Nearing the finsh line line - Semi Pro Season and Internship

There is just a couple weeks left of my internship and the time has just flown by.  The local Semi-Pro leagues that I work with had an upsetting blow this week. Our commissioner of the two local leagues I shoot, has elected to step down at the end of this season. This does not mean that these leagues won't be in existence next year it just means to be in existence, someone else must take over.

As I have been working with these players and teams for the last few years it makes me a bit bittersweet and worried what will happen next year. So it makes each game that I shoot right now   very important to me.

So here are some of my of my favorite things to shoot when I shoot semi-pro.

When I asked this team to look mean..this is what I got. Love the camaraderie in the Semi-Pro teams.

I sometimes say shooting semi-pro can be a bit of a wild card.  You never exactly know what kind of photographs you are going to get. The mood of the team you are shooting can completely change if they start to lose their game.

I always, always, also make sure I shoot the players children when I can. It is part of their fun memories.  Here is one of my favorites from last week's game.

                                I love it when the players' daughters want to be like their Dad's

I often try to keep in mind that while I have my goals on these types of shoots there are still moments I shouldn't miss while focusing on the game. While the players are having time outs. I always look for other shots I can grab like the one above.  Semi-Pro is rough.  It is hard on the body and it can also be mentally hard. The time the players play can last year or just a single session so I strive to make each moment count.

In looking at my favorite shots at a Semi Pro Game I had to include at least one action shot.  When I first started shooting these were the types of shots I loved the best.  However, now I look at them as if they are just part of the story.  (I'm lying - I love action shots - I just see them differently too).

       Marquelo fools the Spartans and takes off with the ball instead of throwing it.

This week as a mentioned was a rough week for our area of Semi-Pro ball.  There is already a bit of a power struggle with many different people wanting to take over the leagues, start their own leagues and the focus on this season is a bit muddied.  So my final shot shows why I personally shoot Semi Pro and why the players despite many obstacles still choose to play Semi-Pro.

 I actually refused to turn around and see what the player I had just teased was doing behind my back.

Ultimately semi-pro is supposed to be like this. It is supposed to be fun. It should be a friendly competition between guys who just love to play ball. To often you don't see that and it can become a bit disheartening as an intern.  However, every blue moon you get lucky and you get to see a game like this. A game where the teams had mutual respect for each other and could just have fun together.

Ok and maybe it didn't hurt that I got to shoot two former NFL players.

     Former Pittsburgh Steeler and Carolina Panther Mortty Ivy and Coach Keith Williams.

Sometimes even in the middle of an internship you have to stop and figure out what you love about what you are doing in your internship. There will always be challenges as you work with other photographers, videographers and owners who have a different creative voice than you do. Sometimes something about their vision or view point will really drive you crazy.  My word of advice is stay call and regroup. Stop and look at what you love about your internship. I promise it will truly help you.

I look forward to hearing what you do to stay focused.

Jessi

Internship Update

As you have noticed there has been a slight pause in my discussion of my internship.  My team the Jackson Silvehawks had so many injuries that they had to fold for the rest of this season so the team could heal up.  One of our final games was actually a historic loss of 106 - 0. You may see some footage on ESPN about it as they asked for the video.

I am still doing my internship, but have switched for working for Saturday Showdown a local Semi Pro tv show. We didn't have a game last week due to the holiday and so far our season in Ohio has been brought to you by rain.  (Which by the way, this can make for fun pictures, if you aren't playing on AstroTurf).

One of the Summit County Storm players at practice falls right into a large puddle losing the ball.

When I ended my internship with the Jackson Silverhawks I actually had 4 different offers on where to continue my internship.  This is  the reason that I kept in contact with other Semi Pro teams. There were hints of problems with my team this season and I wanted it to be an easy transition for me so I didn't lose any time trying to find a a new team.  Before I actually even knew my team had folded I was contacted by The Rubber City Broncos, The Summit County Storm, and The Cleveland Cobras. Each team has something unique that could have worked out well for me.

The RC Bronco's does have a regular photographer who happens to be my best friend. So in choosing that team I would have worked with her. The downfall is we would often have the same photographs unless I shot on the opposite side of the field.

