Shooting Maryland Basketball

Anyone that knows me well realizes that basketball is not one of my favorite sports to shoot but I am starting to shoot more basketball regularly. It has come my way more out of necessity, since the outdoor sports here are non-existent.

I have been learning more with every game, trying more wide open lenses, remotes on the floor at my feet and 400s from both in the stands and last night from the floor. As anyone that has ever held a camera, pro or not, you know how hard it is to shoot inside arenas so you are very limited with shutter speed and have to use high ISO. Unfortunately only the team photographers can use the in-house strobes so you to do with what ya got.

Anyway, have a game later this week and hope to improve with each shoot and maybe get the chance to use more remotes. This shot above was taken with my D3 and 24-70 at my feet, propped up with a pair of AA batteries (thanks Shawn Cullen from SI) and triggered with a Pocket Wizard and remote trigger on my 70-200 (thanks TJ). It is a tricky balance between finding the right spot to focus, keeping the camera in the same position and not having the majority of the photos with a referees arse in the photo.

The 400 proved to be really tricky from the end of the court. You have a really small window to get the shot at the other end of the court but what I found was that it was great for getting the emotion of the players on the bench and the coaches. At the Maryland women's games the stands are kind of open (crazy since they are 5th in the country) but I setup directly across from the coach and just shot her screaming and flailing arms around, all while wearing 4 inch heels. The last game I shot from high in the arena but I need to work on that and get better angles. The great part of the remotes situation, all the time I am walking around with the 400 I am still triggering the remote on the courtside position.

The game last night yields the most, quality images that I have been able to get in Comcast. Will keep head up and try to get better each shoot. The whole gallery from this shoot can be seen here.

Shooting Professional Golf

Out of all of the sports that I have shot, golf is undoubtedly the most exhausting. Pro golfers walk at least 90 holes of golf in a week, 72 for the tourney and then at least 18 during practice rounds. Now we all know that the golfer has all of the talent and they may carry a bottle of water or an occasional club but the caddy has to schlep the huge tour bag miles and miles on the courses every week.

For a professional photographer, it is a very similar experience. Place a 400mm over your shoulder, another body with a 70-200 on it and then a third with a wide angle and do the same walking. Add to that a Think Tank waist bag with water, protein bars and you may as well be a caddy. Be prepared for a long week/weekend and sore feet and body on Monday.

Pre-Planning

Steve Stricker during the 2011 US Open

I can't stress enough how important pre-planning is for any shoot you do, especially when at a new venue. I have shot at Congressional Country Club three times now so the course layout is not new to me but if this were I would walk the course ahead of Thursday's opening round to look for opportunities  for long shots, high shots, wide shots, and tight shots. Start looking for clean backgrounds. This is a recurring theme in all my posts but something I really focus on while shooting. Each hole offers it's own unique shots, some better than others. Find holes where you can get an uncluttered background in your tee shot. Advertising is everywhere and a big Viagra ad in the backswing is not usually a big seller.

Positions

Along with pre-planning comes positions. The choices over 18 holes are really endless. I always make sure I get at least one tee shot of as many of the golfers as I can, especially during the early rounds. The Tigers, the Phils, the Rorys, they all get coverage but some of the lesser known names in golf, they need lovin' too!

The standard shot in golf is the tee shot of any hole on the course with clean backgrounds (again). Frame a nice shot of the golfer and the golf club (all of it) and you are good to go. It is important to know the game of golf and how to anticipate the swing and follow through of the golfer. I align the golfer's head in the lower portion of my viewfinder and lock in the focus point there. That way once they finish their swing I will have their head and all of the club in the shot. 

