was just thrilled with the skate itself. 3rd in this program, 3rd overall. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


Fedor Andreev, arguably one of skating's most attractive men, had taken time off from the ice for a few years to model and race cars and be in movies, and who knows what else. He'd only been training for a few months when he arrived at the Canadians in Vancouver, and no one expected much from him. This program wasn't as solid as his short program, but it was enjoyable - and he sure does know how to make skating look great. I hope he'll be back again next year. 11th in this program, 8th overall. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


Unfortunately, Chris Mabee didn't have the best free program, and couldn't match his silver-medal-winning performance from last year. He's such an entertaining skater, though, and a classy guy - he skates at countless club shows throughout the spring every year, and also does speaking engagements. 7th in this program, 5th overall. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


There were so many wonderful moments in Vancouver that week, but this was probably the most incredible of them all. Patrick Chan, a 17-year-old from Toronto, has been talked about for a few years, but in his prior two performances at Nationals at the senior level, he's been inconsistent. This year, though, he was flying high off a great fall season, and he brought a clean triple Axel with him. This program is impeccably choreographed to Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," and although he's young, Patrick is such a musically mature skater. With every jump he landed, the crowd got a little louder, and by the time he got to his final elements - his straightline footwork and final spin, the audience was louder the music, and people started standing before he even finished. This is a championship skate that's going to be remembered for years, and I don't think it will be Patrick's last, either. 1st in this program, 1st overall. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.

And because I love reactions:

In an interview the next day, Patrick said that one of the best parts of his program was getting to fist-pump when it was over. He'd never had the chance to fist-pump before.

Next time: The rest of Saturday's action - the senior free dance.

the third day

Day 3 at the 2008 Canadian Championships featured short programs from the senior men, senior pairs, and senior ladies. I think that the junior ladies skated their free programs first, in the morning, but my friends and I opted to walk around downtown that morning, where we took a copious amount of photos with the Olympic countdown clock.

Still trying to get the settings right on my camera, three days into the competition! I like very white ice in my photos, but this was making the skaters practically glow-in-the-dark, so I had to settle for grey ice on the raw images, and then a bit of photoshopping to get the colours balanced the way that I like them. I have quite a few photos to share from this day and I'm putting them all in one post, so I'll quit the chit-chat and get to the pictures.


One of the things I love about Canadians is discovering the lesser-known competitors that don't usually get shown on TV. Ian Martinez was a great discovery this year - he skated with such energy and was obviously having a great time on the ice. He was also a big hit with the schoolkids in the upper bowl. 9th place. 1/160, f/2.8, ISO 400.


Last year's junior champion, Jeremy Ten, is a hometown kid and had a lot of pressure on him, since he was involved in a very competitive fight to make the World Junior team. Unfortunately, he didn't skate as well as he was expected to, but he is a very musical skater with a good spread eagle, as pictured here. 14th place. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


This is officially one of my favourite photos from the entire season. I've always wanted to get a great split jump photo, and this moment from Shawn Sawyer's short program was my first. I wish his eyes were open, but I guess I can't be faulted for that! 6th place. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


I was so excited to get two split jumps in a row - this is Chris Mabee in a Russian split jump, but unfortunately, you can see that the camera crew from CBC was given priority over the photographers, as they were on a platform above the judges, and therefore, in our sight lines looking towards the opposite end of the rink. It was so frustrating! 3rd place. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


Jeff Buttle (who became a World Champion this year, two months after these championships!) is not the most photogenic skater - lots of open-mouthed, eyes-closed, occasional snot-flying moments in his programs. However, he does have an extremely photogenic entrance to his triple Axel. 1st place. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


Here's a neat double-image of Meagan Duhamel & Craig Buntin's double twist from their short program. It's a lateral one, which is very difficult and fairly rare, even among the best teams in the world. The most impressive part is that Duhamel & Buntin have only been skating together since last June, and before that, Duhamel had not skated pairs at all since January 2006. Look at how clean their catch is, and how high it is above Craig's head. Many teams collide on the catch, in a stomach-to-nose kind of thing. Not very photogenic, and not correct, either. Meagan's arms above her head gets them extra points, too. Great element for them. 2nd place. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


Jessica Miller & Ian Moram are one of the smoothest pairs teams in the world, in my opinion, and this bluesy short program really highlighted their strengths. I love this entrance into their throw, and since I was sitting on the opposite of the rink for this event, I got a great photo of it. 4th place. 1/500, f/2.8, ISO 400.


