Event: Sparks at Mercury
Earlier today I covered the home opener of the Phoenix Mercury against the LA Sparks. This would be only my 2nd WNBA game (my first being last week, a preseason game). While I have experience with the NBA, I knew that it would be different.
Covering a new event can be a daunting task. It’s something we all face, especially early on in our careers. In this post, I’ll speak about my experience with shooting something new, and what I did to prepare myself.
First things first: The game just isn’t the same. The WNBA players can’t jump into orbit like the NBA players. They don’t dunk, so things like alley oops, morale killing dunks (a la Kobe) and tip-in dunks just don’t happen.
But that’s a fair trade off for what you do get: These women play with a lot of heart. They hustle for the ball, dive, show emotion (and not the girly kind), and generally play like each minute matters. So that’s what I focused on.
Of course, it also helped that this was Candace Parker’s first WNBA game, that she dominated (almost had a triple double . . . and WNBA games are only 40 minutes).
Focusing on emotion is important. It means that the key moments in the game do not always involve scoring, but rather effort plays, like scrums for the ball
These happen fairly often, at least compared to the NBA game. I wouldn’t say there’s a trick to it, other than staying on the ball and letting a loose ball situation develop. I wait for a post player to pivot blindly into a good double team, or for a quick guard to sneak around the back and make a stab for the ball. Look for that, and look for the players that try to make that happen.
Emotion is key as well. Not that you wouldn’t focus on this in any sport, but in the WNBA especially, the players put it all out on the floor. The best way to get this is to follow the hot player, look for the important, momentum changing baskets of the game, or an especially difficult basket.
Sometimes the emotion comes from the player committing a foul, or not getting a foul called in their favor. Again, when each possession matters, these events come up often. Just follow the important players, the player that feels slighted for not getting the call, or the player that commits the foul.
Aside from the individual emotion, the bench often reacts to momentum changing plays. In this case, the Mercury were trying to come back from a deficit in the fourth quarter. While they came up short, they came close, and the bench knew they had a chance.
On top of all this, you just key into the important players of the game. Sometimes this is spelled out for you. A dominant player in the sport is on one of the teams, or its the comeback game for an important player. Whatever the reason, you may want to follow that player around a little more, to see the little moments that noone else sees.
I didn’t know much about the WNBA, but I knew Candace Parker was the #1 draft pick. I knew she was making her WNBA debut. I DIDN’T know that she had won an NCAA championship (two apparently), or that her brother was in the NBA. I somewhat knew she could dunk, but didn’t expect her to do that today. BTW I ran a quick google during the writing of this post to actually see what I didn’t know. In the future, I’d consider a google search before the game to be sure I had a better grasp on the situation.
Thankfully, despite not knowing all that, I knew Candace Parker’s debut would be noteworthy. You’ll see in the gallery that I have a healthy selection of images of her.
So, to summarize (because really, this was a long post)
- Focus on the key elements of the game, be it form (gymnastics), athleticism (NBA), emotion (every sport), etc.
- Look for the situations that lead to these key elements, such as a good double team in basketball, or a defensive lineman breaking into the backfield in football, or a breakaway in hockey (or soccer for that matter).
- Look for emotion everywhere. Players, coaches, benches, fans.
- Look for moments all the time. Just because the clock stops doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to shoot. It’s up to you to find it.
- Look for the money players of the game. Sometimes it’s a star, sometimes it’s an unknown having a career night. Following them closely can often lead to special moments both on and off the court/field/turf/ice/etc
Finally, here is a link to a small gallery I put together for this post. I would appreciate any feedback, especially from those who have shot women’s basketball a fair amount. I’d also like to hear anyone else’s take on what to key on and aim for when covering a sport for the first time.
Max, I was hoping you would cover this game since it was in Phoenix. My wife & I are big womens BBall fans. We think not being able to do the soaring dunks are a plus as we feel that keeping the ball below the rim encourages more discipline in running plays and you are right, there is always a lot of hustling going on.
I’ve been a Tn Vols fan all of my life and my wife graduated from Georgia so we get to have some fun with the rivalries.