Phil Mickelson out of the sand at the 2011 US Open

It is very important to try to watch the golfer's reaction to the tee shot but more importantly, where the ball ends up. A shot in the fairway is kind of boring but a shot out of a bunker or deep in the rough, you need to get those. If I see where the tee shot went I can plan my next photo ahead of time. You need to get moving and stay ahead of the golfer because if they are playing without having to wait for the golfers in front of them, they will get to their ball, size it up and hit. They aren't waiting for you! I think the second (approach) shot to the green is very important to follow because if their ball ends up in a bunker it is time to really get moving. You have to get to the green with your gear, find the ball in the bunker and then get in position all the way on the opposite side of the green, all before the golfer and caddy reach it. Bunker shots are very popular shots and they get run all the time so it is important to get them when the opportunity arises. Get as low (or high) as you can so that you can just see the top of the golfer's head and then just sit. You really need to know the game, the golfer and anticipate. In the bunker, they cannot take a full practice swing so when they swing, it is the real deal. You have to be quick if you want to get the ball, the sand and their reaction as they climb out of the bunker.

Wide angles too! Look for good opportunities to use a 24-70 or your 70-200 with a shot of the green from the tee box. I sometimes like to find a shot from hundreds of yards away, shooting over the gallery and just getting the top of the player and their swing. Another idea, try to get in position on the tee box before the golfer arrives to hit their ball, get down low and do not move at all. You have to be invisible to them or they will make you move.

Don't Fire Early

Tiger's old caddy, Steve Williams, had a reputation of throwing cameras into the nearest lake and within the rules of golf, he was kind of justified. The rule is simple, do not fire off your shutter in the golfer's backswing. Simple huh? Well let me walk you through how I handle this. A golfer almost always does the exact same pre-shot routine. Get to know it. When he/she gets up on the tee, they are ours for the taking but as soon as they stand over the ball, it is quite time. I lock my focus on their eyes and hold until the club is through the swing and up over their head, then shoot. Anything else is trouble and you do not want the golfer blaming you for missing out on a $1.5 million purse, late on Sunday evening. If you are 150 yards away and you want the full swing, go for it, as long as you are sure they can't hear.


Make Friends

During this years US Open I shot almost every day, including practice rounds. Being there that much allowed me to start getting to know some of the officials, which came in handy later. One of the biggest hurdles for a professional photographer at a PGA event is not all of the people, the heat, the officials or sore feet, it is those volunteer, retired men and ladies called Marshals. They are those nice folks with very bright shirts that stand on the tee box and at the most in-opportun times, they raise a very bright green or orange stick above the head of the golfer, right into the frame of your photo. We have very few choices about where to shoot at a tee box, usually down on your knees, about 20 yards in front of the golfer. When the Marshal raises their arm to motion to the gallery to stop moving, there is nothing you can do at this point. Back to the friends thing. I had gotten to know Jim (official) and started to make small talk during the rounds early in the week. As it got busier and more crowded I used him to my advantage. On some holes when I was told where I could shoot from, I would ask him to politely ask the Marshal to stand to one side of the tee box, out of mine and other's frames. That worked well and he obliged.

Conclusion


In my opinion, you really have to enjoy and understand golf to have any fun shooting it. Get to know the sport, know the athletes, know the rookies, know the veterans. Most of all, drink lots and water and bring really confey shoes as it will be a long week.

Have Fun

Product Review - Garmin StreetPilot onDemand

I have never been one that has taken the time to do product reviews but this is one that I find myself following the "don't leave home without it" mantra. The reason you never leave without it is that it is on your iPhone and who leaves with that?

I have used both in car and portable navigation systems for several years and had good and bad experiences with all of them. The two in car systems that my wife and I have in our Mercedes Benz's are the WORST ever. She has a 2010 and mine a 2006. I am not going to get into a diatribe on this but they are useless, clunky and I only use if in an emergency and did not have my Garmin or StreetPilot. I have had three Garmin systems in the past and loved them all. Actually the first one I purchased was stolen out of my car a week before Christmas but returned later that day.

