Iced Out
After a Week 14 bye, the Cardinals were back at State Farm Stadium for their Week 15 matchup against the 49ers.
Don't let the all-white uniforms fool you, this game was indeed played on home turf.
The roof was open this week, which allowed for nicer weather and some cool pregame lighting.
I rented a 14-24mm lens for this game to test it out, and I really liked the wider shots I was able to get with it.
With my trusty 85mm lens, I was able to get this majestic photo of Dennis Gardeck flipping his hair with an astonished Nick Rallis in the background.
The main reason I wanted to try the wider lens was for huddle photos, and I liked the more panoramic look I was able to get this week.
These were both taken at a 14mm focal length.
I also liked the sense of space I was able to provide with the 14-24mm in the locker room, something I haven't been able to capture before.
But then I saw an opportunity for some really close-up detail shots, so I switched back to the 85mm.
These photos illustrate the need for having multiple camera bodies and lenses on you at all times.
I used my 400mm lens for introductions again so I could have at least one game capturing both offense and defense individually.
Unfortunately, I was blocked by the flag runners during Kei'Trel Clark's backflip, but was able to get a clean photo of Andre Chachere amidst the sea of players.
I like the straight-on angle because I get isolated photos of each player as they run out, which can make for "blank canvas" images that can have many different uses.
The open roof lets in more natural light that illuminates the fans in the stands more than the artificial lighting we get with a closed roof.
The bright white uniforms against the brighter background made for some interesting frames.
With three cameras/lenses and only two hands, I have to always choose which setup I'm going to use for each play.
For James Conner's touchdown, I wasn't sure where the play was going to end up, so I grabbed my 85mm lens just in case it came a little bit closer.
I was wrong, and I probably should have used my longer lens, but I was able to get a little bit of the action before zooming in for the celebration with my 400mm.
Another example of different lens usage is during the two-minute warning when Trey McBride was pacing down the sideline.
I was using my 400mm to get some portraits of the other players when I noticed him, and he barely got his double peace signs in the frame.
I then opted for the 14-24mm again to get a really wide shot of the scene.
Sometimes, I find similarities between photos during the editing process, like with these two photos below.
I got the first one of Krys Barnes almost 40 minutes before the one of Rondale Moore, but I love the composition of both of them.
Working on an NFL sideline is difficult for many reasons, but a big problem that happens to almost every photographer is when someone on the sideline is just a little bit too close to the field.
I barely got all of Trey McBride's hurdle inside the frame, and it would be almost perfect if whoever was standing there just shifted slightly to the right.
I almost missed Emari Demercado's touchdown because it started out with what I thought was him getting tackled by a bunch of defenders.
This was one of the last clean frames I got of him running ...
... and then I heard cheering, so I swivel my camera as I'm looking through the viewfinder and I land on a player running, so I click a few times ...
... but then I realize, that's not Emari, and I swivel even more to find him striding into the end zone!
I think I was predicting the future by taking those couple of frames of Elijah Higgins running, because he then went on to score his first career touchdown.
The Cardinals weren't quite able to bounce back from bye week this time, but with three more games left in the 2023 season, there's still a lot more football to look forward to.
