Sunday was rough
Sunday was a long day.
It started with a joint news conference between Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz and his South Carolina counterpart Steve Spurrier.
I’m always looking for new photos to come out of press conferences other than the standard “talking heads.” Kirk arriving at the press conference in a Florida State Patrol cruiser shows another dimension of the circus leading up to the game.
Then it was off to photograph the first 15 minutes or so of the Hawkeyes’ practice at the University of Tampa near downtown.
It’s pretty much a scramble to distinguish players amid the red, white and black practice jerseys. One of the Iowa sports information people told me it’s best to go by the number on the helmet versus the number on the practice jersey. I love shooting football. I don’t really follow any teams though. So I rely on the SID staff and other photographers to giv
You end up shooting alot of file-type photos for upcoming player profiles. A long telephoto is useful to isolate the players.
Then it was off to Raymond James Stadium for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders football game. I wasn’t concerned with the actual game. All I wanted was to get some photos of Oakland Raiders’ and former Iowa Hawkeye Robert Gallery.
I was happy with this shot. I like the expression on his face and the trademark hair blowing around.
Just a nice detail-type shot.
I was only able to stay for the second quarter. I think there were around 10 minutes left on the clock when I finally got on the field.
Then I was off to Busch Gardens to cover the Hawkeyes’ and Gamecocks’ team outings to the theme park. It’s pretty much just a “photo op”. The theme park staff pretty much orchestrates a series of setup photos for us to shoot. Players holding a giant python. Players riding on a roller coaster. I understand the theme park’s reasoning behind how this is done. As a visual journalist, I want to capture moments that happen naturally. Being a fly on the wall so to speak.
I was happy with this shot of Julian Vandervelde getting some love from a flamingo.
After I was done shooting, I went back to my car and started filing photos from the day. Iowa City Press-Citizen photographer Matt Holst tagged along for the ride and edited and transmitted also. We stashed our gear in the trunk and went back into the park. We were able to get on two roller coasters (Montu and Sheikra) before the park closed.
jim
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