Unfortunately, sitting in the opposite corner with my friends, and being fairly high up, meant that I didn't get as many good shots of the pairs or ladies this evening. I do like this one of Jessica Dubé & Bryce Davison, though, coming around the corner in their flamenco short program. Jess & Bryce were expected to win the event easily, but they had an unusually rough short program. 5th place. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


I love reaction shots! Kristen Walker wasn't seeded very high, and had to skate quite early in the ladies' short program. This was taken as she pumped her fist at the end of her clean program. 6th place. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


Lesley Hawker is just one of my favourite people in skating. She's so friendly and a little hilarious, and my friends and I love cheering for her. She didn't land her first triple jump until she was something like 18 years old, so she's older than most of her competitors. Her skating stands out because of her maturity and because of the way she just beams whenever she's on the ice. Unfortunately, she got nailed for several smaller mistakes in this program. 7th place. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


And what's a photoblog of a ladies' event without a spiral photo? Joannie Rochette is unquestionably the best skater in Canada right now, and she certainly has one of the best spirals, if not the best. This short program to Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto is probably my favourite of all her short programs, and it was wonderful to see it live. 1st place. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.

Next: Day 4! Probably free programs for the senior pairs and senior men.

dance originally

Still on Day Two of competition from the 2008 Canadian Championships. This is Thursday, if you're keeping track, and the senior original dance was the last event of the day. It's great when dance gets top billing - it doesn't happen often, but Canada has a tradition of great dance teams, so every once in a while, dancers get some respect. But enough with that, and on to the pictures, and more of the saga in Mel's battle against the blinding arena lights.


Lisa Johnson & Joseph Scott had a successful jig-themed free dance in 2007, so they brought the idea back for their original dance this season. I like this photo because I froze a frame with great unison. 12th place. 1/1600, f/2.8, ISO 800.


Christina Bourgeois & Jonathan Pelletier's flamenco dance demonstrates one of my rules of skating photography: flying fringe always makes a better picture. And if you're wondering if this is Megan's dress from 2002, you're right; I asked her. 11th place. 1/1600, f/2.8, ISO 800.


Andrea Chong & Guillaume Gfeller skated a soft country dance to music by that band that Norah Jones is in that I can never remember the name of. I love this photo, with the way that I just barely got Guillaume's eyes in the shot. 9th place. 1/1600, f/2.8, ISO 800.


Lauren Senft & Augie Hill dropped a spot, to 8th, with their Cape Breton folk dance, but the experience of skating well at home meant that they scored big with the audience - and even bigger when Lauren modeled the Vancouver hockey jersey that someone threw her before she left the ice. 1/1600, f/2.8, ISO 800.


Vanessa Crone & Paul Poirier's Romanian folk dance was among my favourites of the season, and they skated it sooo well here. And this picture is so much fun! 4th place. 1/1600, f/2.8, ISO 800.


Siobhan Karam & Kevin O'Keefe's Irish folk dance was another favourite of mine this season. I don't always love lift photos, because it's hard to get two faces that look good, but I just love Siobhan's expression here. 6th place. 1/1600, f/2.8, ISO 800.


Wow, this event was kind of like a hit parade, wasn't it? I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but Allie Hann-McCurdy & Michael Coreno had another one of my favourite original dances of the season. Theirs was a charming Canadian waltz & jig, and this photo is obviously from the jig portion. 3rd place. 1/1600, f/2.8, ISO 800.


I still think that Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir could have picked a better rhythm for them than Russian folk, but this dance definitely is more enjoyable live than on television. They're the class of the field, no question, and they bring the drama. 1st place. 1/1600, f/2.8, ISO 800.

Next time: Day 3!

more junior highlights

Day Two of competition at the 2008 Canadian Championships, Part One. Another long day, and an exciting one. However, it was a little sad, too, as it marked the end of the junior dance competition. As I wrote for my blog at ice-dance.com, junior dance has become one of my favourite events over the course of the season. I got to see some of these teams perform as many as three times during the year, and watching them show what they've learned this season at Canadians was so much fun. As always, some teams will move on to other partners or other endeavours, so I knew that I was seeing some of these teams for the last time, although I didn't know which ones at the time.


