The getting hit at basketball games off topic discussion over in the 9th Sprit thread got me to wondering. I guess this is mainly for pros that take photos at sporting events or anything of that nature. How many shots do you take now as opposed to the days of film? I know I used to take 5 or 6 rolls of 36 exposure film on a two week vacation. Mainly because of the cost to buy the film and then have it processed at the end. However we went on a day trip the other day and I took over 150 shots in 4 or 5 hours without ever thinking about it.
Thats about right. Tho about 4 rolls for a sporting event, one roll just for the end of the game. Long time ago.
Basketball? About 3000 images. Football? About 2500. Includes pregame, postgame, warmups, intros, fans, cheerleaders, bench shots and game action.
I get to Raymond James Stadium somewhere between 3-4 hours pregame? Why? Because thats when RG3 or whomever will be out on the field, no one else around, no pads. Send a couple photos to show an editor I'm here. Grab a quick bite to eat, nothing heavy. Horde 6-8 bottles of water. Catch the team in the tunnel about to go out for basic warmups, grab a few features. (Lets be honest, there's no way a photo of Tampa is going to sell so I'm always focusing on the vistors). Spend 10 minutes Go back, xmit the QBs warming up photos, go out for the game. Shoot introductions. Game on.
I have a checklist of things I'm expected to turn in. Both head coaches. Both QBs, throwing the ball - clean background, head to toe. Leading rushers, Leading receivers, both teams. Post game coaches handshake photo & Postgame jube. (f/8 is a wonderful thing for those wide moments that dont last more than one second) That doesn't even get into basic game action, scoring plays, or even anything artsy.
Basic workflow? I tag photos as I go. Boilerplate caption in Photomechanic. Rosters downloaded and using code replacement. Download at the half (12-15 minutes) edit and send 5-7. Both QBs. Come back post game, send immediate jube & game telling action, go back through and find the other stuff I need. Do third edit pass to make sure coaches & anything artsy, featury & GHAWDFORBID i forget to turn in a cheerleader photo. Curse a lot when that one frame backfocuses on the crowd after I swung the lens around at the last second. Total of 40-50 to turn in & I'm leaving 1-2 hours after its over and driving to Wawa before an hour and a half home and to pass out. Total of about 9-10 hours.
Add in the day 2 outtakes of players on the bench or other generic action, and I'm turning in 80+ photos from a game. I barely spend one second sizing up a photo as to whether or not its in or out when I go through my final pass the next day. Plus the additional photos that I shoot just for me ..... the ones that rarely see the light of day because the wire service I work for loves plain vanilla. They'll spike anything creative, crop in on a well composed wide shot and generally dislikes jube.
Maybe thats why I'm so short with people. I get about one second to decide whether this photo goes to the wire with my name on it. You develop this sense of what works and what doesnt and being able to tell that in a heartbeat. Anyways, thats an insight into my life and sports photography.
Overall, I'd prefer a darkroom, souping film and scanning.
