Getting my "kicks"

 

Mark IIN, 400mm, ISO 1250, 1/400, f2.8

This past weekend (October 24-25, 2009) I covered two soccer matches at Wake Forest, as the football team was in Annapolis, MD getting very wet while losing to Navy. Saturday night featured the #3 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's soccer team against the #5 Maryland Terrapins, who are also the defending National Champions, and Sunday afternoon was Senior Day for the Wake Forest women's soccer team as they took on the Virginia Cavaliers.

By this time of the year I have photographed 2 or 3 matches for both the men and women so I usually have images of just about all of the players (except for those who are hurt or freshmen that are not seeing much playing time) for use in the media guides the following year, so I was trying to look for something different. I will be the first to admit that I don't go out of my way setting up remote cameras for most sports (basketball is the exception) and with the new goals that Wake Forest installed last year (they have a large metal pipe dead center) setting up a remote camera behind the goal is a little difficult to try and get a good angle without having the camera in harms way.

Mark IIN, 16mm, ISO 400, 1/25, f5.6

So Saturday I decided to use my 17-35 wide angle lens and look for some interesting shots of head coach Jay Vidovich as he watched his team go through their pre-game warm-ups. With Daylight Savings Time still in effect the sun had not gone completely down before the start of the game, which gave me some beautiful colors in the sky. I also wanted to show some "action" in the photo, so I decided to play with a slow shutter speed. These shots work if A) you can hold the camera VERY steady (which I usually do not do very well) and B) the main subject of the image doesn't move either. The photo below I used my 15mm fisheye lens and shot horizontally, since the majority of the photos the media relations department uses these days on the website are in this format.

Mark IIN, 15mm, ISO 800, 1/400 f2.8

The first half of the game was played at a very fast pace. I was having a very hard time tracking the action and was getting frustrated at the lack of good "action" shots. Then in the 6th minute of the game a Wake Forest player was fouled inside the box, resulting in a penalty kick. I rushed down to the endline to setup for a shot and the best I was able to get is below:

Mark IIN, 400mm, ISO 1250, 1/400, f2.8

Little did I know at the time that would be the only goal of the game. Wake Forest attacked hard the first half, and Maryland made adjustments at half-time, but could not score. The game got a little chippy towards the end. After the Wake Forest goalie made a sliding save it appeared that a Maryland player did not make a great effort to avoid kicking him while he was on the ground. Almost immediately both benches emptied and there was a lot of pushing and shoving before order was restored.

Mark IIN, 400mm, ISO 1250, 1/500, f2.8

Sunday's women's match was a 1:00 start and it was Senior Day, where the 8 seniors (7 players and 1 manager) were honored prior to the start of the game. While these types of photos are almost never used in the media guide, the players love them, and the shot below was used on the Wake Forest website for the game story.

Mark IIN, 44mm, ISO 100, 1/250, f5.6

The speed of the women's game is much slower than the men's game, which let's me track the action better. It also helps me work on my timing, especially for header shots. Below are a few examples from Sunday:

Mark IIN, 400mm, ISO 250, 1/2500, f3.2

Mark IIN, 600mm, ISO 400, 1/2000 f4

In the second shot I was using my 600mm lens, and was centered on the Wake player, but the ball sailed over her head, and I was fortunate to capture the compression of the ball on the forehead of the Virginia player. This was the first time this fall that I had brought the 600/4 lens with me and used it. I had forgotten how much I LOVE using this lens for soccer and field hockey. I need to use it more often for day games. The extra reach let's me shoot across the field such as the shot below:

Mark IIN, 600mm, ISO 250, 1/2000, f4

and it also let's me shoot farther downfield without having to run up and down the sidelines (not that I couldn't use the exercise).

 

Mark IIN, 600mm, ISO 250, 1/2000, f4

That's all for now - next up I will be shooting my first volleyball match of the season at Wake Forest on October 30. I will have to get there early and setup my strobe lights (I am spoiled and prefer to shoot on lights whenever possible). I may also try and sneak in some fall baseball as the Wake Forest team is holding their annual Gold and Black World Series.