Under The Weather
The Cardinals' game against the Packers is the perfect example of what happens both literally and figuratively with the cliché "when it rains, it pours."
Penalties, turnovers and injuries plagued the team during a cold and gloomy day in Green Bay, and, as I'm here to give you my perspective, I'll start off with a visual aid:
I was covered head to toe in rain gear, and I had to make sure my cameras had the same outfit that I did. You can see the two cameras hanging off of my shoulders are fitted with clear covers that make it very hard to quickly see what you're shooting.
The camera covers are not air-tight, so if any warm air gets in there (like when I'm breathing) it fogs up the inside so I can't see the playback screen. Seems really fun and easy to manage right? *Sarcasm Alert*
Still, I was very excited to cover my first game at the historic Lambeau Field. I could tell the players were excited too as they were finally able to experience "football weather," as evidenced by a shirtless Starling Thomas V:
Visiting team photographers always have a field day in this stadium due to the long and narrow tunnel the players have to use to get from the locker room to the field.
I quickly became obsessed and posted up in different spots along the hallway to really showcase the space. Escaping the weather was a bonus, I swear!
The outside of the tunnel is equally as cool but deceptively the same size; it looks like the players barely fit into it.
I played around with the different lighting and positions as Paris Johnson Jr. walked out for warmups:
Since it was too small of a space for me to be in the middle, I tried a side view and then backed up for a wider view as more players took the field.
I like the side view, but I wish the areas around the tunnel were less cluttered so that the wide view had more impact:
Even in the rain, the players were all smiles and smolder as they stretched and prepared for battle:
Each week, Paris Johnson Jr. gets more and more hyped during his pregame huddle speech. He's taken to punching his teammates in the stomach randomly, and I can tell that's why they don't gather as closely anymore.
After this round, I heard Hjalte Froholdt joking with the rest of the offensive linemen that he doesn't want to be Paris' next victim.
I'm adding "avoid getting punched in the huddle" to my list of job responsibilities.
Back to the locker room we go.
The space we had to navigate in order to get to the main locker area was really tight, and while I was waiting for people to pass, I noticed I had a clear shot of Michael Wilson putting on his eye black in the mirror:
I did a couple laps and captured some resistance band training and an intense Jesse Luketa:
On my way out, I knew I needed more of the cool tunnel, so I posted up by the staircase so I could get both the stairs and the curve of the hallway.
Offensive coordinator Drew Petzing utilized the rain coverage to jot some notes down on his playbook:
Now came the time when the whole team descended from the locker room for intros, so I knew it would look different than the previous tunnel shots I got.
I love that I was able to get some big group photos ...
... and some moody isolated ones.
Photography in the rain has its pros and cons.
Con: rain creates water droplets on your lens that you don't notice until you look at the photos in playback and frantically wipe them off.
Pro: rain is a really good storytelling tool.
With the rain being an added element, I want to point out a few photos that actually have the subject as the background.
These three shots have the focus as something behind what's in the foreground, and I like how that creates depth:
Sometimes, scale is what you need over depth. Photos like these are why I'm glad I have a wide angle lens on me at all times:
My 400mm lens allows me to get in pretty close to the action, like this power struggle that looks like an opponent graphic come to life:
Trey McBride had some great plays, but I particularly love what I got of this stiff-arm:
One thing about our white uniforms is that stains really pop.
At least we know Paris Johnson Jr. puts his blood into "blood, sweat and tears:"
At one point, we had a break from the rain where the sun decided to make an appearance and change all of my camera settings.
These photos don't even look like they're from the same game as the ones above:
Towards the end of the game, the sidelines were getting more tight with players and coaches hovering around the bench area, so I had to incorporate that into my photos.
I say that as if these were purposeful compositions, but since I'm transparent in this essay, I will admit these were all happy accidents:
While I've avoided anything too triggering for Cardinals fans so far, I have to show what it really looks like on the field during a loss.
I won't dwell for long, but here's some visuals of a post-fumble Greg Dortch being consoled by Hjalte Froholdt, a replay-watching Jonathan Gannon and a penalty-reacting Zach Pascal:
Early in the fourth quarter, Packers fans were not holding back when it came to heckling.
I saw Trey McBride looking into the stands occasionally to put faces to the rude comments and pacing the sidelines waiting for a chance to prove them wrong that unfortunately never came:
To sum up, the day was full of a lot of different things at the same time.
Rainy and sunny. Tight and spacious. Photographically cool and football-ically not the best (new word I'm trying out).
But, as I've written about before, the end of the game turns into a more human affair where players embrace each other as if they were family.
And in this case, they were!
