One Game at a Time

Football: Maryland Terrapins vs Virginia

2008-10-05T22:57:00.002-04:00

Dave and I arrived in the media parking lot at the University of Virginia 2 hours before kickoff. We wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to park, get settled in, and familiarize ourselves with the venue.

The University of Virginia provides parking spaces for media in a satellite lot and shuttles us into the stadium using golf carts. It sounds pretty silly but it's actually really efficient. When we arrived in the parking lot there was a golf cart waiting for us (along with others) and it took very little time to get us from the parking lot down to Scott Stadium. I was very impressed!

We used the strong Internet connection in Scott Stadium to upload our photos. It was wifi based but my authentication from Katherine Palmer earlier in the day still worked. Their access points must have a good memory for MAC addresses. We published the gallery for the Field Hockey game and prepared for the football game.

It turns out that UVA granted us 1 media and 1 photo credential. This was unfortunate since both Dave and I are photographers but we also both write. Fortunately the WMUC (a college radio station in College Park) sat alongside us and was assigned a photo credential for one of their radio reporters. We were able to swap photo for media with them and that gave us access to the field for both of us.

The University of Virginia uses a vest based system for on-field access. If you're a photographer you have to obtain a vest from the media department that clearly shows the name of your organization along the back. They pre-print the names on pieces of paper that hey insert into the back of the vest prior to the game. As a result I don't think you can just walk up and ask for a photo vest unless you're on the list.

With the WMUC vest I headed down to the field. I worried about Greg Fiume's response my presence on the field. I didn't know if he would be upset that I had traded credentials with WMUC for field access or if he wouldn't mind at all. Fortunately for me he didn't seem to upset!

I bumped into Dave on the field and we agreed to keep some distance between us for the game so that we could cover as much territory as possible. Initially we thought we'd try opposite endzones of the field but that didn't seem too practical. In the end we settled on separating ourselves by the benches on the field. In the first half Dave took the UVA bench side of the field while I shot the Terps side of the field. In the sceond half we switched.

For the shoot I used my 400mm f/2.8 on my D3. Al loaned me his D3 and I used a 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens on it. I barely used Al's body during the shoot - he's monkeyed with the color enhancements on it and turned them cold and took away a lot of contrast. Plus you just don't get many chances on a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens in football because the field is so large.

I ran into Jackie at the football game and she seemed like a ghost. A bunch of Diamondback and WMUC folks headed down to South Carolina to cover the Men's Soccer game against Clemson on Friday night and the party headed north to hit Virginia on the way home. The combination of a long drive, long hours, and a lot of physical work to move around the field, had taken their toll and the reporters seemed more than ready to get back to College Park for some solid sack time.

I also bumped into Patrick Smith from the Baltimore Sun. I've worked with a few Sun reporters in my limited experience as a photographer but none of them have been similar to Patrick. Like me, he's young and enthusiastic about his assignments. He's also pretty tech savvy and maintains a Flickr page. I really look up to him from a photographic standpoint - he's technically very competent (which is easy) but he has a taste for the artistic that makes his photos very compelling and interesting. It was really a lot of fun working with him for the first time and I hope that the Sun sends him to more Maryland Terrapins assignments.

Both Dave and I (along with several other photographers) had a difficult time with the white balance in Scott Stadium. I don't know what it is about reddish colors but they really wreak havoc on the WB code in the D3. I initially set my camera to Auto WB but found that the camera produced unreliable results. I changed it to the stadium lights setting but found the photos to be too warm. In post production I cooled them but after Al looked at them he suggested warming them slightly. I guess I pulled the lever too far to the cool side...

After posting Dave's article and my lead-in photo we headed out from the stadium and back to College Park. It was around midnight before we shuffled off and back onto US 29 north. We arrived back at Dave's house around 2:30am and unloaded his gear. I made it back to my house around 2:45am and put all of my equipment away before jumping into bed with Julie.

After being on the road and on my feet for a solid 20 hours I was very happy to get some solid shut-eye. I hit the pillow around 3:15am and slept until 12:26pm the next morning. It was one of the best sleeps evar.

My photos from Maryland's loss to Virginia are up on Flickr. You can also check out Dave Lovell's article and our photo gallery on the Terps loss to Virginia up on the DC Sports Box.

Field Hockey: Maryland Terrapins vs Field Hockey

2008-10-05T20:06:00.002-04:00

On Monday Al submitted credential requests for Dave Lovell and I to cover the Maryland Terrapins vs Virginia football game on Saturday. It just so happened that the Maryland Field Hockey team was scheduled to play against Virginia that morning at 11am. I spoke with Dave about it and we agreed to head down early to hit both the Field Hockey game as well as the football game.

I woke up around 6am and drove over to Dave's house to pick him up. My wife remarked "wow you must really care about this since you don't wake up this early for your other jobs." I laughed. It's true...

This week I really looked forward to the trip down to the University of Virginia. Last Fall I drove down to Raleigh to photograph the Terps field hockey team play the No. 1 ranked Tar Heels. It was a bit of a long drive (and I was alone) but it was fun seeing a different campus while also seeing the home team play. UVA is only 2 1/2 hours away from College Park so this seemed like a great chance to go down, see a new campus, watch the Terpies play, and have a good time.

So around 7am I picked up Dave and we drove south. I didn't know what I was going to talk with Dave about in the car for 2 hours though! Whenever we're together it's pretty brief - we just chat to make arrangements for who's going to be where on the field and that's about it. We also have a few years between us and some dissimilar backgrounds. The drive actually went remarkably fast and we found lots of different things to talk about on our way down to Virginia. Most of it was photography related and there's thousands of different things to discuss when it comes to that topic!

I took a few wrong turns on the way down to UVA. It turns out that Interstate 66 intersects with US Route 29 in a couple of locations. I wasn't aware of that and I took the first US 29 South exit that I saw. We got stuck as we traveled down the road and realized that we were actually going the wrong way! After doubling back we got headed in the right direction and made it down to the campus around 9:45 or so.

I wanted to be there and be all set up before the team walked off the bus. Last year I got a pretty good photo of head coach Missy Meharg coming off the bus when the Terps played North Carolina. She was really happy to see some media from up in the DC area travel to follow her team and it was apparent on her initial reaction to a camera being present as she stepped off the bus. We planned to do the same this year but it just wasn't in the cards ... we didn't arrive early enough.

When we arrived at the field hockey stadium Katherine Palmer greeted us and showed us our seats. She provided us with field access credentials and showed us where the power was located and helped us out with the wireless connection. She was great - she seemed really upbeat and happy to be there and was very helpful to both Dave and I.

The game was a little difficult to shoot because of the position of the field relative to the sun. The field was situated East to West and the game started at 11am. The sun initially fell over one corner of the field but steadily made it's way to midfield by the end of the game. You really have to keep a close eye on where the sun is when you shoot outdoor sports because it can make a big difference in how pronounced the shadows are.

Dave took the corner with the sun behind him while I worked the midfield. It was a little difficult for me because I wasn't in the backfield so I couldn't catch the players head-on when they attack. I managed to get some decent backfield and midfield cross shots but I didn't get any attacks on the goal. Everything I would've shot from midfield would've been the backs of the players lit at an odd angle...

After the game Dave and I posted a quick article from the venue and headed into downtown Charlottesville for a bite to eat. On the way we bumped into a couple of Dave's tailgate buddies from Maryland who seemed to be having a great time in the UVA parking lot. They were all decked out with tents and satellite TV watching the Florida State vs Miami game. They seemed to be a really happy bunch with lots of food and drink. Our bumping into them was purely coincidental - as we drove down a street I pointed out some Terrapin tents and Dave said "I think I know those guys ..." When we pulled into the parking lot he said "Ya I definitely know those guys!"

