Friday, May 23, 2008
A few weeks ago I asked Al to submit my name for credentials to the 2008 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament. It was held up at Towson this year and I was hoping the Terps would make it into the semifinals or the finals. Unfortunately the Terps lost in the quarterfinals and I didn't get a chance to take some photos of some Maryland players hoisting a national title trophy above their head.
I was still excited to go to the semifinals and championship game and was looking forward to it for awhile.
Earlier in the week I found out that one of my contracts for a customer I enjoy working with was not going to be renewed. It's negative because I'm going to miss working with the people on the contract that I've lost. But on the other hand it's positive because I'll be able to spend more time with my other customers. And in truth those other customers have been with me for longer than the team that cut me. As a result I was happy to head out onto the lacrosse field, take some fun photos, and take my mind off the recent contracting news.
The setting for the NCAA Tournament was really nice. Johnny Unitas Stadium (at Towson University) is a nice football stadium and they also use for lacrosse. The sun sets over one of the endzones and I like those stadiums. It limits you in what you can shoot but if you decide to go with the light you can get some fantastic exposures and really rich colors late in the day.
The first game between Northwestern and Syracuse played out while there was plenty of light to work with. I ran back and forth down the field with almost every possession and managed to get a bunch of shots I was really proud of. None of the other photographers ran. Most of them didn't even kneel.
By the end of the game the sun had fully set and we were getting into a mixed bag of light from the sky and from the overhead lights. I left my neutral gray card at home but I think I did alright with my white balance. I considered shooting raw but then decided against it - too much work in post processing to touch up the white balance. I used a stadium wall as my neutral gray color and it worked out pretty well.
You can read more about Northwestern's win over Syracuse in the 2008 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament over at the DC Sports Box.
