Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Normally the idea of a game to shoot in the evening gives me a big boost during the day while I look forward to the event. But today was different - I'm sick with a sore throat, a cough, and a stuffy nose. I just wanted to crawl back into bed today rather than work and attend a soccer game.
I suppose I could've called Dave Lovell and asked him to cover for me but I decided against it. Dave has kids and I didn't want to dump an assignment on him at the last minute. Plus I figured I was healthy enough to work during the day so the least I could do was show up and take some pictures.
Julie suggested just shooting the first half and coming home but I decided against that as well. As a photographer AND a writer (although arguably not good at either!) I have some advantages as well as some disadvantages. The biggest advantage is that I can make sure I have a good lead-in photo for the article since I control the content of the article. The downside, which has been documented numerous times on this blog, is that it takes extra time to write an article after an event.
I remember that when I started sports photography nearly 2 years ago I had trouble sticking around for the entire game and considered it an accomplishment if I didn't bail early. Some of these events are really long and without the proper equipment (400mm for the part) it gets pretty tiring sitting on the sideline without being able to capture the moment. After picking up a D3 and a 400mm lens I've never really had that problem - I'm able to dial up the ISO to 4000 or 5000 in low light situations and the 400mm gives me plenty of reach.
I'm glad I stuck around for the entire game because it was a Towsend shot in OT that did it for the Terps. The funny thing about his gamewinner is that he did the exact same thing in the OT game against Charlotte - a feed from Jeremy Hall inside the 18 yard box and boom the freshman takes the game for the Terps.
When I arrived home I started post processing but was quickly distracted by last.fm. I've heard about it before and I decided to check it out. You can view my profile over here: http://last.fm/users/blunck2. It can integrate with iTunes and it uploads your current tracks up to their server. last.fm can then make recommendations for music based on what you've listened to in the past. It's pretty cool! The twitters told me about it...
I was up pretty late finishing up my article and posting my photos. Lightroom has gotten a lot slower for me lately and I'm not sure why. It used to be snappy when I first got it but tonight it was doggin!
You can view my pictures of Maryland's 2-1 OT win over Lehigh on Flickr. You can also read my article on the Terps vs Lehigh on the DC Sports Box.