So why do I like this one? For one, you don't have to load your iPhone with 1.5 gigs of map data. I already have issues with my iPhone being full so don't need all of this extra data. I have no idea how it works and don't care, it just works. Two, it can find anything because it is linked in with Google Local search. If the business is in Google, it is on your phone. With other/older systems it relies on DVDs and updates, which are hard to keep up with and an overall pain. Three, it is truly portable. On a recent trip to California, I loaded up all of the locations that I knew I would be visiting and had them ready to go. I brought along a lighter/holder/charger thing and used it to hold my iPhone. This way I did not have to pay the rental company for their GPS system. Four, real time traffic with no extra fees.

Here are some of the features listed in the iTunes Store

• Navigate in the car with voice-prompted, turn-by-turn directions including street names

• Access real-time traffic updates and see the estimated traffic delay along your route

• View speed limits for most major roads

• Know the correct lane before it’s too late with lane guidance and photo
• Real junction views

• Navigate while walking with routes that integrate public transportation into your itinerary

• See 3D buildings and landmarks for added awareness while navigating

Overall, I give this app a 4/5 and only a 4 because of the $29 annual fee. That being said, one rental car GPS rental for a few days would cover that fee so if you think that way, not too pricey. The only other thing that I noticed is that sometimes it would go crazy and get confused but within 30 seconds or so would get back on target. Also, to mount it in your car I purchased the TomTom (competitor) Car Kit and it works great while it charges.

You can purchase or read more about it on the iTunes store.

Your Digital Footprint

Last week while attending Sports Shooter Academy in Irvine, CA, I rented a car and occasionally I would caddy other students to and from the events that we shot. During one of those drives I ended up with three college students in my Jeep and the conversation migrated to talking about online marketing, something that I have done for 12 years now.

From 1999 to 2009 I was lucky to be the Internet Strategist/Director for a $5.5 billion company in Baltimore. To put that in perspective, when I started there, these kids in my car were around 10 years old? Needless to say, I had over a decade of watching the Internet evolve and watched the rise in use of search engines and then social marketing. Even today, I still strive to keep up with these ever changing online marketing landscapes as well as who is where in social.

Today, I remembered the conversation in the car where I said to the students "make sure your digital footprint is everywhere". A few of them were silent and it made me kind of think about what I meant and that is why I am writing this blog post.

Digital Footprint?

OK, I will admit, I just made that up. What it means in a nutshell, get your photos, your products, whatever, out there and everywhere. It means start and maintain a blog. Start and maintain a photo/blog or gallery. It means start a Facebook page for your photos and brand. It means start a Google + page. It means start Tweeting. It means create relevant content for search engines. See where I am going now? There is no limit to your options other than time and priorities.

Search and Be Found

I will date myself a bit but back in 2001 I attended one of the first ever Search Engine Strategies conference in Boston, MA. I learned so much at the time and became the self anointed "search czar" at our company. I will never forget the meeting (in the fishbowl) I called with our marketing leadership across the company, when I presented my own version of Danny Sullivan's presentation. It seemed to me at that time that they all had a new spark in their eyes, something fun and cool to work on. Afterall, they all had just started using Google and it was only three then. I worked for years to show return on search spend and when I left in 2009, the company was spending millions per year on search initiatives.  I guess all the hard work paid off.

Even today, I continue to watch how search has evolved. I don't track conversions and rankings like I used to but I still keep it in mind with everything I do. Every page on my site has a reason. Every photo page on my site is "link bait". A great example came two weeks ago when I got a call out of the blue from a WVU football online web site that was looking for a photographer to cover the WVU-MD game. When the negotiations were over I asked him how he found me and his answer was simple, Google.

My advice, do some research, Google "Search Engine Optimization" and start trying it out. You would be surprised how many little things you can do on your own. Think about what words people would use to find the services you have or want to offer. Put a page out there with those words in the page title, make it relevant and see how it goes. Search algorithms are based off of relevance (at the simplest level), hence why I do not ever appear in Google for "Maryland Wedding Photographer".

Social

During our car ride I would have thought that my college friends would have been able to school me a bit on social media but that was not the case. I think that colleges these days still have not figured out how to incorporate social media curriculums into their marketing programs. One, because they are still so new. Two because they change so fast and three, because some are still teaching the marketing that they learned when they were in college, 10 or more years ago.

