Arriving Early Eases the Mind

In my previous blog I mentioned briefly why I show up early for an assignment.  Since it’s football season I will explain this concept with a little more detail on how I will cover a college football game.

The main reason why I like to show up for an assignment early is peace of mind.  I try to arrive to any assignment at lease 2 hours before game time.  When I say peace of mind, let me explain a little.  Traffic is always an issue when traveling along the east coast and mainly up and down Interstate 95 (I-95).  I-95 is notorious for it’s traffic jams or “lock downs” as we call it.  The worst feeling in the world is to be stuck in a traffic jam clock watching, so I have peace of mind when I’m in the area of an assignment and not 100 miles away stuck in traffic.

I usually bring my laptop (Apple MacBook Pro) to all assignments and once I arrive the first thing I do is set it up and find out if they have Wi-Fi or do I need to plug in my air card.  While the laptop is booting I will grab some food if it’s available and locate the Sports Information Director (SID) to go over the particulars or what needs to be covered.  Usually a shot list of the players will be provided at that time, but sometime during the week leading up to the game.  I will print off a roster from their website and circle all freshman and incoming transfers.

I will then focus on my equipment and it’s preparation or setup.  For football I usually shoot with three Canon Mark IIn’s and the following lenses attached:  a 300mm f/2.8, a 70 – 200mm f/2.8 and a 24 – 70mm f/2.8.  The camera with the 300mm lens attached usually gets the most work because I can shoot from a long distance and stay out of harms way.  I will also place a few items in a backpack such as rain gear for me and my cameras, Gatorade and snacks and head to the field to cover pregame warn-ups.

When I changed my focus to covering college sports and shooting primarily for the SID’s I had to change my shooting style and how I covered a game.  My style had always been from an editorial point of view, so I always concentrated on plays and getting images that reflected the whole game.  Peek action and emotion was a key element that I tried to capture, well for an SID that style did nothing for their primary publication.  The media guide.

Norfolk State University 2009 Football Media Guide

Editorial style shooting.

Editorial Style Shooting

Inside a team’s media guide each student athlete has their own section filled with past accomplishments such as previous years highlights, high school awards and personal information.  The SID’s also like to add images in that particular section of that player and editorial images wouldn’t suffice, so a style change was needed in the way I covered a game.

The style I developed was individual or isolation shooting where I concentrated solely on a particular player and not the whole play.  I also realized that new comers saw limited playing time, so the only way to get shots of them was during pregame warm-ups.  Now arriving to an assignment had more purpose.

Pregame warm-up shot

Pregame Warm-up Shot

Game Isolation Shot

Game Isolation Shot

Once I felt I got enough footage of the pregame I headed outside the stadium to shoot various happenings around the stadium.  Such as tailgaters, vendors, program sellers and the crowd entering the game.

Game Program Sellers

Tailgate Party

Tailgate Party Dee-Jay

After all that I still have time to return to the press box and down load everything to my laptop and start immediately backing it up to a portable external hard drive I carry in my computer bag.  I also have time to relax a little before heading back onto the field to cover the band entrance, the player’s introduction, the coin toss and the kick off.

Band Entrance.

Band Entrance

The Coin Toss

The Coin Toss

Since I shoot primarily for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) there’s a whole lot going on before a game, so telling a story with your images is definitely not a problem.  I enjoy it and if you haven’t been to one?  I highly suggest you attend a HBCU football game for an experience you’ll never forget.

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My Fantasy Minute “Fantasy Poison”

Is there some concern about selecting Denver Broncos’ wide receiver Brandon Marshall this year in your Fantasy Drafts?  You bet.  Take notice, in our 2005 draft at work Terrell Owens was drafted with the 9^th overall pick that year and his camp antics are very similar to what Brandon is doing in the Broncos’ camp this summer.

Owens that year was suspended during camp, which may or may not happen to Marshall.

T.O. was then suspended by the Eagles for the rest of the season, which screwed owners throughout Fantasy Football.

I call it “Fantasy Poison” and I will highly suggest you stay away from Marshall in the early rounds in your up coming drafts.  He’s a risk before six, but a steal after 7.

I really didn’t have Marshall high on my list of receivers anyway.  Remember last year between the 20’s Marshall was money.  With Jay Cutler at the helm he caught an outstanding 104 balls last year, but only saw glory 6 times.

In a draft the other day he stayed on the board until the 4^th round, but the owner is now trying to trade him.

He is also missing valuable time in camp with Kyle Orton which points to a very slow start.  I’ve read in some publications that he’s rated as high as 11^th of all wide receivers this year.

Like I stated earlier he’s a risk before six, but a steal after 7.

(The images provided in this article were not taken by the author)

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So you want to be a Sports Photographer?

It’s that time of year again.  Yes, football is here.  I recently covered both Hampton University and Norfolk State University Football Media Day’s.  Hampton’s kicked off my photography season that early Saturday morning on the 15^th of August.  This was the 5th straight year I covered this event and it was the first time I got to shoot Donovan Rose as the new Pirate Head Coach.  This is Hampton’s 3^rd coach in three years, which points to a very dismal year for the Pirate fateful.

I next traveled to the beautiful city of Norfolk, Virginia the following Thursday the 20^th of August to cover Norfolk State’s media day and I got a different feeling that day.  The Spartans seemed confident and loose.  The kids had fun, probably too much fun.  Nonetheless it seemed like the tide had shifted in the Bay Area.

The Battle of the Bay on October 17 should be very interesting.

The 1^st game for both is on the 5^th of September and I will be at Norfolk State for their annual Labor Day Classic against Virginia State University.  Which I covered last year too won my the Spartan’s of NSU 47 – 7.

Photographing football games in the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) can be a bit of a challenge on the sidelines.  Sometimes there are way too many photographers on MEAC sidelines, especially at Norfolk State University.

You would wonder were you covering the Super Bowl with the amount of photographers on their sideline.  Who are these guys’ shooting for?  The NCAA has a strict rule about what you can do with eligible student athlete’s images and selling images to the players is a definite no-no.  I always wonder?

The night before each game I usually re-format all my media cards, clean my lenses, charge my batteries and go over the rosters to find new players especially impact players who transferred in.  I try to arrive 2 hours before game time to setup and to discuss anything in particular the Sports Information Director (SID) wants covered.  I also request a shot list and itinerary and study that as well.  I put my cameras together and head to the field to cover pregame warm-ups’.

Secret number Uno, “I get some of my best images during the pregame warm-ups.”

Once the game kicks off I’m zeroed in on the action and the seen.  I try to take a storybook approach to covering a football game.  I try to make a person feel like they are in the play when they look at my images.  I try to shoot from different angles throughout the game and I also try to cover what’s happening on the sidelines as well.

Shooting is the easy part.  Postproduction is sometimes the most challenging, especially after shooting a night game at most of the stadiums in the MEAC where the lighting is simply terrible at best.  Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop has been a major part of my postproduction for the past 3 years.  I also try to provide each SID with about 15 or so images for their game stories and web galleries before I pack up and head for home.   Not bad for about 6 hours of work, give or take a few minutes.

This was my first blog.  Thanks for reading.  Please feel free to leave a comment.

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