WNBA: Los Angeles Sparks at Phoenix Mercury
The Mercury defeated the Sparks 89-80, and now own the best record in the League. With a flurry of games (They stand at 5-1 within the first two weeks of the season), they’re off to a great start, and it seems like the teams gelled already. Cappie Pondexter had 21 points, and Diana Taurasi added 17, but the story was Temeka Johnson, who added 18 points, with 10 in the fourth quarter.
So, uh, why the picture of Lisa Leslie? Because it’s all about smiles and cries (If you haven’t seen Training Day, go see it). A better way to put it, for those that haven’t seen the movie, is that you need genuine emotion to make a photo work. You’ll always hear people saying things about their images featuring a players face, and that’s true, but beyond that you need a face that shows a genuine emotion. Smiles and cries.
When a player is injured, there’s no hiding it. Leslie took a bad fall and could barely walk off the court (hip injury, out a week). Another example I like is the look of dejection, often happening after a game losing shot or your final game in the regular season or playoffs. With most games, there’s always tomorrow. When there isn’t, it’s a somber feeling.
More after the jump.
With injuries, you normally don’t hope or expect it, so anticipation is difficult. Often I see the play through when there’s a lot of contact or some extraordinary physical effort. In basketball this is a hard foul at the basket. In football, it’s that high pass over the middle that turns a wide receiver into safety bait. In baseball its that dive in the outfield.
After it happens though, you can take follow up images. Easy enough when they stop play, as they did with Leslie (above), but sometimes the player toughs it out. When that happens, I’ll shift my focus to that player. Yes, I still want to cover the game, but this may be an important long term story. Dewanna Bonner ended up with a sore wrist, but a more serious injury could have impacted her standing as a top rookie, and the teams ranking as a top team. So I keep my eye on that player, waiting for something to happen. Sometimes it’s subtle. A limp and maybe a wince of pain when walking. Sometimes it’s worse.
Several more examples of the followups to both injuries are in the gallery below.
Jubilation or jube is catching a great positive moment for a player or team. For me, these are a little bit easier to anticipate. You see the momentum changing in a game, a deficit being overcome, or the final nail in the coffin score that seals the game. In basketball it’s the go ahead basket. In football it could be a key touchdown, a sack to kill a drive, or an interception. In baseball, it’s a double play to end an inning or a key strikeout with runners on base.
Jube is what happens after the big play. If you can anticipate well, you’ll know the key play before it happens. But it goes beyond that. As I’ve mentioned before, getting a feel for the players is important. On every team, there’s usually a few players that are very open, heart on the sleeve types. These are the players that will go crazy when a big play happens, either for or against them. Others are a bit more serious. Temeka Johnson is a fierce competitor, so even when she’s happy, she looks mad. I like it.
Jube isn’t just about a player either. It’s about the team. So usually after a play, I’ll see if the player shows something, but then I’ll also pan towards the benches or sidelines. Often, they are as or more excited about the play than the players. If you’re in the right spot, sometimes you can get the team cheering as a background to the key player also jubing it up.
Getting the crowd in a jube shot is also a nice way to show the importance of a play. If you can, try to position yourself where your crowd serves as a background. When a big play happens in that area, you shoot wider than normal, and try to get the crowd cheering as that background, while your player or players jube it up.
As with anything, doing these things just takes some focus, and a bit of practice. If you keep at it, eventually, you won’t need to think about how or when to shoot it, you’ll just know. Once you get that feel for it, it’s a matter of mixing it up. Try different compositions (like the wide shot vs the vertical for basketball), different backgrounds (clean, crowd, players, coaches, opposing team sulking), anything.
Practicing this during the regular season is a great way to be prepared for the more important games. And it doesn’t need to be the same team. Some of my best jube shots came from high school games. Be thankful you don’t have to hear the audio that goes with a jube shot in girls softball or basketball at the high school level. But their jube is amazing, because it’s so completely and utterly open and genuine.
As always, comments and questions are welcome. The gallery is below.
WNBA: Los Angeles Sparks at Phoenix Mercury – Images by Max Simbron