They suggested a brewery in downtown Charlottesville for lunch and after getting the coordinates off their GPS we headed into town with the help of my iPhone. Unfortunately the pub was closed and Dave and I found a soup shop to settle down: Revolutionary Soups. The place was highly liberal, with nearly all of the employees wearing "Obama 'ville" buttons. I felt very out of place but I understood the demographic as it was a University town.

We spent about 2 hours in the soup shop cropping, rotating, and enhancing our photos. It was quite an ordeal - both of us shot around 600 frames and it's a tall task to get 1200 photos down to 25 images to publish. Over a course of 2 beers each, some delicious potato soup, and sandwiches to die for we bridged the gap. At the end of the process I uploaded my photos to Flickr to test the bandwidth in the sandwich shop. It came as very little surprise that the Internet tubes were more clogged than an overweight man's arteries...

At the conclusion of our late lunch we had our article posted including a lead-in photo. Rather than trying to squeeze out a bunch of imagery through a 100Kbps pipe opted to head to Scott Stadium to post our gallery.

You can view my photos of the Maryland Terrapins vs Virginia Field Hockey game over on Flickr. I also wrote an article about the Terps vs Virginia and it's posted over on the DC Sports Box.

Women's Soccer: Maryland Terrapins vs Florida State

2008-10-04T18:27:00.003-04:00

Late Thursday afternoon a couple of people came by the office and we started up a conversation about a product we're considering developing. Before I knew it the time had drifted to 6:20pm and Maryland had a 7pm start time for the women's soccer match against the Florida State Seminoles. I haven't been carrying my equipment in the car with me lately so I had to head home with a quickness before heading back to Ludwig.

When I approached Ludwig I bumped into about 30 middle schoolers on some sort of field trip. They were all clogging up the will call section, which is the location where my name is typically recorded on a credential. Since we've been approved for all the games and since I've attended most (all?) of the women's soccer games this Fall I just headed inside.

The CSC guard recognized me and waved me through.

Once inside I headed to my normal location and prepared for the shoot. Somehow I made it there on time despite a lot of traffic on the BW Parkway. I looked around and noticed there was a new photographer on the field. He was kinda scruffy looking with a beard and he had either a 400mm f/2.8 lens or a 300mm f/2.8 lens. I never ended up speaking with him so I didn't catch his name or which organization he worked for.

I also bumped into somebody that I suspect is a new photographer at the Diamondback. He had the typical Diamondback equipment - D300 with a 70-200 f/2.8 VR lens.

As usual I cranked the ISO up around 5000 and shot all of the game at f/2.8 and 1/500th of a second shutter. There is easily 2 stops more light in front of each goal and moving between corner kicks and the regular game play is a real challenge. I've become very accustomed to keeping an eye on the built in meter and making adjustments as necessary, and tonight I did pretty well.

It was a fun game to shoot due to the solid defense and attack on both sides. Despite FSU spending most of their time attacking the Terps the Maryland defenders played aggressively and chased down the 'Noles. That makes for good photos.

It was pretty chilly tonight - a solid preview of what future games will be like. Last year's NCAA Tournament game between Maryland and Bradley soccer was frigid and both Greg Fiume and I were shaking by the end of it.

My photos of the Maryland Terrapins women's soccer game against Florida State are posted up on Flickr. You can also read my article on the Terps vs the Seminoles on the DC Sports Box.

Field Hockey: Maryland Terrapins vs Richmond Spiders

2008-09-28T20:58:00.002-04:00

Last evening my hopes of capturing a close friend's wedding came to a grinding halt when the assistant photographer forbid me from photographing my friends (the bride and groom) and accused me of interfering during the ceremony. My wife and I had a hearty laugh at her accusation - we both sat next to each other 4 seats in from the aisle and 3rd row from the back. We laughed because I didn't take any pictures during the ceremony. I'm not sure how that qualifies as interference but anyhow...

This afternoon I attended the Terrapins field hockey game against the Richmond Spiders. Coach Missy Meharg has been a dominating force in field hockey the past several years and the Terrapins have consistently been ranked in the top-10 for awhile. I enjoy the field hockey games because the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex is a great venue for photography, the game itself offers action shots, and the environment is very low-stress.

The weather during the day was highly variable. It was rainy, then cloudy, and then really sunny for a bit. The humidity shot up and then the temperature dropped when a rain cloud passed over. It was really all over the map.

I crossed my fingers for a sunny game but also welcomed an overcast sky if that's the way nature was going to play it. A full sun really makes the photos "pop" but at the same time you risk catching a lot of shadows. That limits where you can shoot from. Practically speaking you wouldn't want to shoot directly into the sun because the players faces would be in the shadows. In order to properly expose the players you'd have to overexpose the background.

On the other hand if you can position yourself with the sun over your shoulders and the players marching towards you then you'll capture some great shots. The Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex is set up such that the Terps shoot at the open end of the stadium in the second half. The sun sets over the left corner of the open end of the stadium, meaning I'm able to catch the team shooting into the sun in the second half. In the first half I'm at about a 60 degree angle from the sun being directly behind me because I shoot from a sideline rather than the endzone.

When theres a lot of overcast the sunlight is diffused and you won't have any problems with shadows. The positive aspect of the highly diffused sunlight is that you can reliably expose the players faces without concern that part of their face will be hidden in a shadow. You're also able to position yourself in the spot that's most likely to catch the best action in the game because you're not competing with the sunlight for exposure. You can shoot right into the direction of the sun but with the diffusion from the clouds you don't have to worry about the halo effect around the players hair.

The negative aspect of highly diffused sunlight is that the colors won't "pop" and the image looks flat. You can correct for this in post-processing to some extent by increasing saturation or vibrancy along with bringing out the blacks in the photo and increasing contrast. But when you doctor the photo so extensively the image appears artificial.

The best time of day for sports photography is in the mid to late afternoon when the sun is lower in the sky. When the sun is directly overhead (e.g. a noon game) the player can easily cast a shadow on their face by looking downward. In sports players tend to look towards the ground because they keep their eye on a ball or stick. As a result they often cast a shadow on their face when the sun is overhead. When the sun is low in the sky their face will be properly illuminated even when they look down.

Wedding photographers are experts at the use of diffused or reflected light. Most outdoor photographs of brides and grooms take place under a tree, behind a building, or when clouds are overhead. They understand how to use the available light to their advantage and a highly diffused light source produces few shadows.

This afternoons game was a lot of fun because the sun started to get low in the sky by the time the second half rolled around and the Terps ran west. I lined myself up in my corner position and got a few good exposures.

The only stress I had came from some condensation that formed behind the front lens element on my 400mm f/2.8 lens. Greg offered me a cloth to wipe off the front element but the condensation persisted. When I looked at it in further detail I realized the moisture was between the front lens element and the element immediately behind the front element. That implies moisture has somehow entered the lens and that concerns me. I used an Aqua Tech on Friday during the soaker of a soccer game and everything was dry and protected. Maybe it was the high humidity on Friday and today that caused the condensation to occur.

I noticed that the condensation began to form when the sun came out and it heated up. I read online that condensation tends to form under those circumstances. A few people suggested using that disselent stuff that comes in packages to suck out moisture. They recommended putting your lens in a ziploc bag with one of those things and it'll hopefully suck up the moisture. The concern I have is that if moisture got in once it could get in again.

Hours after the event I examined my lens again and the condensation has evaporated. I'll keep my eye on it and if worst comes to worst I'll have the lens repaired or examined by NPS. Photography is an expensive hobby and business to be in due to the equipment cost!

My photos of the Maryland Terrapins win over the Richmond Spider are up on Flickr. You can also read my article of the Terps 7-0 win over Richmond over on the DC Sports Box.

Men's Soccer: Maryland Terrapins vs Wake Forest

2008-09-28T12:01:00.002-04:00

For my birthday I received a pair of waterproof camping pants for use during inclement weather at outdoor sporting events. Early in the week I headed back to REI and purchased a top to accompany the pants so that I'd have complete coverage during the next outdoor event where rain was expected.

