17
2006
Notes to self, football edition
These are some tips to myself after photographing the Silverbacks v. Timbers match (Multimedia piece on True Fan).
Don't leave your water bottle in the car. When you're going to be outside for 4 1/2 hours in 85-plus-degrees and enough humidity to swim through, a little hydration goes a long way.
Don't show up so early. I wouldn't have had to spend 4.5 hours outside if I wouldn't have gotten to the game two hours early.
Bring an extra camera body. It's hard to detach and safely stow one lens and try to unpack and attach another quickly. It would be a lot easier to just switch between two cameras with lenses pre-attached.
There are other tips, too, that aren't so simple. Like focusing. Soccer is a fast-moving sport, and it's tough to keep up, much less maintain focus. Of those 1,000+ photos, around 10 percent are -- what I would call -- properly focused. I imagine this is a matter of experience: From knowing the game, like being able to anticipate where a play is headed, to knowing the equipment, like being comfortable with the sensitivity of the lens's focus ring.
It was also the first time I've shot with a monopod. A monopod is pretty handy, but it also takes getting used to.
What football league is that? Did you hear Anchorage is getting an Arena Footbal team? Not a regular one, but like a J.V. version. It's supposed to play in an inflat-dome. hell yeah.
Posted by Kyle on July 21, 2006