One Game at a Time

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.