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October 07, 2007
The Thrill of the Shoot
So with the start of our new photoblog, courtesy of Allen Clark (Thanks Allen), coinciding with the start of hockey season, I thought this was a good time to reflect on the past year. It was a little over 11 months ago that Eric told me about his idea to add photographic coverage to Off Wing Opinion’s outstanding coverage of Capitals Hockey and I immediately begged to be involved. A few days later, on November 3, 2006, I entered the Verizon Center for the first time with a mixture of trepidation and excitement but from the first click of the camera, I was hooked. Although I’ve been shooting nature and wildlife photography for years, that night was the first time I had the opportunity to shoot professional sports. With a 30 minute tutorial from Jon Swenson – check out his amazing pictures at www.sharkspage.com – and a borrowed lens from my boss, I embarked on this incredible journey.
Everyone I met that night from the Capitals franchise that night was extremely helpful and welcoming and I’m so excited to be working with them again this season. I was fortunate that night to share a photo box with a photographer from Sports Illustrated who offered a number of great tips and stories about shooting hockey. The pictures I took that night were okay but definitely had room for improvement. Hopefully you’ll agree based on the shots after the jump that I’ve learned a lot over the last year:
Image of Kolzig from November 3, 2006
Since that first night, Off Wing Opinion’s photography has seen a lot of changes:
-- we’ve added two more regular photographers: Allen Clark and Kate McGovern
-- we’ve added three more websites devoted to our pictures: our Flickr page , our Photoshelter Virtual Agency; and now Off Wing Photo
-- we’ve added new sports: DC United, Washington Bayhawks, Roller Derby, Dew Action Tour, Legg Mason Tournament; and Bowie Baysox
Each new sport has brought its own set of challenges. With the Capitals, the action is so fast its hard to capture individual moments on ice plus shooting through the glass limits your field view and sometimes brings the action a little too close. For DC United, the 1st challenge was simply getting to RFK – did you know that it takes 45 minutes to drive around the stadium on game day and the weather can provide its own set of challenges. Both the Bayhawks and the Dew Tour were made challenging by the heat and the blazing sun.
Its amazing to be back shooting the Capitals, a “seasoned photographer,” but even after a year the thrill is still there – the excitement of walking into the arena before a game, the feeling I get when I know I’ve managed to capture the moment; the excitement in the photo lab between periods when everyone is rushing to sort through the 100s of pictures from the period to select the 4-5 pictures that are worthy of posting.
Eric – Thanks again for sharing this amazing ride.
Posted by Ellen Blanchard at October 7, 2007 04:37 PM
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