Football Coverage in 2009

Let me begin by saying that although I enjoy every aspect of photography, shooting sports is my favorite. There's nothing like the adrenaline rush of whether or not you are going to capture each key moment in a visually pleasing way - because those moments happen in a split second, and then they are gone. The only evidence is the photograph.

I shot my first football game a year ago - it was the Iowa vs. Iowa State game at Kinnick Stadium on September 13, 2008. I had "practiced" shooting football by shadowing a Houston Chronicle photographer, Brett Coomer, on a hot August day in 2008 during the Houston Texans training camp. Coomer gave me tips, and I took them to the field on Sept. 13.

Since then, as far as football is concerned - I shot a total of 3 games last fall and the Outback Bowl with my photo editor at the time, Lindsey Walters, on January 1, 2009.

Each time I shoot the sport, I learn something new - positioning on the field, how to anticipate and how to break away from what other photographers are shooting - in order to give viewers a new perspective. But here's the thing - as football continues to be the sport that essentially drives an influx of readers, our coverage as "journalists" has taken a turn towards speed. Last fall it tooks us hours to upload photos, edit through them, cutline, edit audio and send them through to get published. We would work on the slideshow from the time the game ended until midnight that night...and continue to work on it the next day. It would then be published Sunday for Monday, and up on the site Monday morning.

When Lindsey and I covered the Outback Bowl, we spent nearly 6 hours editing, cutlining, toning, editing audio, etc. and had our slideshow sent out to the web master around 2:00 a.m. It was then posted that morning around 7:30 a.m.

Although we're a college newspaper, however, we see ourselves as competing with the local newspapers and web sites. They surely get their slideshows up before the next day...and now, so do we.

After learning some invaluable techniques during my internship in Houston, I've had the opportunity to teach these to my staff. During the Iowa vs. UNI game we had 5 embedded photos up during half time, and the completed slideshow was up nearly 2.5 hours after the game. And the same was true for Iowa vs. Iowa State.

We have two photographers at every game but one. We're still learning and need all the feedback we can get, but we are in with our competitors, striving to get our content out first. That's part of what journalism is today.