Sunday, September 7, 2008
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.