Alissa Pettinicchi & Derek Green hadn't even been skating together for a full year when they showed up at Canadians. Alissa, at 14, was one of the youngest girls in the competition, but she really lit up the rink. I just loved this lift of theirs, and I was glad that I was able to get a good shot of it during the free dance. 18th in this dance, 18th overall. 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 800.


As a journalist, I aim to be fair and I try not to appear more supportive of one team than another, but it's tough when a team impresses me as much as Tarrah Harvey & Keith Gagnon did this year. I saw them for the first time two years ago, but they did not make an impression on me then, so when they showed up at Lake Placid last August with beautiful, polished programs, I felt like I was seeing a brand new team. They're not new, though - they've been skating together for 10 years. And in both 2006 & 2007, they finished 13th at Canadians on the junior level. After finishing 13th twice in a row, a lot of teams would have called it quits, but Tarrah & Keith wanted to skate at Nationals in their hometown, Keith told me in an interview, so they kept going. And when they heard that Megan Wing & Aaron Lowe were moving back to Vancouver to coach, they decided that they were going to give this season all they had. So they switched coaches, changed their training regiment completely, and ended up improving by 9 places. Their free dance was just this fantastic moment, in the middle of the morning, thanks to a Nationals schedule that is never kind to junior dancers. But there were all of these schoolkids on field trips in the arena, and the noise of the crowd just kept growing as Tarrah & Keith literally skated the best dance of their lives. Absolutely among my favourite moments of the whole week. 3rd in this dance; 4th overall. 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 800.


This is from Anna Stanislavska & Dylan Fieldhouse's free dance, which was skated well and had a lot of character. I wasn't quite ready for this gem of a moment, so I was zoomed in too far, but I think I still managed a decent shot. 5th in this dance; 5th overall. 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 800.

The next event on the schedule was the junior men's short program. I spent a lot of the event editing photos and working on some writing, but there was one skater in particular I wanted to see, so I managed to catch the last group. I also decided to change the settings on my camera after this, since some of my junior free dance photos were obnoxiously bright. Trying to achieve the right balance of settings for the lights was a challenge for the rest of the week, but at least it meant that I always had something to chat about with the other photographers.


Everything about Paul Poirier's short program says, "I am an actually an ice dancer, but I do this free skating thing, too." This photo actually screams, "I am an ice dancer!!!" Check out that edge. Awesome. 6th in the short program, ended up winning the silver medal later in the week. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.

The opening ceremony was between the junior men's short program and the junior pairs' free program. People were arriving and actually wanting to sit in their seats, so my friends couldn't sit near me any more, and since I wasn't shooting the junior pairs for any reason except for some fun, I ended up sitting with them fairly high in one of the corners. I didn't get a lot of great shots, but I was able to shoot lifts and twists better than I could in the photo row, which was nice.


Of course, I'm not actually picking a lift or a twist photo to show. Oh well. This is part of Monica Pisotta & Michael Stewart's spiral sequence. Although they were 2nd in this program, they managed to hang on to the gold medal overall, which also earned them a spot on the team for the Junior World Championships. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


After the junior pairs were done, my friends and I ran into Shawn Sawyer, one of the competitors in the senior men's event. We've known him for a few years, so we chatted with him for a bit, and he made us promise to throw him socks. At the 2005 Canadian Championships, we were kind of into the phrase, "you rock my socks," so one of our friends, Erin, wrote "you rock my socks" on a bunch of pairs of dollar-store socks, and threw them to some of the skaters. Shawn thought that his socks were the greatest thing ever, so he always asks for more. Anyway, there were these bunches of balloons decorating the "BMO Fan Centre," so Shawn grabbed a couple and pretended to run off with them while I snapped his picture - all under the suspicious eye of a volunteer that, I suspect, may have been on the decorating committee. 1/60, f/4, ISO 400.

Next time: senior original dance & the conclusion of day two.

let's polka!

The Yankee Polka is one of the hallmarks of the senior compulsory dances, in my opinion. Most people have a love-hate relationship with it, and by "love-hate," I mean that most people either love it or hate it. I fall into the "love it" category. Really love it. The music is irritatingly perky, including one track that is an instrumental version of "O Susanna." The costumes are so random. Braids, pigtails, and Heidi-buns! Whee! It was the first compulsory dance I saw live, at the 2004 Four Continents Championships in Hamilton. I was sitting with a group of 10 enthusiastic skating fans, and we clapped all the way through it. So when the Yankee Polka was drawn for 2008 Canadians, I was ecstatic. Christina, Jen, & Michele arranged their flights to arrive in time for it on Wednesday night, so that we could all watch it together.