This week it rained on Thursday and Friday. As Friday evening approached I looked towards the radar and noticed that heavy rain was moving in the direction of College Park. I was glad that I picked up the foul weather gear. I also asked Al if I could borrow his Aqua Tech. He gave me the nod and dropped it off at my house Friday afternoon.

It didn't take long before the skies opened up and heavy rain pounded the field. My gear held up well and protected me, and the Aqua Tech rain coat kept my equipment dry and safe. I felt well-prepared having shopped earlier in the week for a top to accompany my water proof bottom.

The game was a big one: No. 1 ranked Wake Forest (and 2007 national champions) faced the No. 2 ranked Terrapins at Ludwig Field. It was nationally televised and a record crowd of 6,500 came out and braved the elements to cheer on the Terps. For once there were actually a few photographers present: James from UPI was there shooting for Greg Fiume, Jackie from the Diamondback was there, and another photographer showed up fully entombed in foul weather gear.

Jackie (and the Diamondback) has been to several games this year and I've bumped into her a few times at other events. She recently switched from Canon to Nikon and leapt from a Rebel XTi to a D300. I asked her what prompted the switch and she said that when using the Diamondback's Nikon equipment her photos came out so much better than on her Canon. It was significant enough to warrant her dropping her own cash on purchasing a D300. For a college student that's no small feat! Since she didn't have any foul weather gear or protective covering for her camera body I loaned her my jacket to use during the first half.

When she headed home at half time I got my jacket back and got a real chance to try it out in the driving rain. My shirt was already soaked at that point but I didn't get any wetter in the second half. The jacket and pants really worked well! It's definitely worth the $100 or so to purchase waterproof pants and a jacket!

The photos came out kinda shaky tonight due to the bad weather. I shot at ISO 5000 and the exposure came out pretty well. At a few different times I got some water on the front element of my 400mm f/2.8 lens. I used a soft paper towel to dry it off but droplets continued to form. I only have a partial lens hood and I suspect that didn't help me during the downpour this evening. If I had a full lens hood it would give me another 4 inches of coverage in front of the front element. Oh well...

It took a little longer to post process my images from the match because I didn't have a chance to delete them on camera during half time. The Aqua Tech doesn't make it easy for you to get your hands in and work a lot of the dials so when I arrived at home I was working through 600 or so exposures. I still managed to get the photos processed and captioned before I headed to bed.

On Saturday morning I put together the article based on the box score posting and my own recollection of the game. You can view my photos of the Maryland Terrapins vs the Wake Forest Demon Deacons over on Flickr. You can also read my article on the Terps vs Wake Forest men's soccer game over on the DC Sports Box website.

Field Hockey: Maryland Terrapins vs American

2008-09-17T19:58:00.014-04:00

The Terps played an unusual mid-week game this afternoon against a school that's no more than a 10 mile drive down the road: American University.

American has a strong field hockey team and the competition today was sharp. The Terps missed some passes in the early going and both teams walked away at half time with a 0-0 tie. In the end it was a goal off a corner by Ellen Ott and a Nicole Muracco baseball hit that gave the Terps the 2 points they needed to outlast the Eagles.

This week has been really hectic for me at work. I have 3 or 4 customers (depending on who you ask) that I work for part time. When their work isn't too chaotic I can usually do an adequate job (again, it depends on who you ask) managing 3 or 4 different sets of expectations. When 1 customer has a critical problem it disrupts the other 2 or 3. Usually they're pretty understanding unless they themselves have critical problems.

This past week or so I've had 3 of my 4 customers experience "critical problems" that for whatever reason required me (and only me) to be there to fix. I'm caught in this pretty bad predicament where they perceive me as critical-path or as a resource they must use in times of chaos. As a result it can make things ... chaotic.

With today's field hockey game I thought to myself: I really should stay here and help these folks with their problems, especially given that I'm heading out of town on Friday and won't be back until Tuesday. But then I thought: I want to shoot a field hockey game.

It was a difficult game to shoot because the Terps shot away from the sun in the first half and didn't put together a lot of offense. In the second half Maryland shot into the sun and at that point Coach Meharg had pumped up the team enough to result in considerably more shots on goal. Most of my action shots that I published this evening came from the second half.

I got some more huddle shots of the team and I got Susie Rowe and Meghan Dean emerging from the huddle and heading out onto the field. The two have very similar physiques and proportions, and their numbers look very similar too: #6 (Rowe) and #8 (Dean). Whenever I caption the two I have a hard time telling the difference between them. Fortunately today Dean wore her hair in a big pony tail while Rowe just wore it back.

Interestingly enough we received a comment on the DC Sports Box page the other day from the parent of Rowe. We (or rather I) had mis-captioned some of the photos and identified the player as Dean rather than Rowe. It was pretty funny because I've been on the other side of the keyboard zooming in at the photo looking for context clues to determine if the player is Rowe or Dean. It's no surprise to me that I got a few of the captions wrong! Fortunately the parent of the player wasn't too upset over my mistake!

Yuchen again agreed to write the article for today's game. I was happy to hear that - he knows so much more about the sport of field hockey than I do, and I have plenty of other work to keep me busy.

My photos from Maryland Field Hockey's win over American University can be found on Flickr.

Field Hockey: Maryland Terrapins vs Northwestern

2008-09-17T19:58:00.011-04:00

When I arrived home from football and field hockey on Saturday I took a shower. It was the best shower I've taken in my entire life!

But on Sunday I was back out in the sun for another field hockey game. The matchup between the Maryland Terrapins and the unranked Northwestern Wildcats was expected to be a relatively easy win for the Terps but the Wildcats played a tough game in the early going. I was just happy to be back on the sidelines shooting after being away for several weekends and missing the opening of the field hockey season.

I started sports photography in December 2006 by taking photos of the Maryland Women's Basketball team. When spring arrived I launched into baseball but found my 70-200mm lens to be really insufficient for most shots. As spring progressed I attended some softball games and the 70-200mm lens was perfect size for the infield. I was turned away from men's lacrosse but I did manage to get into a few women's lacrosse games. Again though ... 70-200mm is just too underpowered for that sport.

By the time Fall 2007 rolled around I had become a more serious sports photographer and I had acquired a 400mm f/2.8 lens off SportsShooter.com. Field Hockey was the first sport where I really had a good chance to try it out because I was denied entrance to soccer games and volleyball doesn't need long glass. The field hockey field is really well suited for 400mm glass and likewise the stadium is very accessible and shootable from outside the official fence. As a result it was the first sport I felt like I could attend without being pushed around and take my photos from outside the fence without being hassled.

I got to know the team from a numbers and names standpoint because it was also one of the first teams where I actually captioned my photos individually.

When this year rolled around and I noticed that several games were being played while I was away on vacation in late August early September I was a little bummed. Naturally when I saw 2 open games this weekend I jumped on covering them.

Greg Fiume, the Maryland team photographer, came out for today's event. Yuchen Nie, my coworker from the DC Sports Box, was also there for our group. Another photographer from the Diamondback was present - I've seen her at baseball and soccer games but I've never introduced myself. I had a good time with everyone and got some decent shots. With 10 goals it's pretty hard not to walk away with a bunch of publishable photos!

Yuchen agreed to write the article for today's game and that took a bunch of work off my shoulders. I've been writing and posting photos like crazy and truth be told I'm a pretty lousy writer. I write so that I can shoot, and if someone told me tomorrow I could shoot without writing I would give up the pen in a heartbeat. When I arrived home I post processed my photos in about 45 minutes and had them published and ready to go. It was such a good feeling.

You can view my photos of Maryland's 10-1 win over Northwestern in Field Hockey over on my Flickr page. Or you can read Yuchen Nie's article on the Terps win over the Bears on the DC Sports Box page.

