Picking a winner

"A University of Virginia fans gazes at the Maryland Terps' bench during a timeout at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia, Saturday night."

If I had to pick a winner between Maryland and Virginia before the game Saturday night, I certainly would have picked the Terps. This girl would have probably picked a booger the winner having been from the University of Virginia.

Maryland entered the match on a three-game winning-streak and was picked by many to roll over Virginia. Yet as in my last post, the Terps were crushed and failed to put any points on the scoreboard.

The game was fairly uneventful and didn't yield many photo opportunities, so between the timeouts I tried to focus on the fans.

Although I've covered numerous high school, college and pro football games, the matches I typically cover don't fill the stands, aside from Maryland and the Ravens.

In my eyes, a Division I college football game is just, if not, as exciting as an NFL match. However, some D-I college teams in Maryland barely fill one section of the stands, let alone an entire complex. So there is some difference in the divisions.

With that said, witnessing a nearly full Scott Stadium was an added bonus, a treat. Clean backgrounds with fans actually filling the seats, a little bit of adrenaline from all the cheering, sound levels and a lot of eye candy during the timeouts.

I often try to ignore the crowd, although the witty bellowed comments always seem to amuse me.

The other thing with fans is that they don't seem to ever notice a huge lens pointed in their direction since their focus is usually on the game. The front row may cheer louder and go nuts when I turn around to shoot someone 50 rows back because they think I am shooting a picture of them.

But most of the time no one ever notices, so finding candid moments is simple.

At this game, the use of the giant foam "we are No.1" fingers played a big part. I honestly didn't think they still existed. And I never really understood their significance, but whatever.

This girl probably didn't realize what she was doing, nor did her friends. Had she been doing it on purpose, goofing around, I probably wouldn't have liked the frame as much.

Well, I am still trying to fix a couple bugs with my new layout (which I am loving by the way). As always, big thanks to my buddy and "personal" Web designer, Blake, for the help.

On an unrelated note, I may not be doing any posting until next Tuesday, as I will be in Jeffersonville, Ny., for the Eddie Adams Workshop, also know as Barnstorm XXI.

Wish me luck. I feel privileged and hope to learn a lot from this fantastic experience, meet a lot of great, inspiring photographers and make some new friends.