I only wish Candace was a little more used to dishing assists. She passed up 2 or 3 easy opportunities and seeing her get the first triple double would have been cool…
Mark
[...] PShizzy wrote an interesting post today on Event: Sparks at MercuryHere’s a quick excerptPlayers, coaches, benches, fans. Look for moments all the time. Just because the clock stops doesn’t mean that there’s nothing to shoot. It’s up to you to find it. Look for the money players of the game. Sometimes it’sa star, … [...]
These photos are pretty freaking great!!!! Like you said emotions are very important. I am not a sports photographer, but I need to get involve with this since I am working with several schools out here in west Texas. But as a portrait photographer emotions are our bread and butter, a photo without an emotion is simply a snapshot, Lately I have being doing many quiceneras and couple of wedding and most of my customers the first thing they say about the photos is that they are seeing exactly how their daughter is and then they realize how is it that I was able to capture those emotions and such, this is where you touch about researching about the game and the players before an event. It is very important to get to know the game and the players so you know what to expect and it gives you an idea of how you can also control the situation since you know their routines by knowing all this you can pretty much visualized and predetermine your shots, of course this is not the case all the time but it gives you the basics of what you think is going to happen. As I portrait photographer specially in quinceaneras and wedding I plan this events six months in advance where I develop several photo shoots which will help me understand and get to know my clients so that at the day of their spacial day I know more or less how things are going to run, also during the lapse of the pre event i may have met other key members of this even such godparents, best friends etc…also by the time the event gets around I have being involve with the people that they do not see me as an stranger and I will have more access to more private and intimate situations and I can request for situations which I would not have being able to get if this was the second time I meet my clients. So research, know the game, know your equipment, and have a passion to what you are doing are the main keys for a successful photo shoot specially where people are involve and they want to be photographed adequately. Like you said Max although sports is a game there are a lot of emotions and people identify with this emotions, so it is your job to be able to record this and connect people who were not able to attend such event, make them feel what it was to be during this event, show anger, termination, love, passion, defeat, victory, stress, worryness (is this a word?), focus, mystery, agony, etc… some one said “it is not the job of a photographer to take pictures, but to preserve the emotion and the integrity of the subject” I think this is how it said….so a photographer is not made by the best equipment (although it helps) a photographer is made by the passion and integrity of that photographer because people identify with this!!!! sorry about the long comment…. but you touched a very important topic of how photo shoots, need to be organized and covered..Great job!!!Max….
Abraham Pedraza
Great images. Equipment and settings maybe, or did I miss that somewhere..??
Larry,
I used 2 Canon 1D mk3′s with a 300 2.8 ISand a 70-200 2.8 IS. on a 1 series body, the 300mm focal length suits me well for shooting basktball. The 70-200 is a little tight nearcourt, but I tend to focus on the upper body not the whole body. Also, I’m used to having a wide (fish, 17-40, etc) remote for action in the paint, so shooting tight gives me two different image types on the same play. This is not the case with the WNBA, so I may have to shoot a little looser than I’m used to.
if I had to work with 20/30/40Ds, Id consider the 70-200 and 24-70 a good lens combo. the 300 may be a bit tight downcourt, but it is an excellent lens. If you already had a 200 2.0 or 1.8, then I’d easily shoot that, wide open, to get the lower ISO. The DOF would still be good, because of the distance downcourt, and the crop factor.
With a full framer, like a5D, or 1Ds mk3, I’ve shot with a 400 2.8 farcourt. It’s a great lens, but my reaction times tend to suffer, as the encumbrance of the lens slows me down. With a 300 2.8 I see it, I do it. With a 400 2.8, I see it, I start to do it, hope the moment is still there, then maybe do it in time. But a well composed shot with a 400 2.8 and a full frame camera is a sight to behold. The 70-200 also becomes the perfect nearcourt lens. The true 70mm becomes just right for nearcourt.
If there’s dominant play inside (post moves, lots of slashers against a solid help defense team, etc), then I consider the 24-70. It limits me to the paint, but when it pays off, it pays off. I stopped using it because my wide remote would cover all that, letting me get in tight to get different perspectives of the same play.