NFL Sidelines Shoot: Steelers vs. Jets
I decided to try something different with these images from my Steelers vs. Jets game at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
On my flight home, just to see what it would look like, I made the shot you see above my laptop’s desktop background, and I kind of liked the way it looked, so I’m presenting all the shots from this shoot as screen captures of Desktop backgrounds from my laptop.
(NOTE: These images look MUCH better larger, so click on any photo to see a larger view. Once there, you can click the “Next” button on the top right to move through the gallery).
I was shooting the game as a guest of the Steelers, and it was my first time at Heinz field, and I loved the stadium. When the crowd gets into it, and they start waving their yellow Terrible Towels, it’s a really electric atmosphere.
Frozen Lens Dilemma
It snowed all four quarters, but there was very little wind, so although it was 22°F on the field (-5°C), I dressed in multiple layers and so the cold didn’t affect me at all, but it did a number on my lens when I came back out on the field from half time. I started to shoot and my lens wouldn’t focus. I reseated the lens, checked all the knobs, restarted the camera, all the usual stuff, and nothing seemed to work. Then it finally focused on something, but it was all hazy. What had happened was—the lens had fogged up inside, and there was nothing I could do but wait, so I switched to my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, which for some reason wasn’t fogged up at all, and shot for another 10 minutes or so until the 400mm cleared up.
One of the real highlights of the game for me, surprisingly happened at halftime in the photographers/media room where I ran into one of the best, and best-known pro sports photographers out there today—Bill Frakes. For me, that was cooler than seeing Hines Ward in person. :)
Anyway, here’s a few more, all sized to 1440 x 900 pixels to fit my laptop’s screen size (except for the last image). My camera specs are the same as always for night game (1000 ISO early in the day, during daylight, and 1,600 ISO once it got dark).
Above: First Down!
Above: Steelers Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger shouts out to the cheering crowd.
Above: Matt Spaeth Spikes the ball in the end zone after catching a touch down pass.
Above: Jet’s Wide Receiver Brad Smith returns the opening kickoff for a touchdown. I was at around the 20 yard line, aiming right at him. It was such a long run, that my buffer filled up right before he got in the end zone (that means, I took 144 continuous high speed shots with the shutter button held down).
A big thanks to Mike Fabus, and the Steeler Organization for their gracious hospitality, and for giving me an opportunity to shoot in such an amazing place, during such an exciting game.