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| Kentucky Wildcats wide receiver DeMarcus Sweat (83) sits on the bench at the start of the fourth quarter as the #14 Florida Gators beat the Kentucky Wildcats 38-0 in an NCAA Football Game on Saturday, September 20, 2012 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla. (David Manning for The Lexington Herald-Leader) |
Its been almost a year since I covered a college football game and I'm trying to figure out if I'm rusty or if it was just Kentucky?
The tale after the jump.....
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| Florida Gators tight end Jordan Reed (11) leaps for a pass in the end zone in the second quarter as the #14 Florida Gators beat the Kentucky Wildcats 38-0 in an NCAA Football Game on Saturday, September 20, 2012 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla. (David Manning for The Lexington Herald-Leader) |
(My favorite photo from the game. 500/4 with TC down the length of the field)
After getting to Gainesville & being given decent parking - only 2 blocks away - I was directed on a walking tour of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium to try and pick up my media credential. After a lap of the stadium, my tour continued as no one connected with the stadium was able to know what a photographer's workroom was letalone where it was located. Eventually I found a friendly native guide from The Gainesville Sun and got set up in the closet they had us in. At least they had hardwired internet. They had plenty of water jugs to drink out of, but you couldnt bring stuff out onto the field unless you brought your own water bottle. Something to add to the football kit I suppose as I was dehydrated by kickoff and about to pass out midway through the 2nd quarter.
So I was there to cover the game for the Lexington Herald-Leader. Kentucky has not beaten Florida since 1986 and has not won at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium since 1979, so I was pretty sure how this one was going to play out.
I reverted to form as if it was for Georgia - pregame photos for a gallery - the band, the coaches, the starting QBs and a fan feature if I could find one. Send 4 or 5 at halftime. Send the rest at the end. You need the QB & RB tight from the first or second series, you need the head coach tight and showing some sort of emotion. Then you can back off and shoot some action from a far. I rented a 500/4 and was using that, sometimes with a teleconverter on a Nikon D3. Love that camera but I wasn't familiar with the lens enough to nail the focus every time. I have a lot of Florida catches that are totally out of focus, hense the rust. You're mainly looking for emotion... and when the team doesn't score, there really isn't any emotion. At the end? You need the coaches handshake photo. If your team won? They're going to run to the student section or the band & you'll get great jube. If they lost? Better get them quick coming off the field, because they want to get on the bus and GTFO.
Here's my general workflow. I use photo mechanic to view and caption, photoshop to edit. Photo Mechanic allows code replacement, basically codes to allow you to put in \f6\ in lieu of "Florida Gators quarterback Jeff Driskel (6)." Jason O. Watson over at CodeReplacements.com has all the rosters for every team in every major sport. Well worth the money for the subscription as it speeds things up even faster. I use the D3 mainly for its voice tagging, besides its fantastic autofocus & image quality. I need to be able to have the stats for a particular play, like XX yard touchdown pass & the whatnot. After a play, i will quickly chimp out and tag photos. At halftime, I ingest the photos and quickly hit F3, just to see the tagged photos. I know what I have, I find 3-5 photos I like, edit, caption & send. Grab water & back outside. Repeat after the end of the game.
Ideally? You have an editor and a runner grabbing your memory cards after every score & they send it immediately. Technology is improved to the point where you can shoot and have it go via wi-fi to a computer, the photo is ingested with a caption, downsized slightly and then automatically FTP'd to an editor off-site who then edits it live and hopefully has the photo sent out on the wire within 2-3 minutes of the photo being taken. Of course that costs a boatload of money, but in sports photography, speed kills.
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| Florida Gators quarterback Jeff Driskel (6) is tackled by the facemask by Kentucky Wildcats safety Ashely Lowery (5) in the first quarter as the #14 Florida Gators lead the Kentucky Wildcats 24-0 at halftime in an NCAA Football Game on Saturday, September 20, 2012 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla. (David Manning for The Lexington Herald-Leader) |
My second favorite shot. NASTY facemask to save a touchdown.
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| Kentucky Wildcats defensive lineman Alvin Davis (60) and defensive end Farrington Huguenin (91) sack Florida Gators quarterback Jeff Driskel (6) in the first quarter as the #14 Florida Gators lead the Kentucky Wildcats 24-0 at halftime in an NCAA Football Game on Saturday, September 20, 2012 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla. (David Manning for The Lexington Herald-Leader) |
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| Kentucky Wildcats head coach Joker Philips yells on the sidelines as the #14 Florida Gators lead the Kentucky Wildcats 24-0 at halftime in an NCAA Football Game on Saturday, September 20, 2012 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla. (David Manning for The Lexington Herald-Leader) |
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| Kentucky Wildcats quarterback Morgan Newton (12) is hit by Florida Gators linebacker Jon Bostic (1) as he throws as the #14 Florida Gators lead the Kentucky Wildcats 24-0 at halftime in an NCAA Football Game on Saturday, September 20, 2012 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla. (David Manning for The Lexington Herald-Leader) |
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| Kentucky Wildcats safety Mikie Benton (31) reaches for the ball in front of Florida Gators wide receiver Quinton Dunbar (1) in the second quarter as the #14 Florida Gators beat the Kentucky Wildcats 38-0 in an NCAA Football Game on Saturday, September 20, 2012 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla. (David Manning for The Lexington Herald-Leader) |
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