Football: Maryland Terrapins vs California Bears

2008-09-17T19:58:00.008-04:00

Last year we couldn't get credentials to volleyball or women's soccer. This year we have season credentials to football. Oh how sweet it is...

I could've just shot the football game today between Maryland and Cal but I wanted to give the field hockey team some support and be there for their game. After all, the field hockey team is ranked No. 1 and the Syracuse team is No. 7: somebody has got to cover it...

So once the field hockey game concluded I headed back up to Byrd Stadium to join up with Al for the football game. Al was on the field and his 400mm f/2.8 N series glass wasn't autofocusing properly. He could only apply manual focus. It was good that I was there with my long glass so that I could get some decent shots for us!

I arrived half way through the 2nd quarter and started shooting on the sidelines. It was very exciting - I've been on the field at Byrd stadium dozens of times but never when there are 51,000 people up in the stands, the scoreboard is lit, and the announcer is calling out the plays over the loud speakers. It was definitely an experience I'll never forget.

It was also really hot. It wasn't as bad as our Adidas National Lacrosse Classic event back in July but the combination of high temperature, high humidity, and very little natural breeze made the environment a real challenge. I felt like I started off at a disadvantage having brought 300mm, 400mm, 14-24mm, and 24-70mm glass with me in addition to my D3. I also trucked all that equipment across campus and back. By the time I hit the field I was ready for a serious glass of water!

As usual it took a bit for me to adjust to the game. Watching a sport and photographing a sport are very different activities and it takes some time to fall into your rhythm when you photograph a sport. Field hockey had put me in the mindset for sports photography but I still not experienced any serious football games prior to arriving a Byrd Stadium. As a result it took a bit for me to adjust.

I definitely got a taste for why sports photographers love football. The action is intense and the 400mm lens is perfect for the football field. The 400mm can be a bit too much on smaller fields like lacrosse or field hockey, and it can be too short on larger fields like soccer. But for football that lens is perfect. I used my 300mm a handful of times when the Terps or the Bears were in the redzone. But, truth be told, I don't think I ended up publishing a single 300mm photo. I'm pretty confident that all of my best work from the game came from 400mm.

At halftime I headed up to the top of Tyser Tower where some of the TV crews shoot the game. I wanted to get a really wide shot of the stadium. The clouds were really bright and there was a nice blue sky so I thought the shot would come out well. It did and I was happy I went up high. I actually wish I had a wider ultra-wide lens. The 14mm on an FX sensor looked decent but I really needed 10mm or possibly even 8mm.

After the game I hung out in the press-conference room and cooled off. I didn't have anything to drink during the entire second half and I was really thirsty. Fortunately I know a lot of the secret places at Gossett Field House and was able to find some leftover water bottles from the pre-game tailgate. They were buried beneath a bunch of ice and I snagged about 5 of them. When I got back into the press-conference room I handed a pair to Greg Fiume and Mitch, two photographers I know from Maryland. I downed the remaining 3. Best water evar...

My photos from Maryland's win over the California Bears are located over on Flickr. You can also read my article about the Terps win over the Bears over on the DC Sports Box.

Field Hockey: Maryland Terrapins vs Syracuse

2008-09-17T19:58:00.005-04:00

Saturday morning I woke up and packed up my new Think Tank photographers belt and headed over to Byrd Stadium to pick up my photo credential for the football game later in the day. After picking it up I headed down to the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex to take photos of the field hockey team face No. 7 ranked Syracuse.

It was very odd for Maryland to host a field hockey tournament (the Maryland Invitational) on the same weekend as a football game against a top-25 team. None-the-less I headed down to get the coverage while Al hung out at Byrd and focused on the first quarter of football.

I've walked into the field hockey and lacrosse complex dozens of times but this time was different. The smell of grilled hot dogs and hamburgers swirled in the air and the sounds of fans partying before kickoff over in Lot 4 permeated the field hockey stadium. As usual, no other photographers were present.

There was plenty of light for the game but I didn't manage to get very many good shots. Both teams were well matched and the Terps were lethargic at times. They tightened up in the second half and I managed to put together a decent enough photoset but it was a far cry from some of the dominating games the team put together last year. Others in the crowd swear it's untrue but I'm convinced that the partying atmosphere and the smell of tailgating affected their play. Syracuse was good but not great and it seemed like if this had been a regular Saturday or Sunday game Maryland would've blown them out of the water.

It took a lot of work to hike across campus from Byrd Stadium to the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex with all my equipment. All told it's probably 25-35lbs of glass, probably more. And it's awkward too. Navigating through parking lots filled with drunk fans was a challenge.

After the football settled in the parking lots quieted down significantly and the return trip back across campus was a lot easier. It was still and uphill battle (literally) but I didn't have to contend with lots of people walking around in a daze.

Once the field hockey game ended I high-tailed it back to Byrd stadium for the football game. I wanted to miss as little as possible of my first daylight home game in Byrd.

My photos from the Maryland Terrapins vs Syracuse field hockey game are on Flickr. You can also read my article about the Terps vs Syracuse field hockey results over on the DC Sports Box.

Men's Soccer: Maryland Terrapins vs Boston College

2008-09-17T19:58:00.002-04:00

On Friday it was my birthday and after a quick nibble at home with Julie I headed out to Ludwig Field to shoot the Terrapins face their first ACC opponent of the season.

The weather was great for the 8pm start and the crowd was of good size. It wasn't a sell out but both sets of seats in the endzone were fully occupied and that always helps to amp up the teams and create better atmosphere. As usual there were very few photographers present: just Jackie from the Diamondback and I were there.

The last men's game I shot at Ludwig turned out pretty well so I decided to again go with ISO 4000. The noise is really quite reasonable on the D3 and having the sensitivity turned up so high allows me to shoot at 1/500th of a second. Going any slower in soccer is pretty risky because you can get a lot of motion blur.

It was surprisingly easy to get into the game tonight. The operations staff moved the media entrance down to the opposite side of the field but once I found it I was able to get through pretty quickly. My name wasn't on the list but Al's name was and the girl working the desk didn't seem to care much.

Your mileage with operations staff really seems to vary. On one hand at Volleyball I was told to go get a wristband or to move aside. But then at soccer, a revenue sport, the operations person practically let me through just based on seeing my camera gear.

I've noticed that most of my soccer photos involve headers. I'm not sure if it's because those are the most common or if it's because those are the shots where you typically only have 2 people in the frame. Soccer is so hard to shoot because there are just so many players on the field that tend to be exactly between you and the ball. Likewise, the players run up and down the sidelines to warm up, a practice that no other sport seems to do. When a play unfolds they tend to stop directly in front of me to watch whats going on. Then you have the off-sides referee who always manages to find a way to park himself directly in front of me. And lastly the ball-boys (or girls): they too find a way to deposit themselves right in my field of view.

When 2 players go up for a header they're up above the rest of the players on the field and most of the sideline crews don't stop what they're doing to watch.

So as I'm going through my photos the ones that tend to come out uninterrupted are the headers. But I don't want to be one-dimensional in what I turn in for my work. It's difficult finding the right balance between quantity, quality, and variation.

When I arrived at home I quickly got through all my photos and wrote up a quick article on the game. It was a brief article because the outcome was 1-0 Terps and there wasn't much to talk about other than how equally well both teams played.

You can go take a look at the Maryland Terrapins vs Boston College men's soccer game photos over on Flickr. Or, you can read about the Terps vs BC on the DC Sports Box.

Men's Soccer: Maryland Terrapins vs Davidson

2008-09-07T21:26:00.002-04:00

I kept my wristband on during this afternoon while I worked on my photos from women's soccer along with my article. After warming up some leftovers that Julie and I made while in North Carolina (Baked Ziti) I shuffled back over to Ludwig to take some photos of the men's soccer match against Davidson.