In compulsory dances, I like identifying a particular part of the dance to photograph, and challenging myself to get a good shot of every couple at the same moment. I was sitting in a great place to get the fun kick toward the end of the pattern, so I made that my mission for the CD. I missed the kicks of quite a few of the earlier skaters, but once I got to the second half of the teams, I managed to get a good kicking photo of almost all of them.


Claire Tannett & Wendell McGrath execute a sharp kick with good unison, but it's not as high as some of the teams that came later. This was their first year in seniors, and it could have been their first time competing the Yankee. They were 14th in this dance. 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 800.


Mylène Lamoreux & Michael Mee have great expression in this dance, but freezing a frame in this kick can be very revealing - you can see that they're not quite in unison. Nice, sharp arms, though. 8th place. 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 800.


Lauren Senft & Augie Hill are a first-year, international team. She's a hometown girl from Vancouver; he's from Chicago and also Texas. They train in Michigan. They represent British Columbia. Sometimes I call them Laugie. And their kick is adorable, but again, not perfect unison. That's understandable, though - it often takes years to develop that. 7th place. 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 800.


Siobhan Karam & Kevin O'Keefe are another first-year, international team. Siobhan was born in Ottawa; Kevin was born in Maine. They also train in Michigan, and they represent Eastern Ontario. And they had a surprisingly good Yankee, especially for a new team. Unison is close, and look at how close together their hips are - skating closer together is always more difficult. 4th place. 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 800.


Vanessa Crone & Paul Poirier were last year's junior champions, and they competed junior internationally this year, so Canadians were their first senior competition. This was their first Yankee Polka, and they did well. Beautiful unison on the kick, and great expression from Vanessa. 6th place. 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 800.


Allie Hann-McCurdy & Michael Coreno train in Vancouver, so it was great for them to do so well in front of a home crowd. I love the energy in this picture, although you can see that the kick wasn't the strongest part of their dance. 2nd place. 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 800.


Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje are a second-year team, and another Canadian/American pairing, only Kaitlyn is the American - originally from Texas. Andrew is from Kitchener, Ontario, and they represent Northern Ontario, even though neither of them is from there and they do not train there. Love Kaitlyn in this photo, though - nice extension, expression, and dress ruffle. 3rd place. 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 800.


Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir are one of the top teams in the world, as I think I mentioned a couple of entries ago, and easy favourites to win this. They came out and skated confidently, although their smooth style isn't that well-suited to the perky Yankee. Their pattern was bigger than the other teams, so even though I was sitting in exactly the same seat, I didn't have the same angle for their kick. It still shows off their beautiful unison, though (they've been skating together for over 10 years), and crisp lines. It's also hard to tell in this photo, but Tessa is rocking some Heidi-buns in her hair. 1st place. 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 800.



And one final gem. I love candid shots of skaters with their coaches at the boards. Some are all business before they skate, and some laugh and joke around to keep relaxed. Here are Lisa Johnson & Joseph Scott with coach Rebecca Babb (I think?) just before their 12th-place Yankee Polka. 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 800.

Next time: Day two of competition.

juniors take the ice

These updates from Vancouver are taking a few days each to put together, since I'm literally wading through over 1,000 images from each day. These are from Wednesday, the first day of competition at the Canadian Championships, and on this day in particular, I took over 2500 photos! Racing to the press room between events to dump memory cards, 2 GB Extreme III memory cards that only last about half an hour, constantly adjusting for the most intense arena lighting I've ever seen - plus that giant reflective white surface I love so dearly -- it's just a typical day in the life of a skating photographer.

I had a chance on Tuesday night to review my photos from practice, and I couldn't believe how overexposed they were - this usually isn't my problem when I'm shooting skating! So while Lori-Anne, host extraordinaire, chauffeured Jules & me to the arena by way of the longest drive-thru line at Starbucks that I have ever seen, I was texting the amazing and talented Michelle, who has taught me everything I know about skating photography, and most of the things I know about journalism, too. Thanks to the three-hour time difference between Vancouver and the East Coast, Michelle was around, and even though I was in the car and couldn't send her sample photos, she gave me an idea of some settings to try, and I promised I'd try to keep her updated.

