2025 Victoria Regional: Photos

Send Me Some!

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It's been two full decades since I first did a Regional Daily Bulletin for the Puget Sound Regional, and over that time we have transitioned from being on-site taking photos with a digital camera to doing the Bulletins from home and hoping that people who win will realize that we all now carry cameras built into our mobile phones that are better than the digital camera I used in 2002 -- and can send the file to me instantly so I can put it into the online Bulletin in living colour. Oops, color...

Times change, and while being able to hold a paper booklet in your hand is something many of us fondly remember, almost all of us are now able to view the Bulletin online on our various devices! But the good news is that those devices allow winners photos to be a quick do-it-yourself job. Plus, the photos themselves appear on this page, and occasionally on the results pages as well, and in full, living colour (or color in the USA)!

Let's remember: Regionals have a lot of different events, and occasionally we get a photo of a pair or a team who thinks they have won an event when a late scoring change knocks them down to second overall, or even lower. Or someone thinks that their 55.7% section top in the afternoon session of Section L of a six-section open pairs, while not making the overalls, is an event win. I do try to include all of the photos I am sent, but I also check the final results to ensure that what you thought when you took the photo is actually what happened. And on busy days, this can take some time and be held over to tomorrow.

But if you have won and you cannot find a tournament volunteer or a friend to take your photo, another option is to take a photo of event winners yourself (or, if you're the winner, convince a friend to do so!) and send it directly to me:

Here's How To Send Photos:

• Above the Strike Zone: Try not to include in the frame any part of the body below where the letters would be on a baseball uniform. People want to see faces, not waistlines. If you have people of different heights, you might have to include the tall one's strike zone(s), but make faces your focus.
• Fill the Frame: Don't stand so far back that only 10%-20% of the frame is faces. Move up close and look at your screen as a guide. I will always crop out legs and shoes, and if this leaves an image that is small, the quality will suffer.
• Send the biggest version you can: It's important. ooga@shaw.ca is the address to send photo files to. Don't send the one that takes up the least bandwidth, it will look blurred on a screen if the resolution is lowered beyond a reasonable level.
• Identify!: I need to know who the people are and what they did. If they won an event, tell me which one and first names from left to right in the photo will suffice (I can get the rest from the data I am sent). I'd also like to credit the photo taker, so tell me who you are as well.
• Watch the lighting and background: At night, photos taken in the dark may not look too well and require touchup. The playing area is usually best for light. I have taken a lot of photos that seem to have trees coming out of the tops of people's heads, so avoid that if you can, although now that all photos will appear online in colour (as opposed to monochrome on paper), this is not as big an issue as it used to be. Victoria has some great outdoor scenes that would make great photos: if your team goes out for dinner, take a photo of the team somewhere and send it along if you win! Simple is usually best, against a wall inside the playing area, or even in a space in the middle with people milling around a distance away can sometimes work.
• Patience: There's a lot to do at scary hours during a Daily Bulletin week, especially when I have daily Director duties that require a reasonable amount of rest, and it may take a day or two before I can get around to posting photos. Or responding to those who have sent them.

Victoria Regional 2025 Photos!

	Bracket One winners on Thursday and Friday: Richard Leonardon, Santa Fe NM; Chris Compton, Omaha NE; Zachary Grossack, Newton MA; Finn Kolesnik, Austin TX (but not necessarily in that order in the photo). Thanks to Shelley Burnham for the photo.
Thursday Round-Robin Teams Bracket Two winners: Brian Breckenridge - Heather Breckenridge, Jacksonville OR; David Taylor, Seattle WA; Kemble Yates, Ashland OR. Thanks to Shelley Burnham for the photo.
	Bracket Six Winnners in the Tuesday Round-Robin Teams: Deanne Takasumi, Tigard OR (who took and sent the photo); Ruth Yokoyama - Elizabeth Scully - Carol Holman, Portland OR
We'll start with Victoria photos I have grabbed from the Internet and add winners and other photos sent to me, above this line, as they appear in my inbox.... ooga@shaw.ca (see above for tips)
This totem pole is in the entrance area to the Convention Centre; the playing area is behind it on the upper level.
	Victoria's historic Empress Hotel
The British Columbia Legislative Buildings, just a few blocks southwest of the playing site....
	...and very close to the harbour.
Butchart Gardens, an attraction just north of Victoria which receives over a million visitors annually, are designated a National Historic Site of Canada, and even has their own official coat of arms, and a website.
	Victoria at Night!