The Terps are ranked this year and the men's soccer games draw a pretty decent crowd. I think that we (Dave Lovell and myself) are on the season credential list for men's soccer but since I still had on my wristband from earlier I was able to walk in without checking with the media folks first.

I wanted to get a few shots during the golden hour but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate. Even though it was sunny all day and was getting nice and golden 15 minutes before game time the sun dropped below some clouds far off in the west and left us with ordinary well diffused light.

Oh well...

Since I didn't have a chance to get my golden shots I decided to experiment some more with shooting from the endzone again. It worked pretty well. I was able to get some shots of some attacks that I normally wouldn't have been able to capture while on the sideline.

About half way through the first 45 minutes I bumped into Dave Lovell. He was all decked out in his Think Tank gear along with his 2 bodies. We talked about football coverage next weekend and I said I didn't know what Al's plan was beyond Anthony Amobi being the DC Sports Box writer.

It was nice not having to write an article for the men's soccer game. I was able to just sit back and post process my photos and get a jump start on putting out my blog posts before cleaning up my hard drive. This week should also be a good one. With no games I should have time to finally get Shock in order and upgraded to use Maven. I also have fixed a few bugs in it that were really bothering me but I haven't been able to push out a new version until the Maven upgrade is complete.

I've also been thinking a lot more about putting together some kind of scrappy assignment desk. Our process for editing articles right now is entirely email based and as a result it's very sloppy. Some software would help us standardize and improve the workflow and it wouldn't be too difficult to write. I just need to find the time to do it...

Women's Soccer: Maryland Terrapins vs Temple Owls

2008-09-07T21:15:00.002-04:00

I talked with Dave during Volleyball and we decided to split the soccer games on Sunday between each other to distribute the work load. I picked the 1pm women's soccer game while Dave took the 7pm men's soccer contest.

The sun was at a great angle for shots favoring the Terps in the first half. This was good news since Maryland was on the attack for the better part of the opening 45 minutes. I started out on the sideline but then moved up into the stands in the "endzone" part of the field so I could get some better light. When standing in the endzone the sun was at about a 30 degree angle behind me, but when I stood on the sideline I was working with a 60 degree angle for the sun's location. This created a lot of shadows and hard light on the players as they marched up the field.

I usually don't go into the endzone at Ludwig Field because it requires me to go up into the stands. When I enter the stands my perspective suffers because I have a lot of field in the background rather than stands that are really far away on the opposite side of the pitch. The field is within a reasonable depth of field so as a result my subjects aren't as isolated as they would be had I shot from down low.

On the other hand I get a much better perspective on the players as they race up the sidelines of the field. Being higher up also helps in focus because I'm shooting less through people and more above people. I noticed that I'm able to capture considerably more shots being up high, but the quality of the shots is less.

It was pretty sunny and I wore my photography hat while shooting today. Another photographer from the Diamondback was in attendance and she didn't seem to have on much sun protection at all. She wore jeans which must've been sweltering, but no hat or anything else. I got a little bit of a sunburn on my right forearm but overall I came out unscathed.

My "AARP" chair (as Dave Lovell calls it) worked well for me. I used to wear knee pads last season. In the summer sun you quickly sweat up the insides of the pads and I found myself slipping around in them a lot. A chair, while certainly less cool than knee pads, works great.

As usual there were no press or other photographers other than myself and the Diamondback reporter. Hopefully that'll change in the future but for now it seems as though we're the only outlet regularly reporting on the Terrapin Olympic sports.

My article on Maryland's win over the Temple Owls is posted up on the DC Sports Box website. You can also view my gallery of the Terps over the Temple Owls over on Flickr.

Volleyball: Maryland Terrapins vs Kentucky

2008-09-07T21:04:00.005-04:00

Thanks to Tropical Storm Hanna my wife Julie and I cut short our vacation by a day to head back to DC. Arriving home a day early gave me the chance to take a look at the Maryland schedule and figure out what games I'd like to attend.

The first on the chopping block was women's volleyball.

The volleyball team and the wrestling team both play in Comcast Pavilion. There are about a dozen challenges associated with Comcast Pavilion but the biggest problem I've faced is the lighting. It's really difficult to work with.

Volleyball is a sport where the player moves extremely fast to spike the ball. You have to use 1/500th of a second for shutter speed and even then you'll get some motion blur. With the lighting in the Pavilion I have to shoot at ISO 4000 using an f/2.8 lens if I'm going to get anything decent to work with. Dave suggested an 85/1.4 and I think that'd work pretty well in there.

The bigger issue is that the bulbs are inconsistent. Some are blue, some are white, and some are orange. Given that they don't shine uniformly bright it makes exposure and white balance a real challenge. They also are the types of lights that slowly bleed off light as they cycle every 1/60th of a second. As the bulb distributes light over time the color of the light changes. If we shot slower than 1/60th of a second we'd get all the shades of light and you could set some WB adjustment to get some sort of a better color. But since we're up at 1/500th of a second or faster we only get 1 sliver of the different colors that are thrown off by the bulbs.

Every photo I kept I ended up adjusting the tint and WB on. It slows you down and it makes post processing really difficult because you're trying to avoid making the players jerseys appear blue while also avoiding making their skin tones appear yellow or orange.

I bumped into Dave Lovell at the game and he was working with a 300mm lens in addition to a 70-200 on a D300. I stuck with my 70-200mm on my D3 with ISO 4000 for most of the match and was very happy with how it performed. The shots came out a lot better than my shots last year on my D200. Of course last year I was working with ISO 2000 as the highest ISO I realistically wanted to use so I'd dip down into the 1/250th of a second shutter speeds to get some exposure.

I also bumped into Joey Flyntz. I've met him a few times at Maryland but can't recall the specific sports. I had to ask for a media bracelet since one of the operations people gave me a hard time about being on the sideline. He kinda laughed because very few people request credentials for volleyball and he had a difficult time locating a bracelet to give me.

Please go take a look at the article I wrote about Maryland Volleyball's loss to Kentucky on the DC Sports Box. I also have a photo gallery posted of the Maryland vs Kentucky volleyball match over on Flickr.

Men's Soccer: Maryland Terrapins vs USF Bulls

2008-08-28T11:25:00.002-04:00

I wrapped up my proposal by 5pm Friday afternoon and headed down to College Park to shoot the first home game for the Maryland men's soccer team. It was an exhibition game but I thought some other photographers or reporters might be there. I spotted a couple of guys I recognize from men's basketball and it was good to see them out there. I didn't see any photographers though.

Fortunately the Terps wore their jerseys so we can use some of the photos I grabbed for stock purposes later on in the season. The shoot went pretty well - I wasn't too happy with the lighting conditions but those are often out of your control. I was looking for a really bright sunset but that wasn't in the cards. It was overcast and there wasn't a lot of sharp light.

A lot of photographers prefer an overcast sky because it diffuses the sunlight and allows them to avoid blown highlights and dark shadows. I agree with that but at the same time there's nothing like getting a full face illuminated with orange sunlight. You fight with shadows on their faces from noses, ears, arms, and other blockages. But if you can snag that one image where the light is unobstructed it makes for a great photograph.

When I got home I packed up my things and got started on my story and photos as quickly as possible. Julie and I are heading out of town on Saturday morning and a late night is not the kind of thing I was looking for. I got through the photos really quickly and used the box score to type up an article. Earlier in the day I installed Lightroom 2 and there seems to be some kind of bug related to audio sidecar files. For whatever reason when I import a file with an audio sidecar the file disappears in Lightroom. It appears in the filmstrip preview in the bottom but then disappears when I try to view the photo. Argh...

My story and photos from the Maryland Terrapins vs USF Bulls men's soccer game at Ludwig Field in College Park are up on the DC Sports Box. You can also look at my photos of the Terps and Bulls over on Flickr.

