The 12 Second Score!
A Second by Second account, and the Prep Taken to Catch the Moment.
As a photographer, I have never seen anyone score within the first couple minutes, let alone 12 seconds! On Thursday night, May 14, I covered the District 3/4 4A Championship between Stadium and Sumner. My night was just getting started and seconds later, I had a score, caught jubilation pics and almost 40 usable frames between two cameras. I know the timing within a second, because my cameras record the time, which I regularly coordinate, and by luck, the scoreboard in the first frame sets the timing of the first touch.
It was pretty amazing to catch, and I thought I’d share the planning, and what I was doing with my two cameras during my fifteen seconds of shooting.
As a photographer covering soccer, you have to be patient for the action to come to you. I am the type that likes to almost fill the frame, so either the play needs to come to me, or I need to reposition myself. If the play is too far away, the camera is in my lap. For most matches, I typically move around the field to a new spot every 10 minutes or so. This way I catch more players and angles in the field. I’ll always gravitate in the direction of the team that seems to have more ball control. Yesterday, I started in the right spot. Part of that was planning, part of that was based on the field layout, and part was a hunch.
If I do not know the teams, I usually look up their records and do my best to measure things up. For starters, Stadium entered the District Championship as the #1 seed, and Sumner was the #2 seed. The latest WIAA RPI showed Stadium at #2 Statewide, with Sumner at #8. I also saw one of Sumner’s best players on crutches. With that knowledge, I found a spot on the sidelines favoring Stadium slightly, around the 35 yard line. This allows me to see who gains ball control and make my next move accordingly. I could have decided to be on the north side or the south side, but I picked the south side, mainly because I would not have a sideline ref running in front of me.
My camera setup? I have one body with a 300mm f2.8 lens (QB1), and one with a 70-200mm f.28 zoom lens (QB2). I like football, and the QB reference works for me. Because the ambient light was strong enough in the beginning of the game, I took the option of adding a 1.4 teleconverter to each, giving me a 420mm reach for QB1. My zoom on QB2 will now equal 98mm to 280mm. (Both cameras will now be at f4, because you lose one stop with a 1.4 converter…this is camera talk for my photographer friends.) Both cameras are capable of shooting 14 frames a second, so most of these images came from shooting short bursts of 2 to 5 frames at a time. I ended up with about 40 useable frames across 15 seconds.
I am positioned sitting on the track. I like being low for soccer because of the perspective and how it makes the players look. Also, all the players will be seen in the background, and it somewhat helps reduce the strength of the football markings. When standing, you’re cutting heads off in the background and you see all the yard and line markings, and I feel your players don’t look as powerful. I usually hold my longest lens in my lap while sitting on the ground…or QB1. I do that because it’s ten pounds total and I can lift with my left hand and grab the controls with my right. To my right, I have QB2 set grip-side up so I can grab it quickly, one handed.
I sighted the ball in the center of the field using QB1. I see the the ball is coming my way, so I drop QB1 and reach for QB2, that I have sitting by my side, grip side up, preset at the widest point of 98mm.
The stadium clock marks the time Fisher Jarzynka of Stadium receives the ball in his chest, right in front of me. Six seconds are off the clock for the first frames.
Seven seconds after the whistle, the ball drops as Fisher pushes it forward with his chest. As he begins to turn toward the goal, Gunnar Vanderhoof of Sumner defends.
Eight seconds after the whistle, the ball hits the turf and Fisher pushes forward challenging additional Sumner players by moving toward them, to get around Gunnar to his left.
Nine seconds in, he is held back as the ball rolls out of reach.
Ten seconds in, Aiden Vannoy of Sumner get his heel on the ball and disrupts the flow, but this allows Fisher to catch up to it.
Eleven seconds in, Fisher regains control of the ball and moves forward.
Twelve seconds after the first whistle, Fisher takes his shot.
A lot of bodies are getting in the way, so I drop QB2, so I can use QB1 with the telephoto to get a few jube (jubilation) shots. Note to photographers - When working for a publication, a jube shot will always be picked as the lead, even though you have dozens of amazing action pics, so always try to catch the first reactions because they are the strongest.
Fifteen seconds after the first whistle, Fisher runs past me, I drop QB1 and go back to QB2 to get a shot with teammate Aiden Oehling as he comes over to congratulate him.
I hope you enjoyed my accounting of this, and what goes into covering sports!