Sometimes the big game is just a big dud.

There are blowouts every week in sportsland, but would would expect the BCS National Championship Game to be more of a – cough – game.  Not so much.  My challenge is to make something out of it.  I sat there after the first half with Alabama up several touchdowns up on Notre Dame and ate a terrible hot dog in a media room where all the photographers just looked depressed.  All of the excitement, the adrenaline, and preparedness was sucked right out of everyone.  No hopes of a comeback.  There were just a lot of shocked Notre Dame faces and chants of “Roll Tide!”  Over.  And over.  And over.

We still have to push buttons and make rectangles.  That is the challenge.  I approach it that way.  A challenge.  It can be easier when a stinker of a game lets you forget about THE play or missing a crucial fumble, because that’s just not happening any more.  In the hopes of making something different than the 100 other photogs in bibs making pictures, I switch lenses, slow shutters, and just avoid what is given to me.  It’s time to take, seek, and think.

For more, check out my shoot for ESPN the Magazine on the Photoshelter site here.