Posts from the ‘Seahawks’ Category
Seahawks: Under the dark of night.
The Seahawks arrived here in Pittsburgh last night, touching down just before 10:30pm local time.
We wanted to put a quick photo onto Twitter, for those fans who love to keep track of the team, on and off the field.
The players disembark from the rear of the plane onto waiting buses. I came out the front, not really knowing what, if anything would make a picture.
From under the wing, I could see the players descending, lit by the lights on the stairs. The spotlight on the back of the motorized staircase added fill beneath the stairs, onto the tarmac and the bottom of the plane.
Messed around with exposure for a second, waited until some players in lighter colored clothing descended (to allow them to separate from the dark background), then held the camera still and hoped that the slow-shutter speed required to shoot in relative darkness would not allow motion blur.
Ended up liking this shot at ISO 4000, 1/5oth sec.,f2.8. In the next hour, it garnered over 1,000 views, which was not bad for a Friday night.
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 zoom lens @ 48mm, ISO 4000, 1/50th sec./f2.8)
Please be my assistant for a day.
If you’ve ever dreamed about being on the sidelines of a Seahawks game or a Sounders FC match at CenturyLink Field, you now have your chance.
One caveat, you have get to do so with me.
Thanks to both teams, my good friend Mike Gastineau of Sports Radio 950 KJR-AM in Seattle is auctioning off opportunities to join me on the sidelines as part of his 17th annual Kares-a-Thon. There are myriad great sports memorabilia and once-in-a-lifetime experiences up for auction, with the proceeds going to charity.
One of those charities is Gloria’s Angels, of which I have a special affinity. Jerry Brewer, a great friend and former co-worker, wrote a book about young Gloria Strauss, who died of a rare form of cancer, but not before she touched the lives of the local community at large.
If you come to work with me, you’ll work as my assistant, which has about three total duties — carry an extra body and lens, carry a towel if it’s raining, and laugh at my jokes.
That said, there are some great benefits, too. You’ll see football (either our kind, or the rest-of-the-world kind, depending on which item you bid on), from a very unique vantage point. You’ll get to experience genuine media food and eat as much of it as you like (c’mon, you’ve seen some portly members of the media and wondered, “what the hell do they eat?” — no, not you, Gasman). Sure, you can bring your camera and try your hand at what I do as well (it’s alternately very easy, and very hard, as you will see).
At a Seahawks game you’ll be working right next to the Sea Gals (yes, they will smile at you, and no, not because they think you’re cute, but because they have to), and you’ll be amazed at both the speed and power that NFL players have to bring to the table each and every time they take the field.
If you bid on the Sounders match, we’ll be less than five yards from the pitch, and you’ll get to witness the grace of Mauro Rosales, the tenacity and leadership of Kasey Keller, and the finishing skills of Fredy Montero and Lamar Neagle.
Come join me on the sidelines. I promise you’ll have a blast.
Bid on the Sounders FC package
Seahawks: Playing with Shadows
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 zoom lens @ 29mm, ISO 400, 1/1000th sec.,f5.0)
Seahawks cornerback Marcus Trufant stretches during pregame warmups and the low winter sun provides an interesting shadow. A sunny winter’s day in Seattle? Really? As the kids say, “I know, right?”. Took me a minute to find the right angle. So many of us photographers want to “see” in horizontals, especially when working with a wide-angle lens, that I find myself having to mentally “step away” in order to find the photo right in front of me.
Seahawks: A Beautiful Flight Home
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 24mm, ISO 200, 1/1250th sec.,f5.6)
After a 23-20 road victory over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, the Seahawks boarded their Hawaiian Airlines charter for the return flight to Seattle. The light was undeniably beautiful, and I felt that a silhouette would be needed in order to properly expose the sunset. After a few poor frames, I moved my field of view a bit to the left to accommodate the tip of the airplane’s wing, and the image came together nicely. The sun’s highlight coming through the two players doesn’t hurt either.
Seahawks: Head coach Pete Carroll in the team’s draft room.