Women's Soccer: Maryland Terrapins vs West Virginia Mountaineers

2008-08-28T10:57:00.002-04:00

It's been awhile since I posted. I'm working on a proposal for my company and it's really sucked up a lot of time. Normally we have a decent amount of time to prepare for bidding on work but in this case we had 5 days. Between my day job, my night job, and bidding this work my time has been really strapped.

But I'm down in North Carolina right now and a band of showers from TS Fay is moving across the island giving me a great chance to update my blog with a few posts.

Dave Lovell and I are going to be the folks from the DC Sports Box responsible for covering Maryland Athletics this fall, and tonight's exhibition women's soccer game against the West Virginia Mountaineers gave me a chance to pass the torch over to Dave for a few weeks while I'm down in North Carolina. We met up at Ludwig Field prior to the exhibition game against West Virginia and went over some of the basics of the field layout. I told Dave about the poor lighting as well as where they typically allow us to go around the field and where they restrict us from. I also introduced him to the CSC folks that regularly work the games.

One of the CSC guys gave us a bit of a hard time and was somewhat confrontational when describing where he would allow us to go and where we could not approach. He quipped about "if you go in there those cameras are mine". Afterwards Dave remarked to me "with all this work maybe we just shouldn't be here!". I thought his observation was both funny and on-the-money with respect to covering athletics. We don't want to interfere with the game at all and we have no interest in going places where we would risk our own safety or influence the game. At the same time I don't think some of the CSC guards realize that. I know they're just doing their jobs but there was a harshness associated with his tone that made us feel really unwelcome ... at an exhibition women's soccer game.

Dave and I shot the game from opposite sides of the field to get the best coverage and it worked pretty well. This Fall should be interesting from a process standpoint because we'll need to coordinate the photo editing for multiple photographers at the same event. In the past it has been just Dave or just me photographing an event. But with Dave and I doubling up on a few events we're going to have to figure out how to best blend our sets of shots. For this event I wrote the article and Dave picked the photos he wanted for the gallery. In the future I suppose we'll just do the same.

It'd be great if we had some easy way of merging my photos with his. It's something to remember for Avalanche...

Our photos and article that describe the Maryland Terrapins vs West Virginia Mountaineers exhibition women's soccer game at Ludwig Field in College Park are up on the DC Sports Box website. Additionally you can find my photoset of WVU vs the Terps on Flickr.

Women's Soccer: Maryland Terrapins vs Georgetown Hoyas

2008-08-14T22:16:00.004-04:00

Welcome back, Maryland.

This evening I attended the first Terrapin athletic event of the Fall semester: an exhibition women's soccer game between the Terps and the Georgetown Hoyas. I was thrilled to be back on the field looking through the long glass, and the weather was absolutely perfect.

This time of year the temperature averages in the upper 80s or lower 90s and the humidity is often sweltering. Mid-august time in Washington DC is not good. Not good at all. This past week we've been under the influence of an air mass from Canada that's cool and dry. That makes for some great summertime weather. In fact ... Julie and I have slept with our windows open the past 3 nights! Imagine that during mid August!

Fall, Winter, and Spring sports at Maryland was essentially a full-time second job for me and I welcomed a few months of down-time during the summer. I had planned on writing a bunch of code but in the end I ended up splitting my time between business development and software engineering. I got some code written but I failed to get the assignment desk written. But I managed to get our group incorporated, funded, and I got our bank account all set up and ready to go. Overall I'm happy with my progress.

Maryland Athletics is quickly spinning up this Fall and I'm happy to report that Al has asked me to coordinate coverage for our group. We have field hockey, women's soccer, men's soccer, and volleyball up on the table and it boils down to Dave Lovell and I working the games. Yuchen Nie might fill in for some field hockey and volleyball games, and Al Santos might also take a game or two. For the most part I expect it'll be Dave Lovell and I.

Dave and I have had a few bumps in the past but he's a really great thinker and could help our organization in the long run. He's a great photographer, writes very well, and he's gone the amazingly extra step of volunteering (I think he's crazy for this) to edit the articles on our site. He's also very professional and has a lot of commitment towards doing a great job. I'm privileged to have worked with him in the past and I look forward to what opportunities he can bring to our organization.

Women's soccer kicked off their exhibition game this evening against Georgetown. Like many other of the Maryland "Olympic" sports I was one of the few photographers or writers present. In fact, no other members of the media were in attendance for this season's kickoff. In the past that kind of bothered me but now I just accept it for what it is.

I bumped into my favorite CSC guard Joe. Joe works most of the field sports for the Terps and he also works the women's basketball games. I talk with him whenever I attend the events because he's such a happy older man. He just seems happy to be there getting paid to watch some college students compete. It's really great!

I took a few huddle shots as the Terps prepared to take the field. Afterward Al expressed some concern and asked if I had received permission to take the huddle shots. I explained the nature of the event (20-30 spectators, Terps didn't even wear their jerseys) and said that I had talked with some trainers and assistant coaches beforehand.

The photos of the game went well and I was happy with my camera's performance. In the Fall I shot with a D200 and a 400mm f/2.8 lens and was heavily disgruntled. The lighting at Ludwig is awful and the D200 barely functioned at ISO1600. Above that the photos were useless. This evening I shot at ISO3200 and ISO4000 at some points and the shots came out really well. The colors weren't great but the noise was negligible.

I got a few great shots before the sun set and used most of them in my gallery. I also used the voice recorder feature on my D3 to record some game notes.

In post processing I was really disappointed by Lightroom 2.0's handling of voice metadata. Lightroom has the concept of sidecars that accompany the original image file. Audio files are considered sidecars. Often times I record voice after the last shot of some significant event like a goal. Those photos aren't interesting in and of themselves but the audio helps me write my caption for the good photo or it helps me write my article.

Lightroom doesn't allow me to select all photos that have an accompanying audio sidecar. That sucks! As I skim through my photos I tag certain ones for deletion and I may accidentally remove an image file with a sidecar audio file. I would like for some kind of badge or read-only flag to be set on the images with a sidecar audio file so that I don't inadvertently delete them.

Anyhow... I'll have to put some thought towards figuring out how to handle audio files in a better way as I move forward this Fall. We're ramping up for our coverage of Terrapin atheltics this Fall and I'm sure this will come back to bite me.

In the meantime please go take a look at my Flickr photoset of the Maryland Terrapins vs Georgetown Hoyas in women's soccer. Also, you can read about Maryland Women's Soccer 3-3 tie with Georgetown over on the DC Sports Box.

Football: 2008 Maryland Football Media Day

2008-08-08T21:23:00.003-04:00

Last summer I got involved with the DC Sports Box through Al Santos and I really wanted to cover Maryland athletics in the Fall. I wanted to photograph Terrapin Football in particular due to the size of the players and the action in the game. Last summer when I attended the media day I was really hopeful that we would receive credentials to the Fall season.

When we were declined credentials for women's soccer games it became apparent that Maryland wasn't going to open the door for us. None the less I worked hard and attended a lot of events in the Fall and promoted the athletics program on our website. It paid off down the road as Maryland eventually opened up to us and offered us access to certain sports.

A full year later it's odd looking back on events and setting my eyes on what will happen in the future. Covering football games for the Terps would be a dream but if it isn't in our cards then that's ok too. This year I attended the annual media day for Maryland Football with a completely different mindset.

A few months ago we were contacted by a Maryland representative who inquired about our unique visitor count per month. We responded but were very perplexed by the request. After attending the media day this past week it makes sense: guideline #7 of the Maryland Football Media Criteria states that online entities must have at least 20k unique visitors per month. That's a lot, and we don't have it.

As a result I think we'll be declined for credentials this season (again).

The media day event seemed more subdued this year compared with last year. Last year the players were running around and there were probably dozens of media organizations. This year I think I counted 5 at the most on the field. None of the players were throwing the football around. They came out and posed for group photos, posed for individual photos, and just kinda hung around.