So that means that these kids graduate from college and have to learn how to take the social mediums they have been playing in for the last few years and turn them into a valid marketing arm of their business. I am going to touch a little bit on each of the following:

• Blog or Photo Blog
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Web Site
• Google +
• LinkedIn
• Photo Contests

Blog/Photo Blog

I have to admit, keeping up with a blog is tough and the return on investment (time) is hard to prove. However, it is a no brainer that it helps to improve your digital footprint. Keep in mind this blog you are reading as well as all of the others that I have written will end up in Google's index of pages. So maybe when a brand like Wilson is looking for a "professional tennis photographer" to freelance for them and they find my blog post about it, they will see my background with shooting tennis and contact me. Are you starting to see where I am going?

A blog is a great way to connect a human element to your brand. People like to connect with people. A good friend and photographer Patrick Smith does just that. He blogs about what he is doing, some on topic, some off topic. He includes photos as well and I must say he is an amazing photojournalist. Your photos are your resume, show them off everywhere and anywhere.

Facebook

In the short time Facebook has been around, I have seen so much change. From a marketing perspective it has opportunities for every brand, no matter what some marketing execs may say. As I write this post today, Facebook Pages are the best home for a photographer's brand. Create a page, promote it with friends, promote it with customers, promote it with potential customers, or promote it with photos. Use it to promote your web site, your blog and your photography skills.

Twitter

This is the hardest one for me to keep up with and they simplest to do, go figure? After all, you can only post 140 characters. Create a Twitter page for your brand, Tweet about your web site, what you are shooting this weekend, what you like, what photos you just posted on your photo gallery. You can use a great application like Tweet Deck and post to many of these mediums at one time.

A Screen Capture of my Web Site

Web Site

Do I really need to tell you to do this? You really need to start with this before you do all of these other distractions. You don't need to know HTML and can have something live in less than an hour. Think of your site like the "mother ship". Everything you do has to come back to it. After all, your web lead form and phone number is there! I would recommend using something with attractive, pre-built templates that you can customize. I know this may anger many of my nerdy friends that code and makes sites in their sleep but I pay $14 for hosting, site management and email and it just works. I would highly recommend companies like Photo Biz or Live Books to start.

LinkedIn

Another one I admit I may be behind the eight ball with but what a great place to park your brand, again, for free. Get out there, create a page and make sure everyone knows what you do. Connect with college friends, connect with peers in the industry, just connect.

Google +

Some of you may not even know what Plus is and I am still watching to see where it is going. I was the same way when Twitter came out and when I realized how great it was, I was probably a year behind the curve. Google+ for business has not been released yet and they say it will be by the end of the year. Start a profile and link it to your name/brand and see what happens. Remember, all of this Google stuff all comes back to the Google index and that is where you ultimately need to be.

Photo Contests

I regrettably have never entered in a sports photo contest. I need to and maybe I am afraid of failure but what better way to get your name out there than to be in the top three of the Sports Shooter monthly clip contest? Take a look around, find some free and some paid sites that do monthly contests and enter them. Just like the lottery, you can't win if you don't play.

In Conclusion

The digital footprint....I hope this makes more sense now? There is no right or wrong but until you give this a shot and try a few of these that I have mentioned, you will never know and I can promise you it will help an aspiring sports photographer to get noticed. Good luck.

Boring Weekend Ahead?

Copyright Baltimore Ravens

Well, I need to put it all into perspective. Three weekends ago, shot three high school football games at Navy Stadium. Two weekends ago I shot Colin's football game, a Maryland game and then the Redskins. Last weekend I was at the Sports Shooter Academy shooting. This weekend, not so much and I am kind of down with it all.

Colin plays on Saturday and of course I will shoot that but the rest of the weekend is.....empty. I will, of course, be headed to Baltimore for the much anticipated Ravens-Jets Sunday night game, as a fan. I can't wait for that tailgate and throwdown on national TV.

I guess from there I will just have to see what comes in.