The owner of the Cleveland Cobras is a good friend of mine who normally shoots her own team. This might have been a fun one to do as I have only ever worked with male owners. It would have been fun to see how she does things differently. The downfall is her team's home field is up in Perry, OH and about a 2.5 hour drive for me for home games.

Which brings up to the Summit County Storm.  I did originally plan on just shooting the Storm.  The Storm is about 3/4 players I already knew because they were last year Silverhawks. The Coaches also were former Silverhawk Coaches.  The downfall with them was due to the Silverhawks folding for the year they had a schedule that had a lot of farther away games.

In the end I choose Saturday Showdown which was my 4th choice. Working with Saturday Showdown, I get to shoot a variety of teams.  I'm not just shooting the game but helping to do other things that the show needs. I did co-host one show and could be a permanent co-host if I had the time do it ongoing.  We have even talked some about shooting other types of football games after my internship is over.  I felt this was the best situation for me as I could work closer to home and had the most I could learn from them.

                          One of the RC Broncos's Players leaping over the fence for practice.

I have been able so far to shoot some for the Storm, and the Broncos as I'm often able to choose what I want to shoot. I hope that I also get a chance to shoot for the Cobra's before the season is over.

I can't say that my internship hasn't been eventful so far!

There is one thing to keep in mind as you get past week 5.  It really only effects anyone who is going part time as I am.  When you are at 5.5 weeks you will have to add on another class making it like you are going full time for the 2nd half of the internship.  This may not cause a problem in your schedule you just need to be aware of this situation.  If  you don't plan for this situation  even though you are still in the middle of your internship the school / financial aid department  reports you are not actively enrolled in school.  I actually didn't realize I needed to do this until I started getting warnings that loans were going to be due since I wasn't enrolled in class.

It was a bit of a bump in the road as we scrambled to fix this situation. I do recommend if you are shooting heavily for your internship or have a job that you choose a non-shooting class.  While I chose a class that works well with my actual internship it has been hard to get my required shots in with my work schedule.

As always, I look forward to hearing your feed back. (Yes it is OK you can totally freak out of the Silverhawks score.  In the 3 games we played we never scored a single point and lost at least 78 - 0 on every game).

Talk to you soon!

Jessi

Internship Week 4 - Game 1 - Renting if you don't own

Game 1 - Jackson Silverhawks lose to Lima 78 - 0.

Well the above photograph shows how our first game of the 2015 season went.  The  team has had a struggle having to start over with new team members when almost half the team left before the season officially started.  This game's score reflects the team trying to get to know new players and the task of struggling to learn to play as a unit.

So rather then talk about anything regarding the game I wanted to touch base on what to do if your internship requires equipment you don't have.  In some situations your employer may elect to rent or purchase equipment for you to use while you are in their employment.  Often times your equipment will be your responsibility.

Coming into this week's game I knew that as good as my Nikon D7000 is, it can't really handle a night shoot.  Now I could have just gone with my standard equipment to the game and shot as long as I could shoot.  I could rent a lower light lens like the 70 - 200 F/2.8 Nikkor lens that is a typical low light favorite.   Or I could rent a new camera.

The decision on what you need to do if you run into a situation like this is your decision however, it can be one that your employer can help you decide.  In my case, I knew that I'm about to be at a point to upgrade several lens and get another camera.  So for me renting equipment is serving a double purpose. It is helping me to make a decision on what to pick up first another camera or a lens.

Since I knew that I am going to be upgrading my camera in the next two months I decided to start with a camera rental.  I only rent from Lumoid because I love their customer service.  I can't ask Zachary in the buying department any question and he will give me an honest answer on what is best. He has honestly told me not to buy a camera that he could have sold to me for about $3500 vs. the camera I rented which I could buy for about $2000 from him. I told him that my two favorite things to shoot are bands and sports. I had already done my research to realize the Nikon D750 was an excellent low light fast camera. When I told Zachary what I shot he agreed the D750 is best with only the Nikon D4 (Which will cost me about $5000) being the very best.

