Hail Mary
There’s an old adage that luck is the combination of preparation and opportunity. That may be true, but there are still intangibles working in a “Hail Mary.” In photography, a “Hail Mary” is when a photographer holds a camera over their head to shoot down on scene. They are shooting blind since they can’t see through the viewfinder. You’ll see this primarily after football games as the photographers in the second, third, fourth and fifth rows of the scrum try to get the all important shot of coaches shaking hands.
It’s an attempt of last resort, like the football variation, and (for me at least) results in a good shot 5 percent of the time or less. It’s a technique not to be relied on. But… When it works, it works.
Like this shot from Grand Island Central Catholic’s graduation on Sunday. I joined the melee in the lobby of the gym as the graduates left the ceremony and began celebrating their accomplishment. These two hugged right in front of me. Then in almost slow motion they both leaned their heads back in joy. I raised the camera over my head and let the motor drive fly.
When it works, it works.
Reactions on the field
Last week I shot the Class B, District 5 soccer tournament in York. A two day event in generally cold and blustery conditions. That didn’t keep the games from being pretty good. Soccer is an interesting sport to shoot because the field is so big and the action takes place all over the place. It’s not like football where you have an idea of where each play is going to go. And it’s not like tennis where the ball is going to the person you’re photographing. So we follow the ball and try to anticipate plays on corner kicks and find the person heading the ball before it gets there. The best part about soccer and tournament play in particular is the reaction to goals. In the first image today Hastings celebrates it’s overtime goal to put them up 2-1 over Central Catholic. That also ended up being the final score. After the end I was able to get a shot of the other side of the field as a Central Catholic player reacts to the celebration in the background.
On the girls field I was able to get another happy shot, this time of Northwest after they scored their only goal of their game against Hastings on a buzzer beater shot. They ended up falling 2-1.
On the girls field I was able to get another happy shot, this time of Northwest after they scored their only goal of their game against Hastings on a buzzer beater shot. They ended up falling 2-1.
Party like it’s 1910!
This past weekend was quite busy. My wife, Jessica, officially completed her Masters of Social Work Degree and we traveled to Kalamazoo to party with my Nana who celebrated her 100th birthday. She officially became a centenarian in January, but the family got together over the weekend for one heck of a shindig. Her three children were there along with six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, plus nieces and nephews.
You can’t celebrate her accomplishment without looking back on what all has happened during her lifetime. She has lived through the horse and buggy era, the early years of flight, two World Wars and the Depression. Not to mention the post war ’50s, the volatile ’60s, the economic difficulties of the ’70s, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and now Obama who wouldn’t have been able to vote when she was born.
It all makes you wonder what changes my generation will see over the course of our lifetimes. A child of the ’70s, I’m already a witness of globalization, computerization and 9/11. Whatever happens with the economy and job market we are currently facing, we cannot be stymied by fear and trepidation.
In an episode of Sports Night, the plot revolves around Y2K and fear about the new Millennium. Isaac Jaffe, played by Robert Guillaume, isn’t fearful at all. He says (and I apologize for the poor paraphrasing), “It’s going to be great. A hundred years ago I couldn’t vote. Bring it on.”
Bring it on indeed. Happy Birthday Nana.
Two Places at Once
Have you ever been in two places at once and been able to prove it? Oh sure I’ve been places physically and mentally off in another world. I’m not sure that was good for either of us. Or is it either of me? Either way I was probably just mentally off.
Tuesday during Central Catholic’s district soccer game in York I tempted the natural laws by trying to be in two places at once. For the second time in two weeks I set up a remote camera to try and capture an image without being behind the camera. This time, I’m glad to say, worked out much better than the last.
I started off with a wide angle lens attched to a camera I set up on a stand behind the net where the Crusaders would be shooting. To trigger the camera I had a remote trigger attached to a radio recevier that picked up a signal from the transmitter I held in my hand. Whenever the action got good around the net, I’d hit the button and hope I wasn’t too far away. Meanwhile I could still shoot with my other camera that I had in hand. The results weren’t too good after the first half. The wide angle lens made the players too small in the frame and most of the time I was a touch too far away for the radio signal to get picked up by the receiver. I’m pretty sure the latter problem was because the receiver was close to the ground.
So I switched things up. I replaced the lens with a longer lens, moved the camera back and raised it up about a foot off the ground. Back to work I went, but this time I was shooting Central Catholic’s Zach Karn defend his goal. There weren’t many chances for good frames, but I did get one I liked.
The best parts are the lessons learned which I’ll apply next time I try to be in two places at once.
