The soccer game

Photography is simple. It is just a matter of being in the right place at the right time

And of course with the right equipment at the right settings. And doing that takes an awful lot of training… Last night we had a workshop in the photo club where I work (Statoil Photo Club Middle Norway). The first part was a course in sports photography given by Richard Sagen, the award winning photographer in our local newspaper. He lectured on what to look for and how to work when photographing events such as a soccer game or ski race.

Afterwards we headed over to Lerkendal, the local soccer stadium where Rosenborg play their home games. The match was against Viking and is a much anticipated game during the season.

We were given a task to deliver afterwards:

  • Two action photos that shows the intensity of the game (duels, cut-downs and more)
  • One journalistic shot that has a context and can be used in a newspaper story
  • One experimental shot with more freedom…

Photographing the game was pretty intense (even if the game itself was boring). There was a lot of situations that could be crucial to the news story, so the finger was constantly on the shutter release button, and memory cards flew by (I shot approx 2100 photos during the game).

As my action contributions, I chose these two photos:

Speed…. I. Am. Speed….

The first photo is a general action photo, and photographically is one of the better shots. The background is fairly clean, it shows action and the composition is satisfactory.

Rough going

The second shot conveys the intensity of the game. You can clearly see the white player struggle with a bunch of blue ones.

Celebration and disappointment

The journalistic contribution is taken about 30 seconds before full-time. The home team was down 0-1, and suddenly managed to break through and score with just seconds of the game left. The home player (in white) is overjoyed, the visiting player is just pissed off and the goalie is still on his knees. You can also see the ball on the far left side, showing that this is in fact a goal, and a celebration. The journalistic impact of such as shot is great, as it supports the story with a photo taken just at the right moment.

And last but not least, the experimental one:

Emotions

With the rather restricted movements we were allowed, there wasn’t that many opportunities to be creative, especially since we had to pay attention to the game at all times. However, looking through the shots afterwards, I remembered the lady sitting just behind me and her wide range of facial emotions. Individually they aren’t that great, but combined into a triptych they convey the intensity of emotions often seen among sports fans.

All in all, it was a great event. I learned a lot from Richard, and the opportunity to practice afterwards was just fantastic.

As usual, more photos can be found on my Flickr page

Trondheim, Sor-Trondelag, Norway

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