Well it finally happened. I covered my first NFL game and even better it was a Washington Redskins game. Being a Washingtonian and life-long Redskins fans, you think this would have been huge for me. It was and it wasn’t.
When I first started shooing my nephew’s football games at Wilson Senior High in DC, I never would have imagined I would be on a NFL sideline. I picked up a camera at the time to be more active and to get out of the house. At some point my love of football rekindled my love of photography. Then it became all about taking the organized chaos of a football game and trying to capture the best moment possible.
I don’t want to bore you with the background details, but here we are several years later covering the Redskins fourth preseason game vs. the Baltimore Ravens. While this was probably my third time shooting at FedEx field, it was my first professional game. However it was the fourth preseason game where the majority of starters and backups are out of uniform and most of the guys playing auditioning for the practice squad. The action was at a minimum because both organizations were all about trying to get through that game with no injuries to make final cuts and prepare for games next week.
That didn’t stop me from feverishly try to capture something great from what I had available. Midway through the second quarter, I realized that it just wasn’t going to happen for me and that I should just use the game as practice for myself. It helped me formulate an approach to the pro game and how to deal with the packed sidelines and positioning. Here’s to hoping that some of the lessons learned will pay off in the upcoming weeks.
