Notre Dame Football and the Kennedys

Today I had two very different, yet similar assignments. First, I covered a public 2-hour Notre Dame football practice. I was given a 30 player list. I only got about 10 of them.

This was a terrible experience for me. The practice was held in terrible shooting environment called the Loftus Center. It is an indoor training facility with a full-size football field. We have all shot in bad indoor lighting, but this was the worst I've ever been in. Worse than Huff Hall, if you know that place. In most indoor facilities, photogs can normally get close to the action. Or maybe even bounce a flash. We were kept 10 yards back from the end zone while all of the drills and plays occurred on the opposite end. This would provide a difficult environment, but not as terrible as I make it out to be. But not all photogs get the chance to shoot in such a dimly multi-color florescent lit building with the gear I've been issued: Nikon D2H with a very old 300mm 2.8 AF.

And to add salt to the wound, the dude next to me had two D3s, 24-70, 70-200, 300 and 400mm. All new. I nearly shat my pants. (That's about $26,000 of new gear)

The above image may look descent in low-rez with proper sharpening, but I assure you, it's nasty.

Same shot at 100%.

I missed 2/3rds of my list because most of the players never even came close to the ned of the field in which media was restricted to. I ended up giving up on the list and just trying to make pictures that would look descent.

After banging my head against my 300mm, I continued to my next assignment. Ethel Kennedy came to town to speak in support of Barack Obama. This is my third Kennedy in less than three months. Caroline had a book signing in Naperville, Kathleen was here a few weeks ago supporting HIllary, and now Ethel is here for Obama.


She didn't really speak. She shook hands and such. Former Indiana Congressman Tim Roeman sort of stumped for her. I have gotton REALLY bored shooting speeches. My current fad is to shoot them super close. Now I just need that 400mm...

I say these assignments are different, yet similar because even though one is about politics and the other sports, they are inherently the same thing: a performance. There is true joy and excitement at both events, but they are predictable and expected. I am not saying these assignments are not worth while, just similar in tactics and game plan on my part. For Notre Dame I was 60-80 yards away at all time. With Kennedy, I was 6-8 inches away. Just gotta use a wider lens.