Production Journal

My goal was to capture the spirit of competition by photographing a flag football game. What I find interesting about these games is how competitive they can become even though it is just an intramural sport. Many of those that play are former athletes, and intramural competition gives them an outlet. If you do not play varsity sports, real athletic competition can be hard to come by after high school. After having played flag football for all four years of college, I wanted to capture that spirit. By choosing a flag football game instead of varsity competition, I thought I would be able to better give my project a “slice of life” feel.

I was influenced primarily by sports journalism and sports photography. A good sports photograph can be extraordinarily difficult to get, but the right shot can be fantastic. It can show something raw and primal which is often missing from photographs taken at times when we are not relying so heavily on our base instincts. Since I was photographing a game, I did not really have the luxury of thoroughly planning my shots beforehand. I could plan the stills and hope for certain shots, but I was entirely dependent upon other events. While I feel that planning out shots was worthwhile because it gave me something to work toward and helped give me a direction of what to look for, the shots that ended up as part of my final project were not the same shots I intended to take.

There were a number of issues I had to deal with when creating my final project. The team that ended up as the focus of my final project was not even the team I set out to shoot. I realized partway through the first game I tried to shoot that I was not going to get enough shots from that game to complete the photo essay, and that the team I had come to shoot was going to lose. At that point, I was unsure of exactly how I wanted to present my photo essay, so I had been taking pictures of both teams and was able to switch my focus with relative ease. I then went to the championship game which took place a few days later, which ended up working out in my favor because they used the scoreboard for the championship game and had not for any of the others. I used it as a subject for one of my photos and thought it made a good backdrop for another photo, so for that particular reason the wrench thrown into my plans was actually beneficial. I also think my photos benefitted from the increased intensity surrounding a championship game. The players had more energy and were more focused on the task at hand, and I think that came through in the photographs I got. In the end, only one of my photos came from the first game. The other six were taken at the championship game.

I went to two different games, so the project was shot over the course of about two hours. Both games were on the campus turf field at 6:30 p.m., and I would have preferred an earlier time for better lighting. It was also cloudier than I would have liked at both games. Because of the nature of my project, I simply had to deal with those conditions and shoot the project anyway. I also had issues at different junctures with not fully understand my camera’s settings and capabilities. I have Nikon CoolPix S9100, so for a point and shoot camera it is quite good and as a result can be complex. I have also never really attempted any sort of sports photography before, so I also had to learn how to deal with timing. This was particularly difficult when trying to capture receptions. Many of my photographs were taken too early, with the receiver set up but the ball yet to arrive in the frame. By the second game, I learned how to deal with this issue much more effectively and got far superior photographs. I benefitted from my own knowledge of football which allowed me to predict beforehand whether I thought the team was going run or pass the ball. I was not always correct, but my best photographs came from those times that I was. I also selected beforehand which part of the play I wanted to capture. Sometimes, I chose to capture the beginning of the play, hoping to get a good shot of the quarterback’s release. Other times I wanted to capture the tackle or reception. While the photographs of receptions are my favorite, they were also the most difficult to capture because I did not know to whom the ball would be thrown. Since I was zoomed in quite significantly for most of my shoot, it was very easy to get lost behind the camera and unable to capture the image I wanted.

Mostly, I solved my problems by simply learning on the fly and recognizing when I had to make adjustments. I definitely learned a lot about sports photography. Knowing your own camera is essential. Each has different delays between clicking the button and the actual opening and closing of the shutter. I was disappointed that I could not learn quite enough in the time that I had to get the best photographs possible. If I could do it again I would have practiced more. Even just taking photographs of two people tossing a football around could have helped with my timing and learning the best angles. I also mainly stayed on one sideline while shooting my project. In retrospect, I should have moved behind the end zone and to the other sideline at least for a few plays.

My final product is not exactly what I had envisioned. I especially hoped to get more close-ups, but I did not realize how difficult of an undertaking that would be. I think if I could have accomplished that I would have ended up with a more powerful product because I would have been able to show emotion that was missing in some of my photos. While I think I did manage to capture the competition and the camaraderie that comes with playing sports, I did not quite get the primal instincts I had hoped to photograph.

With that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the creation of this project. It was fun to have an opportunity to record a part of campus life people don’t usually bother to capture, and it was a challenge to try to learn on the fly those things I did not already know about the type of photography I was attempting. I am glad I took the opportunity of this project to try something new rather than just doing still lifes or something over which I had more control. I liked having the element of surprise and not knowing whether or not a photograph was going to turn out. It gave me a little extra feeling of satisfaction when it did. I would definitely attempt more sports photography in the future, or even just more candid photographs. I have always preferred those to begin with, but I think now I might be more inspired to discreetly take photos of people on the street rather than simply pointing and shooting my camera at my friends. It takes planning, and an idea for a theme, but the result is well worth the effort.