APAD 19: Assisting my way to the next level

"Denver senior goaltender Peter Mannino (29), competing for the West squad, makes the save on Rensselaer's Jake Morissette during the NCAA Frozen Four Skills Challenge Friday, April 11, 2008 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo. The West defeated the East 13-6."

Today was a loooong day on my feet and I can feel it now. My back is stiff and my feet hurt but I had a great day assisting Dilip Vishwanat with his coverage of the NCAA Frozen Four Skills Challenge for sponsor Nike/Bauer. I really like assisting other professional photographers because it gives me a chance to step away from the lens and see how others approach an assignment and deal with the client. I'm just a rookie, as the Post's John Leyba calls me, when it comes to the business side of photography. Don't get me wrong I'm pretty business savvy and DU has played a huge role in that but there are plenty of intricacies within the photography realm that I'm still learning. My job mostly consisted of downloading cards and backing the images up on DVD but don't think that assisting isn't important. I always try to predict the photographers next move so I'm ready to do whatever they need to help them get the shot. Additionally it's all about the details for me which includes locking their computer to an immovable object, ingesting the cards into a labeled folder, marking the DVD's in order with a sharpie and making sure that they have a fresh battery and memory cards in their camera. No, it's not difficult but it's important and I work extremely hard to make sure things run as smoothly as possible.

In the midsts of all my other work I did manage to shoot some frames of DU seniors Andrew Thomas and Peter Mannino who were competing in the event. I've known both of them since we were freshman and it was cool to make some images of them considering this was the last time they will be on the ice as college athletes. They are great guys who contributed a lot to the program and probably have a shot to play at the next level.

I'll be up early again to shoot the youth clinic with all the participants from today's event at DU. With that being said I'm going to get some sleep but look for an image from the title game between Boston College and Notre Dame next.

-JCE