First Lego League 2022

The second Saturday of November is always the Poudre High School First Lego League competition where I volunteer to be the photographer. I first started volunteering at this event in 2010 and have been doing it since except for the two years I lived in Iowa (2014 & 2015). This year, there were only 23 teams, which was pretty similar to last year, but way down from the year prior. Last year the excuse was the pandemic, I figured that it would have picked back up this year, but it didn't. Maybe it will be back to normal next year... I actually don't mind that it's smaller - there's less running around to do and it's a little less chaotic.

This year with the photography I think I did a good job at shooting with a faster shutter speed than my light meter recommended. It's easier to lighten up the photos than it is to de-blur them. The thing I don't think I did very well at was the depth of field. Since the gym was pretty dark, I was shooting with my 50mm prime lens at f/1.8. That low aperture meant that often one kid was in full focus but none of the kids around them were. So next year I hope I read this and correct that mistake. Another thing I could have done better was to use a better focusing mode. Since I don't shoot a lot of fast-moving things, my focus was often missing the action and I'd have the first shot in a series in perfect focus and then the rest of them wouldn't be.

Super Powered

This year's challenge was called "Super Powered" and was all about storing and transmitting power.

The Awards

The awards look the same each year, but that doesn't stop me from taking a photo of them.

FLL 2022

Part of the Challenge

These figurines were part of the challenge this year. They were for looks only, nothing functional about them.

High Five

There is always some kind of collaborative aspect of the game, and this year it was both competing teams to get the two hands together in the center.

Truck

This was another challenge for the 2022 FLL competition. The students had to get their robot to release the truck and put "hydrogen cells" (a cylindrical Lego piece) in the bed of the truck.

Windmill

By pressing the red piece near the ground of this windmill, the blades would spin and release a "hydrogen cell" for the students to collect. It actually ended up spinning pretty fast.