The end of baseball coverage takes me to my favorite shooting time of year...Fall sports, more specifically, football. For the past two years (and beyond with other companies), I have covered youth and high school football throughout the state every Saturday and Sunday, and I love every minute of it. I don't see much football on TV, but nothing beats photographing the action live. Besides, there are no commercials.
A few years ago while working for a local newspaper, I had the opportunity to photograph a Patriots vs. Chiefs game at Gillete Stadium. That experience was definately up there on the cool scale. I arrived what seemed like 6 hours before the game and headed to the media entrance to sign in and get my bags checked, my on-field pass and a vest. As I made my way through the tunnel towards the field, I can't help but chuckle and say to myself..."Wow, I can get used to this!". When you watch a football game on tv, the field always looks bigger. Go to your local youth or high school football game - that's the size of the field the pros play on, minus 68,550 fans. So as I made my way onto the field area, I walked the perimeter a couple of times to take it all in. One by one players started taking the field for their pre-game warm ups, the stadium began to fill, the interviews were taking place, Tom Brady passes were being zipped to recievers that made it look way too easy! The kickers were sending the ball 50 yards down field like it was their job. Oh yeah, these guys get paid (a lot of money) to play this great game of football on the grandest stage every week. Now when I played high school football, it was the coolest thing when we ran through the paper hoop before the Thanksgiving Day Football game as your name was announced. Fast forward seven years and I'm on the sidelines at Gillette. The weather was absolutely perfect. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, the rendition of the National Anthem gave me goose bumps and the 3 jet flyover was right on cue. I can't forget about the 20 foot inflatable Patriots helmet that the team ran through out onto the field with smoke and fireworks through a tunnel of 50 cheerleaders while 69,000 fans rocked the stadium. This is the moment I had worked so hard for.
The Patriots were up by 7 with 6 seconds to go in the game. It was fourth down and the Chiefs had the ball on the one yard line. Now I've been to my fair share of rock concerts that make my ears ring. When the Chiefs came out of the huddle for this fourth down play, I never heard that much noise in a venue. I actually yelled to myself to see if I could hear it, I have no idea what I said, it was that loud. The Chiefs scored and forced overtime. However, Adam "Mr. Clutch" Vinateri nailed a 40+ yard field goal to win the game and sent the Patriots faithful home happy.
Even with the excitement of that game, I still enjoy shooting youth and high school football. I've never attempted to pursue the pro sports scene. I enjoy the fact that families are hanging the images I create on the walls of their homes. It brings great joy when I get a phone call, email or note from a customer saying they loved the photos and that they are hanging in their living room. That's why I do what I do. If you have photos you purchased from Curtis Sports Imaging and have them displayed in your home (framed, collage, albums, etc), snap a photo and email it to me at info(at)curtisimaging.com. I'd love to see what you did with them.
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Wow, two posts in one day! (And apparently, I don't have much going on at work because I keep checking your blog for updates even after you posted once today!)
I have a few Curtis Sports Imaging photos in my house. I could send you the great photo you took of my dog that's sitting on the mantle... or you could just look at it yourself when you visit later. I love the idea, though, and hope you get a lot of photos from satisfied customers!
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