Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Sometimes the best part of the game happens off the field

I was tasked with photographing a football contest between cross-town teams Monterey High School and Coronado High School. Both teams pretty much suck, so it was a pretty evenly matched game.
There were a few lead changes and the game was pretty close. I think it came down to a field goal or something like that. It was a while ago and I don't really remember scores and stuff.
At one point I thought Coronado was going to win, so I switched to a wide lens and hung out on their sideline. Then it became pretty obvious that Monterey was going to take it. I decided to play the angel of life rather than the angel of death this time and headed to Monterey's sideline.
After I got there I started looking for the most emotional kids. It's always fun to beat the guys from across town but Cade Seymore had a pretty good game and was stoked out of his gourd about the prospect of winning. Right as the clock hit zero, actually a little bit before, Seymore turned around and yelled to his home fans and gave me this jubilation gem photo.

It was a good moment for me, as it was for Seymore, because he is very emotional and isn't yet aware of the camera. It's really great to capture a wonderful moment and not have the subject being "camera aware." In the frames after this he is definitely aware of me and the fact that I am taking photos.

If there is any confusion about what I mean by camera aware I'll let Abernathy High School's RJ Gonzales provide an example.


Notice the difference? Gonzales is starting straight into the camera and pointing at his beloved high school logo, which looks to be ripped off from some college in Arizona but what do I know. Now look back at Seymore above. He probably knows I'm there, but it hasn't registered yet. He's not performing for me or my camera, he is just stoked as hell.

Don't get me wrong, sometimes camera-aware subjects can make very powerful images. It's just not something I like to do very often.

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