A single practice on a Tuesday doesn’t really seem that significant in the long terms of a NBA season, but it’s the little things in one given day that build up to a playoff run.

ESPN the Magazine sent me to meet up with fellow photographer, Steve Boyle, to tackle one practice at the Indiana Pacers team facility in Indianapolis, Indiana, for their recent photo issue.  The idea was to just go crazy covering what a playoff team does in a single day at practice after a loss to the Miami Heat.  The day wasn’t but a few hours, but we were treated with amazing access once again to witness everything from massages to FIFA soccer xBox battles to new sponsor sneaker talk to gym and training sessions.

What the general public sees is the final product on TV when teams play, and one the best thing about working for The Mag is they allow me to see the stuff no one else sees leading up to tip-off, which is always rad to be a part of.

I love gigs for this client.  ESPN the Magazine sent me to follow around the University of Michigan Wolverines for a week as they entered a tough stretch of games in the BIG 10.  I travelled with the team on their plane and buses all day with full access to whatever we needed.  Quite refreshing access, and the University was amazing with their hospitality.

This was a part of the 1 Day 1 Game coverage for ESPN the Magazine, which comes out this week with work from a roster of really amazing photographers covering aspect of one single game against Ohio State University Buckeyes.  My job was to follow them as the team travelled through the snow to Assembly Hall at Indiana University (a game they would lose) to turning around in 48 hours to battle rival Ohio State back at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor (which they won in OT).

Game day on these shoots is insane with a huge staff of writers, editors, photographers, assistants, runners, pr folks, and any other cook you can bring into the kitchen.  Everyone feeds off the challenge and peer pressure to perform, but off the clock we all bond and share war stories.  It’s a big part of what I miss from the newsroom, so being able to part of that – even for a few days is always so welcoming.  The Mag really embraces telling stories through every medium out there.

The week was a whirlwind for me visually, but so much fun…spending time with the players, who were all very open and great to me shoving a camera in their face for five days, was amazing.  I watched the Super Bowl with them off campus at one of their homes, trudged through the snow from plane to bus at 3am, and was treated as part of the Blue family.

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.

Spent yesterday sweating profusely trying to remember what winter feels like.  For this Colorado kid transplanted to Florida, these 80 degree days in December are now common unlike when I was transplanted here in 2002 – ironically, the same year the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl.

Yesterday’s game was full of those players ten years removed from being at the top of their game when I was just starting.  The big names were back – Jon Gruden, Keyshawn Johnson, Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks – to celebrate the franchise’s Super Bowl win over the Raiders.  It was definitely good times with the great team of photographers covering every possible aspect of what goes on outside of the numbers.

Continuing my tradition of being behind on blog posts I have several lined up and mixed in a few selects from the last two games as well for what is now a hodgepodge of blonde hair, smoke, red, fames, sweat, screams and an occasional alcoholic beverage or twelve.  Enjoy.

21 hours of red, white, and blue.

I spent election day cross-crossing Florida a bit for the wonderful folks at The New Yorker with a really amazing crew of photographers I had no idea I was shooting alongside (Peter van Agtmael, Kenneth Jarecke, Stanley Greene, Jon Lowenstein, Andrea Bruce, Landon Nordeman, etc.) with until I starting seeing galleries coming in on their site.

Florida is a crazy state.  There is no denying that any weird story that happens to pop into my Facebook feed I can usually guess as to where it happened.  We seem to attract the crazy.  I relish and embrace it.

There is something great about being the eyes of my little corner of the map – even though we went from make or breaking the election to not really mattering much.  And messing it up.  Again.

Oh, Florida.

Normally when I tell people that I get to shoot for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, their first reaction is “Wow, you must have the best seat in the house!”  That is true, however, I spend most of the time under-using my credential to stand right next to those who ask that very question in section 328.

My job helping out the awesome photo team on game day is to capture fans like these from the last two Bucs’ home games against the Chiefs and the Saints.  These are the dots of people up in the nosebleeds that are just a blur of color on TV as the ball is kicked-off.  These are the sweat-soaked, beer-toting, screamers that pay the money to actually come sit and watch Sunday after Sunday as their team scurries up and down the hashmarks hundreds of feet below them.  These are the fans that come to the game earlier than I do and sit in the parking lot being just an NFL fan and, well, sitting there.

I could shoot game action.  I could have the best seat in the house on my knees chasing play after play.  I do however get real joy in hanging with the masses making photos of real folks with the exact same jerseys on – just not getting or making millions.

Just one of the fans.

Opened up a sweet little box a few weeks back to find a Leica X2 for me to review…such an amazing little camera.  If you are in the market, find out my thoughts over at The Photo Brigade.

For Leica X2 Review, click here.

While you’re at it, pop around the site by Robert Caplin.  He’s doing some great thing on The Photo Brigade – especially for those in school looking for solid resources for information on how to freelance and prosper.

I was sent into the stands for yesterday’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers game at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa with only one real mission – stay off the field and document a Bucs fan’s life.

I spent all four quarters wandering the cement staircases and dark runnels of the stadium just documenting fans, which a great break from trudging up and down the sidelines dodging sound guys and referee butt.  The fans were in a great mood luckily since we (I use “we” because I was shooting for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers team) dominated the Panthers, which was great to see after a less than stellar last-season.  For some reason, I feel like this is the beginning of a great year.

I think what I really dig about covering sports is not so much the big play or the perfect image.  It’s more about the scene around the hashmarks, tv cable lines, and gameplay down there on the field.  It’s about the sweaty pits and spilled beers.  It’s about making fun of the person next to you with the losing jersey and expensive seat.  It’s about finding a bucket of popcorn turning it into a hat.  It’s about having a girl who will put up with you as you play dress up in pewter, red, and black – and sometime creamsicle.

Something like that.

Whatever it is I love it – and glad the NFL is back.  Here’s to 16 weeks of grass stains, long glass, and smelliness.

Through a flood of whisky, losing golf balls, and navigating nightclubs I was able to make a couple photos during a recent trip to celebrate a fellow photog’s bachelor party in Scotland.  That party happened to be in some really beautiful country in Edinburgh and the island of Islay, so it was tough to leave the camera behind.  In fact, kind of impossible.

One of these days, I’m going to go on vacation from my camera…but probably not.

Ahhh…color, beach, bikinis.  I really enjoy Florida.

I was recently commissioned for a five-day marketing shoot running around Cocoa Beach, Satellite Beach, Kennedy Space Center and all the places that encompass the Space Coast to show off the potpourri of touristy things to do in the area.  I knew NASA.  I knew Ron Jon’s.  I knew a few other things from my time coming to the area as a kid every year to visit the grandparents, but gigs like this really are a blast to shoot and open my eyes to all Florida has going for it (weirdness aside).

Essentially, a reflector and a d800 were my workhorses for this shoot which was pretty much run n’ gun kind of approach to tackle as much as possible.  The schedule was packed, but the fine folks at McBride Marketing Group treated this left coaster as a family and made it a ton of fun to shoot.

I almost forget that I’m supposed to go enjoy the beach sometime, I’m working on it so much lately.