Its the start of football season....

Pro football season.

Covered my first ever pro football game last night at the Browns first preseason game against the Jets. And of course, Brett Favre, the Jets and Packers decided that today (well now yesterday) was the day to trade him. These Browns fans obviously weren't so thrilled with the news that the trade happened today either to over-shadow their team's glory. So that was the challenge of every photog there to get a shot of Favre with the Jets for their respective paper. Took me until the third quarter to finally spot him on the sidelines. He wasn't playing yet since he just got traded today and probably won't be playing with the Jets for a while. Okay, enough talk about Favre and the Jets, lets talk about the Browns.

Right after kick off, my head was in a swirl trying my best to follow the action. Definitely very tough, but I manage a couple of okay shots. Then the storm clouds rolled in off the lake and it began to rain lightly. Then the rain picked up and lightning was spotted. I actually saw a pretty cool streak of lighting on the northeast side, but didn't have a wide enough angle lens on me to try and get a cool shot with that. They suspended play because of the lighting and asked everyone to seek shelter. After the stadium was cleared, it poured really hard. The weather delay allowed me to go through what little I had and send them into the office.



I think my best action shot before the rain was a defense shot. Its definitely hard to shoot defense I learned quickly, but I hope once I start shooting more high school fb, it will come easier for me.
The rain delay was a blessing because it allowed me to shake my jitters and I was able to follow the action much better after the game started again. Plus, Brady Quinn was now running the show and he ran the offense a little slower than Derek Anderson did. I got some great offensive shots and was happy to send those back to the office before half time.
After I sent those, pictures of Favre were still wanted from me by my paper. Grrrr!!! I wanted to use the second half to concentrate on a list of players I had to get individual action shots of for full page posters (as requested by the publisher). Finally, found Favre, shot him up, and sent those photos back to the paper. Came back out onto the field and realized that all the players I needed to get shots of were all starters and not playing. Stuck around for a bit, but after NY scored to take the lead, I decided I wanted to go because I was tired and the game was boring.

I love going to big events like these because I get to meet new photographers from around the area and chat with them, as well as see familiar faces I've run into before. I met a cool photographer from the Kent Courier & Gazette. She's around my age (probably a little older than me), and we chatted on the sidelines. Also, got to see my favorite PD photographer, Josh Gunther, and talk with him for a bit.

Okay, I'm exhausted and sore. Sleep is calling my name.