"Prairie Ridge forward Bryan Bradshaw, right, appears to get his hand in for the block despite being called for the foul on Grayslake Central's Michael Brumm in the third quarter at Prairie Ridge High School in Crystal Lake, Friday, Feb. 6, 2009. Prairie Ridge defeated Grayslake Central 59-53."
It's about time that I updated with some sports right? Thankfully my shift finally changed so now I'll be shooting some sports stuff a few nights a week. Last night I had hockey and anyone who knows me can tell you how much I dislike shooting the sport. I don't know what it is about hockey but I am just never really impressed with my take. My co-workers seemed to like my stuff from the game last night but I still thought it wasn't very good. Basketball on the other hand is something that I always enjoy.
I play pick-up basketball at the gym at least three days a week and have always enjoyed watching the game on television so I really understand how it is played. Good sports photography often relies on anticipation because you can miss the moment or play in the blink of an eye. Throughout the game I watch players and try to pick up on their tendencies so near the end of a close game, like I had tonight, I can anticipate the key moment and thus capture the image.
With the game being close and Prairie Ridge coming from behind to hold a small lead I positioned myself up in the stands so that I could get a clean view for a defensive stop. Shooting from an elevated position also gave me a better perspective from which to watch plays develop. Prairie Ridge had been making their free throws so I knew that it would be their defense that would make or break the game for them. I watched Grayslake's point guard Michael Brumm all evening and knew that he liked to pull up just inside the free throw line. When he drove down the middle of the lane I was ready and captured a pretty good shot of what I thought was a great defensive play by Prairie Ridge's Bryan Bradshaw. It appears that Bradshaw made the clean block but was called for the foul.
A few minutes later I ran into my only issue of the evening when a parent from visiting Grayslake thought that my strobes were distracting his son/team and decided to go and just unplug them without any notice. I shot for probably 30 seconds and couldn't figure out what was wrong. At first I thought that the radio signal from the Pocket Wizards were being blocked so I walked over to my lights and found them unplugged. As soon as I plugged them back in the parent came over screaming that the lights were distracting his son/team. It's rather funny how the lights weren't distracting said son/team during the first three quarters when they had the lead. Now that they were loosing they apparently had to blame something for their awful shot making. The players never notice the lights and if they plan on moving on to college or the pros then they better get used to it because every major NCAA and NBA game is strobed and often by several media outlets.
I pleaded my case with the Prairie Ridge AD who was on my side but she said that the referees received a complaint from the Grayslake coach and that her hands were tied. At this point the said parent walked over and stood by one of my strobes as if he was going to rip it down if it went off again. Thankfully a dean from the school went over and ran the parent off and watched my stuff for the rest of the game. Prairie Ridge had wrapped up the game by this point and there was under two minutes to play so I shot a few ambient frames before the game ended.
I've had issues with athletic directors before but never a parent. Who knew that I was a viable scapegoat for when your son or daughter's team is loosing the game. Get used to it because if I come to shoot the game I'm bringing the lights.
I'll add this night to the long list of stories I've accumulated while shooting. I wonder, what will happen next?
-JCE
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