Friday, August 30, 2013

Mat Nap

"Baltimore Orioles grounds crew member Donald Clark takes a nap on grooming mat between the third inning of an MLB game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Oakland Athletics at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on August 25, 2013 in Baltimore, Maryland."

If there are two things that I love it's: serendipity and spontaneity.

In photography, you truly never know what is going to happen in front of your camera. It's without saying, that often your inner thought process has something to do with it.

Sometimes, your instinct leads you to pictures. Other times, you simply stumble across them.

With that said, I love documenting sports. Yet, I truly love shooting behind the scenes features before, during or after. There is so much to be said about the world that the fans don't ever see - momentous or not.

In the first two innings of baseball between the Athletics and Orioles, I had the itch to go upstairs and transmit my images early. There were lots of telling images because of a lot of hits and scores early in the contest.

I tend to wait longer, specifically during an early day game, but something was telling me to go send between innings, rather than wait for the bottom of the inning to conclude.

In my commute, I stumbled across this scene of the grounds crew napping between innings. I loved every second of it.

A brief moment of peace for these hardworking kids that others may never see.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Pregame, Preseason

"Safety Aaron Williams #23 of the Buffalo Bills has a moment to himself before playing the Washington Redskins during a preseason game at FedExField on August 24, 2013 in Landover, Maryland."

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There is nothing like my favorite time of the year - Fall. As summer winds down, the temperatures drop, kids head back to school, and football starts.

After a long summer of mainly sports, consisting of auto car racing and baseball, it's nice to mix up my local, live sports coverage with some football.

Although it's only preseason, it's preseason for photographers, too. Most of us haven't shot football since January, so it's a trail and error period to clear the cobwebs, try some new things and get back into the rhythm of documenting one of the fastest games on two feet.

In my opinion, there is no better place to start than at FedEx Field.

As always, I had the opportunity to shoot for Getty Images in a match up between the Washington Redskins and the Buffalo Bills. This stadium always allows for some great access pregame - getting to work the tunnels and sidelines before the action begins always helps in getting the creative juices going and confidence up before kick-off.

Looking forward to another great season of hard-hitting action and quiet features.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Face the Flag

"Center fielder Adam Jones #10 of the Baltimore Orioles stands with teammates Nate McLouth #9 and Nick Markakis #21 during the national anthem before playing the Tampa Bay Rays at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on August 21, 2013 in Baltimore, Maryland."

Every time I see a friend at Camden Yards during an Orioles game the first exchange is always the same - They say how awesome my job is; and I state in jest I'd rather be sitting where they are.

Their words are out of jealously. I can't blame them, I truly have the greatly job in the world getting the opportunity to document professional sports and news, amongst other worldly happenings.

My response is said because shooting a lot of one subject can get repetitive through the lens, and they remind me to change my view and sit/stand where they are.

It's a challenge every night to come up with something fresh, new. As photographers, we can get trapped into a rhythm - we get comfortable and before we know it, we're making the same pictures over and over. Sure each game is different - teams change, weather and light effect what we see, but with limited space on the field level, the images can feel the same to us.

We're all guilty of getting into a scripted routine at the ballpark. A majority of the time, we're all consistent. Yet we're also human - we have bad days and good - and other times we're inspired to be greater than we've ever been before.

Last night I needed a change for no known reason. I decided to shoot a majority of the game from the nosebleed section away from the rest of the pack of photographers to be different. Show something extraordinary from an ordinary position to most.

While it didn't yield anything spectacular photos, it was the change I needed to keep me seeing fresh.  Thanks to my friends for reminding me to change my vantage point.

Monday, August 12, 2013

Bronze Heads

"In the Hall of Fame Gallery, a Green Bay Packers fan looks at bronze busts of enshrinees at The Pro Football Hall of Fame on August 3, 2013 in Canton, Ohio."

This month, I had the opportunity to travel to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

From gold jackets, heartfelt speeches, to witnessing persevered history of the game, and bronze busts - the entire weekend was inspirational.

As an athlete, I treat most everyday life like sports. I firmly believe sports builds character and teaches young men and women about life long before they realize it. Still to this day, I continually lean on and learn from my teammates, coaches and mentors.

Getting to experience three days surrounded by like-minded sports folk, athletes was really uplifting. I left Canton feeling re-energized and suggest everyone make it there at least once - whether you're a fan, player or coach. And even if you're not any of the aforementioned, or perhaps working the event, it's a must attend weekend.

Thanks to everyone at the Hall of Fame for their time and energy putting on such an amazing weekend. I hope to return in the near future.

Monday, August 05, 2013

At the Brickyard

"Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, stands in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Samuel Deeds 400 At The Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 27, 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana."

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The legendary Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is known primarily for one thing: kissing the bricks.

A last minute race to my schedule, I joined the Getty Images team in documenting lots of race action. From Grand Prix to stock car racing, it was a fast paced weekend action packed with excitement.

Having never been to the Brickyard, I was eager, and anxious, to cover the actual kissing of the bricks. But there was lots to cover before that brief moment on the track.

Even when the time came, we had literally every angle covered, and the team captured it perfectly from each position. Really something compelling to see after the end of the night.

As always, we spent a lot of time in the garages and that's where a majority of my favortire images came from that weekend, including the above image of Danica Patrick.

Hopefully I'll make it back the iconic track next year for another round of auto action.