I elected to follow his advice and I rented the D750 to shoot the game.  I am going to give you 3 different types of photographs to show you what this camera can do. I really pushed it to the limits shooting 3 different situations. With each situation I used the same lens a Nikkor film lens 70 - 300 mm F/3.5.  I purposely did not use a low light lens.  I have some future test I want to do with my D7000 and low light lens.

First the Art Skateboarding show. This gallery is where the skaters are actually skating. The gallery is in a large and very dark warehouse. I wanted to check the low light capabilities and also the cut off point where I would start to see noise when I do not use a low light lens.  You will see noise in the shot but it can easily be cleaned up in Lightroom. By the way the ISO..it is at 12,500.  Up to an ISO of 10,000 with a standard lens had almost no digital noise.

                                                         A skater at the Nosegrinders Skateboard Charity Art Show Opening.

Now there are many things I could have done to make it so there was less noise in this photograph. However, the point is if you are renting something for your internship make sure you get your money's worth. So this was 100% about testing how the camera could do before the shot was noisy.

The second thing I shot was our game.  At the game I used my normal camera until it got dark and then switched to this one. What I wanted to play with in this situation was the ISO Isolation that this camera can achieve.  It can pinpoint one person and make that person crystal clear and the other people or background around it blur.

                              The Lima Warriors were single minded in their pursuit to win against the Jackson Silverhawks.

The ISO Isolation is really cool...when it works. It is something that will take a bit of playing with to always get it to work the way you want it to. When you try it and it doesn't work you blur the entire picture. It will be the reason this camera is one of my next purchases.

Finally I took my kids to the park.  It was daylight so I wanted to see what it could do in average sunlight.  

The only way to use a teeter todder - Brother power.

In the end the important thing to remember is an internship is a job. Just like you should have the tools you need for your own business you need to make sure you have the tool your internship needs.  If you do elect to rent something have a plan to make sure you really get your use out of that rental! 

Game 2 is against the one top team of the PAFL the Ohio Golden Knights.  Can the Silverhawks with a much smaller team come back from their 78 - 0 loss? Only time will tell.

Jessi

Internship - Week # 3 - Community Involvement

                      One of the "future" Silverhawks at the football camp hosted by the team.

Since the official season doesn't start for my team until June 6th, I thought I'd share with you what we did to give back to the community.  Last Saturday we hosted a football camp for one of the local youth football organizations.  Several of our players and the owner of our team all started in this organization so hosting this camp is a great way to give back to the community.

I did not have to shoot this event at all.  It wasn't required and I didn't need to get the hours in for my internship as my time shooting during the season will equal more than the 110 hours required for my internship.  However, I very much believe that art is supposed to give back.  So I volunteered to come out and shoot the youth camp for the team.

There are so many opportunities that can come up just by giving back to your community with your craft.  For instance this camp gives these boys a chance to see that if they love football they can still play even later on in life. They can coach. They could play semi-pro.  They could help out eventually with the same youth football league that helped them become the players they will be one day.

The players who came out to assist really enjoyed sharing this camp with the boys. While it was hard work with lots of drills it was also fun!  Even as a photographer the expressions and honesty that the boys get on their faces when they play were great to see and shoot.  Sometimes at the Semi-Pro level the guys keep more of a poker face so you can't see the determination, the frustration and or sheer happiness that happens when you shoot children.

              While this was just one of the drills you can see that both boys took it very seriously!

In a matter of 2 hours I shot over 1200 shots and I could easily have shot more.  I know that when we finally share these images with the players, their parents, and coaches they will appreciate them in a different way than my older players do.  It opens up a new market for me to shoot in shooting youth sports as well as Semi-Pro  I honestly wouldn't have tried to shoot youth sports before doing this camp.

It also shows the players who came to help out at camp another future. One where they are the coaches and not the players.  So some of the photographs I took highlighted them in coaching or mentoring roles too.

Not everything that you during an internship has to be expected or the bare minimum that you can do as I have said before.  The more that you take what is given to you in your internship and make it your own the more you will get from your internship!

Next up! Tomorrow.  We travel 3 hours away to play the Lima Warriors Football team.  I'll save what I did to make sure I was ready for this first game that starts at 7 PM for next week!

Any questions please let me know!

Jessi