Little bit different of a game day entry today—rather than covering tailgate, actually managed to find my way to the field. The UNI game is the first of two that I’ll be covering from the sidelines this year, which will make it four in total for my collegiate (er, law school) career. Probably would have liked to have done more but then again, getting a chance to shoot four Division I college football games while going to law school is still pretty cool. And, if I’m being honest, I’m not sure I really need to be shooting more than two games a year anyway. Sure, it’s fun, but it’s also somewhat repetitive. Yes, you do get better at it the more you do it, but the range of potentially interesting photos is also far smaller. If I’m being honest, I’ve found that I enjoy shooting tailgate more than the actual game. Anyway, this post is a week late, so on to the photos:
Game day: Iowa—Iowa State
Well, the biggest day on the football calendar did not disappoint. Not the game, mind you—there’s a reason why that game has been called ¡El Assico! after all. No, I’m talking about a day of tailgating, partying, and general debauchery. Game day in Iowa City is always photogenic in its own way but the students and tailgaters (but mostly the students) make sure that the Iowa—ISU game is like nothing else. On to the photos:
Field Hockey, the return.
During my time shooting for the Daily Iowan, if you asked me what my favorite sport to shoot is, I'd say women's field hockey. Sure, shooting football and basketball are great—they're the prestige sports and there really is nothing like being on the sidelines or courtside and having the privilege of shooting them. While the sports pages might not teem with field hockey coverage though (er, well, except for the DI) it really has become a favorite of mine to shoot. Why, you ask?
Well, for starters, the games are short—two 35 minute halves and a 10 minute halftime. Get in, get out. But more than that, it's outside so the light is generally good, it's fairly high action so you can get some fairly dramatic shots and the field isn't that large so you're closer to the action than in something like soccer.
And Iowa's team, while maybe not great, is pretty good and certainly entertaining. I shot my first field hockey game of the season today and Iowa hung seven on the opposing team. More of that ladies.
Game Day: vs. University of Northern Illinois
Well, sports fans, another year of college football is upon us and, likely, the last one that I'll be covering in Iowa. To get things started off, I spent the day—a particularly hot and humid one—walking around and documenting tailgating in a Big Ten College town.
While the photography was okay, something about the day just felt "off." Depending on who you spoke to, it was: the weather, the fact it was a holiday weekend, that the frats/sororities were still in their "dry" period and so there was less partying/general mayhem to document or some combination of all three. People were certainly out and the rain held off but there was a distinct lack of energy throughout the day.
On to the photos:
Strange Weather We're Having
Crazy day of weather yesterday in Iowa City—hot, humid, and intermittent showers throughout the day culminating with a torrential downpour in the early evening. I got out of my night class a little early and still happened to have my gear with me from a portrait shoot earlier in the day. And, as luck would have it, I also had my tripod in the back of my truck (because, er, I'd been too lazy to bring it upstairs after another shoot on Monday). Once again, laziness paid off. It was a simple matter to drive to the other end of the law school parking lot (which is on a hill with a view of the Johnson County Courthouse) and to set up and wait for something interesting. I missed a few lightning strikes getting set up but the lightning was so heavy this evening, you actually had the time to trip the shutter after a strike began.
Strange weather indeed.
Soccer Sunday
Another year of shooting for the Daily Iowan has kicked off and I started my final year for this paper by shooting Iowa Soccer's third home game of the season. For a game played on such a miserable day—93 degrees and close to 100% humidity—I'm relatively happy with the shots I got.
Biggest lesson learned though was to test out your 20–year old camelbak more than 5 minutes before you leave to shoot an event—otherwise that leak you didn't know about means you'll be shooting for about three hours without any water.
Suboptimal.
Daily Iowan Slideshow
Meanwhile, at the Iowa State Fair . . .
A little disappointed that I failed to do better than merely place in the Iowa State Fair's photography competition—to say nothing of actually making out to the fair itself this year. But one of my photos that did make it was of a good friend from law school—and at least she got to enjoy it.
The former Ms. Winneshiek County poses with her photo.