The first event was the Junior Compulsory Dance. Internationally, junior ice dancers can be as old as 19 (girls) and 21 (guys), so although there's not an age limit at the national level in Canada, most of the juniors are in their teens. In the compulsory dance, all teams (19 of them, in this case) perform the same dance - they skate exactly the same steps, and the music usually rotates between three or four really cheesy tunes. For this event, the Junior CD was the Cha Cha Congelado, one of my favourite compulsories. It's sharp, the dancers wear bright colours that photograph well, and there are a lot of opportunities to get both faces in a shot. Some of the other compulsories are very difficult to photograph. Two of my favourite shots from the CCC:


Anna Stanislavska & Dylan Fieldhouse were a first-year team, but they gave one of the best performances of the CCC at Canadians. Some people even thought they were undermarked, since they ended up in fourth place. I was a skating fan first, and then I became a photographer, so when I look for my best shots, I like showcasing photos where the skaters look good. There's not a thing wrong with Anna & Dylan here - toes pointed, lines matching, heads up, looking sharp. Anna's flowing orange skirt is just icing on the cake. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


Tarrah Harvey & Keith Gagnon were fifth after the CD, just behind Anna & Dylan. They'd struggled with the CD all season, but not here in their hometown! They were sharp and confident, and earned a great score. This ended up being one of my favourite pictures from the entire week. 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 400.


Same picture, but a close-up, since Tarrah & Keith have such great expression. Every time they stepped on the ice during the week, they just looked so thrilled to be there.

The next event was the junior pairs short program. Junior pairs has the same age stipulations as junior dance, although I'd say that the girls tend to be quite young in junior pairs. Because it's difficult for guys to acquire the upper body strength needed for pairs when they are young, there's often quite an age gap between the two partners. Pairs is difficult for me to shoot, because it's faster and more trick-based than dance. The partners are usually less focused on looking photogenic, too, so along with some difficult focusing issues, there are often some pretty tragic facial expressions! So here's just one, my favourite from the junior pairs SP:


Olivia Jones & Donald Jackson trained in Montréal at one of the world's most renowned training facilities for pairs. One thing I love about the pairs from St-Léonard (the town where the rink is, just outside of Montréal) is that they tend to have excellent short programs that are fun and sassy. Olivia & Don were no exception! 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 800.

The junior dancers had to skate again on Wednesday, not that long after their compulsory dance. Dancers often get the short end of the stick, scheduling-wise. It's not uncommon for them to compete twice in a day, but that's quite rare for the other disciplines, and for whatever reasons, more often than not, it's the dancers who have to be up at 5 for official practices. Anyway, the second event of the competition for dancers is the original dance. The rhythm(s) changes each year, and this year, it was a folk/country dance. Dancers could choose the country or region that they wanted to bring to the ice, so there was a lot of variety. Three highlights:


The "safe" approach to folk is some sort of Russian/gypsy/EasternEuropean folk dance, since this is a common rhythm for free dances. All ice dancers have at least seen it performed on the ice, and many of them have done a program to it already. I thought that Sophie Knippel & Andrew Britten had one of the strongest overall Russian folk programs in the junior event, and the judges agreed - they were 3rd in this portion of the competition. I just really like this photo, for some reason. 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 800.


Kharis Ralph & Asher Hill were the 2007 Novice Canadian champions, and this year, they won the junior event - this is not typical, especially in dance, but they're really that good. They chose a South African folk dance, which was an original choice, and extremely effective. They got a great response from the crowd and huge marks from the judges, placing them solidly in first. 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 800.


This is another Russian folk dance, but I just love capturing big facial expressions like this. Maja Vermeulen & Andrew Doleman didn't have their best performance and were 9th with this dance, but you couldn't tell from this photo! 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 800.

The fourth event of the day was the junior ladies short program. I didn't watch all of this, since I was trying to stay caught up with sending in photos (I always have great intentions on the first day!). Then, about halfway through the event, Jen & Christina arrived from Toronto, so once I got a text message saying that they were in the building, Jules & I bolted up the stairs to meet them in the concourse, and photographing junior ladies was no longer my first priority. But I did watch long enough to capture this gem:


Now THAT is a facial expression! Rebecca Addison skated a clean short program and led the standings at the end of the first event. This photograph was snapped when she landed her final jump. 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 800.

Next up: an in-depth look at the Yankee Polka, the senior compulsory dance.