I took several group photos of the various players as well as a handful of individual shots. It didn't amount to very many exposures in the end ... maybe 150. Al and Dave hung out upstairs in the media room for most of the event. I was ok with that - the fact that I wasn't there alone put me into a different caliber of people. With the exception of Classic Photographers (a group contracted to shoot individual and team shots) none of the organizations had multiple photographers onsite. It says a lot that our group (DC Sports Box) had 3 photographers present, even if 2 of them were upstairs listening to Coach Friedgen talk.

Back in February I did a pretty extensive writeup of the 2008 Terps and previewed the opponents the Terrapins will face. It's a really long writeup and we decided to split it up over 3 separate articles to post on the website. The length of the article, in addition to the photos we published, grabbed the 3rd spot on Google News for the search phrase "Maryland Football". I was happy about that. As a result we got 500+ hits to the article.

After I posted the article I was contacted by another member of the staff who would like to do something similar for the Redskins. Whenever somebody wants to do some work for our organization I always encourage it but at the same time I thought to myself "too late." I wrote our article for Football back in February so that it was ready to go when the media day rolls around. We sent it along to the Maryland media folks and they were happy to see an in-depth article. At this point the Redskins are gearing up for their second pre-season game and we just found out that we were declined credentialed access (no surprise). If we had wanted to try to impress the Redskins franchise and try to make a play for access this Fall the time to do so would have been back in the Spring. Covering draft picks, off-season news, practice camp news, and pre-season events would demonstrate to the organization that we're serious about covering their team. Putting together a write-up after the pre-season has begun is good but I don't think it's going to help our case for obtaining credentialed access. Such is life I suppose ... some people fail to plan ahead.

It's sometimes frustrating to me to see our organization make mistakes like this because I feel as though I have foresight into our impending failures. We didn't do any Redskins coverage last year because we were declined access (nor did we do any Maryland Football coverage), so why would those organizations open up to us now? Maryland might since we've covered a lot of their Olympic sports but what's in it for the Skins? Not a whole lot. We're an unproven and untested organization and there are lots of proven and tested organizations out there that deserve access.

I often find myself trying to strike the balance between pushing people to reach beyond our current coverage scope today and not being too much of a hardass. How can I say to people in March "go write a post-season analysis" or "go do a draft preview"? I get pushback on things like that and little support from others on the staff. But then when the Fall comes around and we're farming for credentials it's easy to see why we are turned down at times. I see this with full clarity yet it is so foreign to so many people I work with. How can I help them understand?

So the bottom line with Maryland football is that I expect us to be declined access. I think that Al will be disappointed. I will be disappointed as well but it's not the end of the world to me. I'm really happy about that because last year it was a serious let down when we were turned down.

In the meantime please go read my 2008 Maryland Football PreSeason Preview over on the DC Sports Box. I also have lots of photos of Maryland football players and coaches (team shots) as well as individual pictures of Maryland football players at Byrd Stadium on my Flickr account.

Men's Lacrosse: Adidas National Lacrosse Classic

2008-07-26T13:27:00.004-04:00

On Wednesday Al contacted me with news that a promoter had reached out to him and asked if the DC Sports Box would be willing to cover a lacrosse tournament being held this weekend in Germantown at the Maryland Soccer Plex. We discussed some possible rates we could charge and moved forward with accepting the job confident that we could work out the payment details later on.

When all was said and done we were offered a fixed rate to shoot the event as well as 100% of the photo sales proceeds. The promoter only wanted a CD at the end of the event that contains all of the photos and the rights to use the photos in future promotional materials. This sounded like a fantastic deal and we naturally accepted it. Paid work is great, and the opportunity to work with a promoter in the Washington DC region could lead to follow-on work down the road.

Scheduling coverage for the event was challenging. There were 3 fields that were active for 75% of the day, meaning we'd need 3 photographers to do a really good job. We could do it with 2 but that would mean that one of the photographers would have to move at halftime, and that limits our coverage. What if a major event happened during a half where we weren't present?

We scrambled to get our photographers lined up. I committed to covering Saturday and Sunday's activities. Al Santos and Yuchen Nie took Friday and part of Saturday, Yuchen took Sunday, and Mike Busada showed up with his assistant Kim Bauer for a handful of games on Saturday.

It was a lot of work.

It was blisteringly hot out on the artificial turf. The air temperature was in the mid 90s, the humidity was high, there were very few clouds, and very little breeze. It had to have been 100+ on the field. Several of my shots actually capture the heat waves floating off the field. I never knew you could photograph heat.

I opened up by shooting f/2.8 but noticed that several of my shots were out of focus. I attribute this to my being out-of-practice from sports photography as well as the difficulties the heat caused. I suspect that the heat waves coming off the field interfered with the AF system in my camera and caused the focal length to be slightly off. I switched to f/5.6 and my shots became noticeably sharper and in focus.

Post processing was a real challenge. With an event this large one person needed to take responsibility for obtaining all the photos from the various photographers. That same person has to then make sure they are correctly named, captioned, and uploaded to the PhotoShelter site where we sell our photos. I didn't trust anyone else to be thorough so I took on that responsibility. It was a lot more than I thought it would be.

We had problems with photographers not being accurate on their filenames, and that appears on the photo sales site. Some folks named their files "DelmarVsNorCal_01.jpg" but it was actually Delmar Prep that played. Likewise, the caption information did not reflect the correct team. When that happened I had to pull all 150+ photos into Lightroom, re-caption them, and re-export them. It was very frustrating.

We also had bandwidth problems. One of the photographers used "FINE JPEG" as his setting and that produced 4MB and 5MB pictures. He uploaded 200 - 300 photos to our media.dcsportsbox.com site, and I then had to download those files to my local box before re-uploading them to PhotoShelter. If PhotoShelter had an SFTP interface I could've just slid the files from media.dcsportsbox.com over to PhotoShelter and that would've saved considerable time but I couldn't do that due to PhotoShelter's upload policies. As a result I had to download 1.5GB of imagery from 1 game over a rather slow upload from media.dcsportsbox.com, and then re-upload 1.5GB of imagery from my T1 at work or my cable modem at home to PhotoShelter. Fortunately Comcast will burst your uploads and I was able to squeeze out an average 4Mbps on my upload. But while at my office I was put-putting along at a measly 1Mbps. And we pay $400 a month for that T1 (my cable modem at home runs me $43 a month)...

We're still not finished with all of our work from the event and we're all really tired of looking at these photos. It takes a lot of work to organize all the photos that are taken by 3 photographers during 3 days of solid work but I think it's taught us a lot. We're planning on doing a post-mortem this week to talk about what worked and what didn't work. That'll help us the next time around when we're approached by someone that wants us to cover an event.

In the meantime we've earned some cash for our small organization, and that'll help us seed the next round of growth. It's exciting to be paid for photography, but it also involves a lot of work.

Please head over to our DC Sports Box article on the 2008 Adidas National Lacrosse Classic and take a look at our galleries.

Women's Soccer: Washington Freedom vs Long Island Rough Riders

2008-07-17T22:00:00.004-04:00

The Freedom played their last game of the season and I wanted to make sure that someone from the DC Sports Box covered the event. Yuchen attended one of their games back in early June and I missed one or two of them, so I wanted to make sure that when the end of the season rolled around we had someone on the field. Unfortunately none of the 5 other photographers that work with our group would commit to heading up to Germantown MD for a 7pm game.

So, at around 5:30 pm, I embarked on a trek that originated in Annapolis Junction and took me through the rolling hills of Howard and Montgomery Counties towards Germantown. I wound my want down Sundown Rd, Bright Lane, Blunt Rd, and eventually onto the familiar Germantown Rd. For a 2 mile curvy span of Blunt Rd there weren't any line markers on the pavement and the road really narrowed!