Nikon D3, Nikkor VR 70-200mm/f2.8 lens, ISO 1600, 1/200th sec., f2.8)
Seahawks new head coach Pete Carroll examines a computer screen along with vice-president of football operations Will Lewis between the team’s selections in the NFL Draft. Carroll, back in the pros after a decade-long hiatus, oversaw his first draft with his new team. Shooting in the draft room is tricky — it’s a tense environment where the future of an entire organization can be at stake. I would come in only occasionally, and usually along with a member of the football operations team. As a photographer, this is very much a “fly-on-the-wall” situation — for this photo I was backed into a corner of a the room, trying to be very still and small (those of you who know me, know I am not a big person to begin with). I was shooting single frame, and shot less than ten frames in the five minutes I was in the room. Still, this images captures the concentration, intensity and seriousness of the draft room as selections are being made.
Seattle Sea Gals Tryouts
- (Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 24mm, ISO 1600, 1/40th sec., f2.8)
Annual tryouts for the Seattle Sea Gals were held last weekend, with 28 women making the team out of the 52 finalists. The Sea Gals are the sideline dance troupe for the Seattle Seahawks, and finals were held at Qwest Field, where the aspirants performed two dance routines and answered questions from the judges.
(Nikon D3, Nikkor VR 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 102mm, ISO 1000, 1/250th sec.,f2.8)
- (Nikon D3, Nikkor VR 70-200mm/f2.8 zoom lens @ 86mm, ISO 1000, 1/250th sec.@ f2.8)
Welcome to new Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll.
Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8 zoom lens @ 48mm, ISO 800, 1/125th sec., f2.8)
New Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll is interviewed by the NFL Network on the indoor practice field just after meeting the media in his introductory press conference at the team’s facility in Renton, WA.
Seahawks: It’s Up, It’s Good!
Olindo Mare made this 46-yard field goal to give the Seahawks a 19-17 lead with five minutes remaining, but Chicago rallied for a 25-19 victory in the final minutes. While Mare converted on 4-6 field goal attempts, his two misses proved costly and those six points were the margin of victory for the Bears. For more photos from the game, see my Eye on the Hawks blog on the Seahawks website.
Seahawks: The Calm Before the Storm
As fans, we are constantly aware of the violent fury of football, whether we are watching at home on TV, or from the 50-yard line at the stadium. There are many quiet moments that surround the games, however, and those moments remind us that the sport is played by real people — not superheroes in helmets and pads. Here, Seattle’s first-round draft choice Aaron Curry collects his thoughts before his first regular season game as a pro.
While most of us see the beginning of a game as the opening kickoff, players arrive hours before the game, and slowly build their emotions to a crescendo by game time. Seattle defensive tackle Colin Cole, 330 pounds of rock-solid fury in the middle of the line during games, spends quiet time on the phone with his wife hours before the action begins.
Seattle’s new head coach Jim Mora finds some solitude as he gathers his thoughts in his makeshift coaches office on the road at San Diego.
Players in the locker room before a preseason game in Kansas City are quiet during the moments before they hit the field for pregame introductions.
Defensive end Lawrence Jackson gets himself pumped with music before the game.
In Seattle’s home locker room at Qwest Field, rookie wide receiver Deon Butler, center, with teammate Ben Obamanu, prepares mentally for the game at hand.
Players and coaches take a knee in their locker room before walking into the din of 60,000 screaming fans at their home opener at Qwest Field.
Seeing the Seahawks: Training Camp
I’m very fortunate to work for the Seattle Seahawks as a team photographer — it’s a great organization committed to excellence and doing things the right way. Despite covering the team for over a decade as a sports photographer with the Seattle Times, seeing the team from the inside has brought me a new perspective as well as a new set of challenges. My access is better, but that doesn’t take away the responsibility I feel to show our fans the toughness, the competitiveness and the heart our players, coaches and staff exemplify every day as they work towards their ultimate goal — a championship.
Seahawks safety Brian Russell cools off during the heat of training camp.
We think of football as a fall sport, but training camp begins in the summer, and the second of two-a-day practices often occurs amid the late summer sun. Seattle’s training camp is held on the shores of Lake Washington, at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center.
Defensive lineman Craig Terrill, a six-year veteran, breaks the monotony of training camp by finding some time alone with his guitar between two-a-day practices. Terrill is an accomplished musician who performs with his band in the offseason.
Seattle rookie linebacker and first-round draft pick Aaron Curry is treated like any other rookie — carrying the helmets of veteran teammates back to the locker room after practice.
