Thursday, May 15, 2008
As I walked out of Robert E. Taylor Stadium I was proud of Dave and I for providing so much coverage of the 2008 ACC Softball Championship. There was literally 1 other photographer present, and he was on official assignment from the ACC. It's unfortunate that more photographers were not present because it was an excellent opportunity to get your feet wet at a pretty significant event.
Some of the photographers I've met have aspirations of shooting the NBA playoffs, or of attending a PGA event, or in being present at some triple crown race. But they never make any progress towards those goals because they never get out and shoot the smaller events. You don't just wake up one day and get invited to those big ticket events - it takes years of practice to improve your skills, network with people, and reach the level where you're invited to attend.
The ACC Softball Tournament would have been a great chance for a lot of amateur photographers to crawl out of their apartments or homes and shoot a first class event with relatively little hassle. I was really surprised not to see more Diamondback photographers or reporters, students from the Journalism school, Capital Gazette, PG Gazette, and College Park Gazette reporters present. Anyhow...
After the match I peeked over to women's lacrosse and noticed that there was approximately 15 minutes remaining in regulation. I headed down there with Dave to take a few photos. My brother Andrew was there using my D2H and 400mm f/2.8 lens on a monopod. I attached my 300mm f/2.8 to my D3 and started shooting it hand-held style. I got a few shots and Andrew did as well. As a result we were able to put together a decent photo gallery.
The lighting for lacrosse was good. The trees around the field hockey and lacrosse complex are close to the field and as a result you don't get much sky when you take pictures. That worked out for the game because the sky was really bright and white, which disrupted your exposure. Having the trees present as a blocker in the background allowed me to properly expose the players faces without having to worry about overexposing the background.
Our brief writeup of the Maryland Terrapins vs the Temple Owls in the 2008 NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals round can be found over on the DC Sports Box.