I made it in time and headed down to the field. The folks working the welcome desk recognized me from my attendance at the previous games and didn't give me any hassle. When I reached the field the players were out practicing and I looked around for Shane. I wanted to talk with him about his shots from Sunday night and see if he had resolved his website link issue.

As the players headed off the field prior to introductions I went through a mental exercise of what lens to use for their entrance. I considered the 14-24mm lens as well as the 70-200 but opted to go with the 70-200. In the end it didn't matter because the players didn't make much of a show during their entrance. They just kind of shuffled onto the field. I was surprised about it since it was their final home game.

I fired off a lot of exposures during the first half of play. The game started promptly at 7pm and the sun was in that golden-hour I love to use. The players looked spectacular - they were extremely well lit and the backgrounds had this soothing light on them. When the sun is so low in the sky you don't get as many shadows on the faces of your subjects and it makes for some great photos. You have to find the right spot where the sun is towards your back and the players are moving in your direction. If you can locate that magic spot you can get some tack-sharp photos with some wonderful color. I live for those shots.

When halftime rolled around I was up to around 600 exposures. I did my best to review as many of them as possible and delete the uninteresting ones. I was able to get it down to around 75 good ones and 150 I hadn't reviewed before the players re-took the field 15 minutes later. I realize that I'm chewing up the battery on my camera when I delete photos during a shoot but it significantly cuts down my post-processing time at home. Wading through 400 photos at home takes considerably less time than going through 1000.

I managed to capture a few good moments for the players thanks largely in part to the spirited competition. It was 0-0 for 88 minutes of play and that keeps the action competitive. Both teams dug at each other and that's what you need in order to get some great shots.

When I got home I made some pancakes with Julie and headed upstairs to post process. After about 2 hours I was finished with cropping, captioning, posting, and writing. To my surprise I didn't make any color or exposure adjustments to the photos. The ones in my photoset are direct off the camera and didn't require any adjustments in post-processing other than some minor rotation and cropping. That made me smile.

This upcoming weekend we have a lacrosse assignment that's been offered to our group. It sounds like a lot of work for a small amount of money but the exposure for our company could be really good. We've received exclusive rights to the photo sales and that's a good thing for us. As a result we're all rushing around to work out the logistics of covering 39 games in 3 days using 4 photographers. It's a lot of work to coordinate the post-processing and publishing activities of an event like that but I'm up to the challenge.

In the meantime please go take a look at my article about the Washington Freedom's 1-0 win over the Long Island Rough Riders, including a description of Christie Welsh's goal, over at the DC Sports Box. You can also check out my Washington Freedom Flickr Stream.

Women's Soccer: Washington Freedom vs Fredericksburg Lady Gunners

2008-07-14T22:45:00.003-04:00

After Saturday's Freedom game I took some photos of a colleague's band that played 4 sets up Kelsey's Bar and Grille in Columbia MD. His band, the Radio Clowns, is really quite good and the bar was pretty lively when they played. It was a lot of fun but I was really dragging by the time I rolled into my house around 2:30am. And I wanted to get my media onto my laptop before heading to bed, so I didn't hit the sack until around 3:30am or so.

On Sunday I post-processed my farm set, Freedom set, a set of a wicked cool church, and then band set. I love taking photos so it was really enjoyable. I headed out late Sunday afternoon for a 6pm Freedom game hoping to get some golden-hour highly-vibrant shots. I love that orange glow in the evening and how much color that gives your subject!

On the way up the Soccer Plex the clouds began to thicken and darken. I flipped on WTOP and heard the weatherman calling for storms and rain throughout the evening. I didn't like the sound of that since I hadn't prepared for it. I didn't have a poncho or any foul weather gear, and I didn't wrap my lens in a trash bag (I don't have an Aqua Tech yet).

When I reached the field I found a trashbag inside and promptly wrapped up my 400mm f/2.8 lens. I headed for the field and readied my 14-24 f/2.8 lens for the huddle shot. I wanted to get some photos of the team before they took the field. Just as they huddled up the weather opened up and a downpour ensued. It was a ton of rain!

I found a chair along the sideline and covered my my 14-24 and 70-200 lenses by placing them under the chair. I had my protective Nikon enclosures and I double checked them several times to make sure they were fully zipped up. I also triple checked the trash bag on the 400mm lens.

We only got in about 30 minutes of play but I got enough shots to make a decent photo album for the game. I purchased an AquaTech eye piece a few weeks ago to replace the stock eyepiece from Nikon. It butts out about 1/2 an inch from the body and I actually like that while shooting. It's a pain when putting the camera back into the bag but it works really well when I'm in the field. The softness of the AquaTech eye piece is really nice to work with.

That little eyepiece did a great job for me. Because it sticks out about 1/2 an inch it allowed me to wrap the trashbag firmly around the back of the camera to prevent any raindrops from falling on the LCD area. It worked perfectly and all of my gear stayed dry! At some point I'll invest in an AquaTech case but for now I'll be ok with my garbage bags and my AquaTech eye piece.

I bailed after talking with Shane Canfield for about 45 minutes or so. We were both comparing notes on photography and sports in particular and lamenting on how difficult it is to make some money in this profession. He's a talented photographer and if you're looking to purchase some shots of the Washington Freedom you should definitely check out his site.

When I arrived home I was frustrated over the lack of information on the Freedom website. I couldn't stay for the end of the game due to some other commitments I had but I wanted to know the final outcome. It wasn't until the next day that I found out from Shane that the Freedom won 6-1. Even at around 3pm the next day the results were not posted on the website.

Please go take a look at my photos of the Washington Freedom and Christie Welsh and Lori Lindsey when they defeated the Fredericksburg Lady Gunners over on my Flickr page.

Women's Soccer: Washington Freedom vs Jersey Sky Blue

2008-07-14T21:59:00.004-04:00

Wow it's been a long time since I posted!

I've taken a few weeks off from sports shooting to pursue some infrastructure improvements for the DC Sports Box. We're growing and facing a bunch of new challenges from that growth and I'm the only one on the team capable of making these kinds of improvements, so I kind of self-drafted myself.

But yesterday I got to get out and shoot the Freedom. While there I bumped into Shane Canefield but I didn't get much of an opportunity to speak with him. I also recognized most of the players, the coach, and a few of the staffers. I really felt different walking down onto the pitch at the Soccer Plex - last summer I had only a handful of games under my belt and this summer I'm quite a bit more experienced.

I enjoyed shooting the Freedom and really enjoyed my comfort level with the team compared to last year. For awhile there has been an uneasiness on my part surrounding shooting female athletes due to my being a male. Winter, Spring, and Summer 2007 were filled with conflicted thoughts about appropriateness in my shot selection. I was also uncomfortable with my camera equipment, so awkwardness was overwhelming.

The best part about covering this Freedom game was my comfort level on the field. Having shot so many sporting events at Maryland last year I didn't think twice about snagging some candid shots of the players while they interacted with each other and the coach on the sidelines. I felt really relieved about overcoming that awkwardness that was so prevalent last year.

I shot 90% of the game using my D3 and a 400mm f/2.8 lens. I recently sold my D200 and D2H to partially fund my purchase of a D3. Currently I'm down to 1 body so I have to switch lenses at different points. I opted for my 70-200 f/2.8 before the game for my sideline shots and then switched to the long lens when the game began.

I got some decent golden-hour shots of the team before the sun got too low in the sky. I also got a handful of decent shots at night. The D3 really is a wonderful camera and it makes such a difference in low light scenarios. I shot at ISO 2000 without thinking twice about the noise levels and my photos are fabulous (at least from a grain standpoint!). I didn't even have to use Noise Ninja or any unsharpening masks.

There are a couple of additional Freedom games this weekend and this week and I'm going to attend them. In the meantime go take a look at my Freedom Gallery on Flickr and read my article on Freedom's 3-0 win over Jersey Sky Blue on DC Sports Box.