Obscure Sports Galore!
I went up to Northwestern today to shoot a bunch of assignments for the alumni magazine. We've been working on this big ol' feature for over a year now about club sports at the University. Club sports are those that either aren't mainstream enough or aren't at a competitive enough level to have earned Varsity status. In other words, there are no scholarships, and there is no university funding. It's all for the love of the game.
So I actually shot two sports I have never done before: men's lacrosse, and rugby. Well, I guess technically, I've shot lacrosse before... but only women's lacrosse. There's a few differences, but not enough to really throw me off.
On the other hand, I had no idea what the heck was going on in the rugby game. For one, people seemed to run around and then randomly dog-pile on each other or punt the ball. It was really hard to get a good clean shot of the action when people were constantly piled up. By the time I sort of got the hang of it, I had to move on to my next appointment (more on that). At least I think I got some decent images...
My last assignment for the afternoon was to shoot a quick portrait shot of a freshman (Samantha) on the fencing team. She's actually a highly regarded member on the Varsity team, so I'm not quite sure why she was featured. Maybe she's a standalone story or a sidebar. The team practices and competes at Patten Gym, which is a really old gym with funky yellow lighting. After meeting Sam there, I suggest we use the team locker room instead, because I know NU furnishes them pretty well. I never expected to see a women's locker room be so cramped. And messy! So it ended up not being best place for a portrait (although probably the best in Patten), but Sam was fun and easy to work with, so I snapped a few shots and called it a day. Here's one:
Decent, I guess. I thought the paper behind her head would have added to the image, because it says "Good luck at the Championships" but I think it just clutters up the image. Oh well. Most people probably won't be bothered about it unless they're picky photographers like myself or if I told you about it. I mostly shoot sports action or candids, so one area where I'm not particularly well developed is paying attention to detail when composing behind the viewfinder. I'll get better with more practice. Like I said, oh well. What I really wanted to do was put a colored gel on a second flash to make the background look purple. Now that would have been cool. But since we didn't have a lot of time, I probably wouldn't have been able to get my exposures and white balances perfectly set in time to get it done. Maybe next time...
Anyways, that's all til' tomorrow. Tomorrow's the White Sox opening night. It was freaking cold out today for lacrosse and rugby, and it should be more of the same tomorrow night, but should be awesome anyways. Just crossing my fingers and hoping the rain stays away...
So I actually shot two sports I have never done before: men's lacrosse, and rugby. Well, I guess technically, I've shot lacrosse before... but only women's lacrosse. There's a few differences, but not enough to really throw me off.
On the other hand, I had no idea what the heck was going on in the rugby game. For one, people seemed to run around and then randomly dog-pile on each other or punt the ball. It was really hard to get a good clean shot of the action when people were constantly piled up. By the time I sort of got the hang of it, I had to move on to my next appointment (more on that). At least I think I got some decent images...
My last assignment for the afternoon was to shoot a quick portrait shot of a freshman (Samantha) on the fencing team. She's actually a highly regarded member on the Varsity team, so I'm not quite sure why she was featured. Maybe she's a standalone story or a sidebar. The team practices and competes at Patten Gym, which is a really old gym with funky yellow lighting. After meeting Sam there, I suggest we use the team locker room instead, because I know NU furnishes them pretty well. I never expected to see a women's locker room be so cramped. And messy! So it ended up not being best place for a portrait (although probably the best in Patten), but Sam was fun and easy to work with, so I snapped a few shots and called it a day. Here's one:
Decent, I guess. I thought the paper behind her head would have added to the image, because it says "Good luck at the Championships" but I think it just clutters up the image. Oh well. Most people probably won't be bothered about it unless they're picky photographers like myself or if I told you about it. I mostly shoot sports action or candids, so one area where I'm not particularly well developed is paying attention to detail when composing behind the viewfinder. I'll get better with more practice. Like I said, oh well. What I really wanted to do was put a colored gel on a second flash to make the background look purple. Now that would have been cool. But since we didn't have a lot of time, I probably wouldn't have been able to get my exposures and white balances perfectly set in time to get it done. Maybe next time...
Anyways, that's all til' tomorrow. Tomorrow's the White Sox opening night. It was freaking cold out today for lacrosse and rugby, and it should be more of the same tomorrow night, but should be awesome anyways. Just crossing my fingers and hoping the rain stays away...
posted by Jerry at 4:01 PM
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