Sports & Expressions Weblog by Ed Siegel

The Time is Now!

edsiegelphotography — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 14:33:49 +0000

So, I’ve been photographing many types of high school sports now for five years. I gotta tell you, this art form takes time to get right! I know now that I’ve come to a point where I can create images that are worthy of publication; though this journey to get better and better will never end! There are so many opportunities at sporting events to get images that nobody sees, that tell a story, that create atmosphere and are dramatic. Capturing the action is just one segment of the work. Creating a story of the event is something else entirely. With that being said, I plan on submitting a note to some of the media outlets that sponsor sports photographers to see if I can be a part of their staff. My goal is to work on events such as NFL, MLB, MLS and other sporting events in the North Jersey/New York area. I’ll keep you informed on how it is going. If you want to view some of my work, please visit my website at www.sportsandexpressions.com. Please support me on my endeavor and my dream.

Photography & Project Management

edsiegelphotography — Sat, 23 May 2009 16:08:49 +0000

I started a discussion in October about the similarities between Photography and Project Management, which I didn’t have a moment to complete. It has been a long while since I’ve updated my blog, which is bad! Quite frankly, I’ve just not had the desire to sit in front of my computer after a full day of work, and unfortunately, due to security restrictions at work, I cannot update my blog during the day.

So with the excuses behind me, let me start off by saying I am looking forward to taking this discussion full circle. It will definitely come in multiple chapters.

Why am I making the comparison between Photography and Project Management. Your first thought maybe, well each photography session is a project, which is true. Your second thought maybe project management brings a progressive, natural and logical process to a photography session, which is true too. I’d like to take these two thoughts a level lower.

What we learn in Project Management is that a project has a beginning and an end. Anything ongoing is considered operational and typically does not involve a project manager. A project also has an objective, scope, communications plan, risk plan, etc., which makes up the components of a Project Plan. All these components are necessary and are part of the project life cycle.

Let’s start with the objective…

Marauders vs. East Orange 10/17/08

edsiegelphotography — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 23:21:49 +0000

This night was Senior Night at the Mt. Olive field. The seniors and parents looked so proud and they really should be. It is very impressive to see how these kids play. They play so hard and such intesity. Above all, they play as a team.

I got a lot of keepers this night too. My technique is getting much better; as I have to really rely on my abilities to pan on a monopod. It is tough to get crisp shots at 1/250th @ 200mm. But I’m getting more and more. I know there are a lot of posts about the Mark III’s focusing and there are times I wonder about the results myself. However, when your focusing in bad lighting on a team that is wearing all black or all white, I’m not sure if any camera is much better.

The next game is a Saturday afternoon. So depending on the weather, I excited about not having to use ISO 6400. I must say that the quality of this ISO on the 1D Mark III is outstanding!

Here are a couple of my favorite images from the game.

Marauders vs. Roxbury – 10/11/08

edsiegelphotography — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 02:08:45 +0000

Another great night of football with some excellent images. The Roxbury field has the best lighting I’ve seen. They have 6 light stands so taking end zone shots is possible. Mt. Olive only has two stands and the lighting by the end zones is the worst! The team also wears their white uniforms on the road, so there is a bit more contrast, which makes focusing better.

The Mt. Olive team plays so hard! I mean, when I was in high school, I just don’t remember seeing this kind of intensity in the students. You can see it in their faces and their mannerisms. They really are a close knit ‘team’.

Marauders Vs. Morristown Colonials – 10/2/08

edsiegelphotography — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:30:03 +0000

Ok- Let me start out by saying that the Mt. Olive Marauders played an outstanding game on 10/2/08. The game ended in a 22-22 tie, but it was exciting and well played.

So, onto the photography. It is well known that High School fields are not well lit. The Mt. Olive High School field is no exception. 6400 ISO at maybe 1/250th of a second was about all I could get. There were so many opportunities for shots, but I could just not get them. On top that, the team wears black uniforms! So, excuses behind me, I did get some good images; but not as many as I normally get. It is a learning experience every time I go out. At the next game, I will be better prepared, though I certainly don’t know if I be anymore successful.

Another photographer was at the game using a 400mm 2.8 with her Mark III. She had her Speedlite on her monopod connected with a Pocket Wizard. I didn’t get a chance to see her work, but I can’t imagine that she was able to get anything. I mean, even at HSS, I would think the flash output would be only a few feet and the reach of a 400mm lens, I would think, would make the flash irrelevant.

I read a thread on Dpreview that a photographer does the same thing using a flash. Maybe I’m missing something!

Images from the game.

Mt. Olive High School Football

edsiegelphotography — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:39:35 +0000

Well, this is my first blog and I am so excited to be starting this.

I recently started photographing High School football here in Mt. Olive. What a great way to enhance my photography abilities in the area I love the most; sports photography. Starting with high school football is also a pure way of shooting as well; not a lot of photographers, the lighting is interesting to say the least and the game moves very fast (no tv timeouts). I’m really looking forward to this season and hope to continue in upcoming years.

I love using my Canon 1D Mark III and 70-200 2.8 IS. This camera and lens combo is great for me. I wish I had a longer telephoto, but right now I don’t. Although, the resolution of the camera does let me crop is without losing much detail at all. The low light performance of the autofocus is outstanding and the high ISO performance is amazing.

MLS Soccer

edsiegelphotography — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:28:52 +0000

I love shooting soccer. The action is incredibly fast and very intense and photographing this sport is very challenging; especially at the pro level.

I’ve had the opportunity to shoot the New York Red Bulls; both last year against the Houston Dynamo and this year against Salt Lake Real. I hope to continue shooting soccer and would will be pursuing more opportunities to shoot with the Red Bulls.

Shooting with the Canon 1D Mark III makes all the difference in the world. It is so incredibly fast and accurate. One of the most amazing attributes about this camera is it’s low light capabilities. I have to shoot at ISO 3200 to keep the shutter speed fast enough to stop the action. The images are so clean! Thank you Canon!

Hello world!

edsiegelphotography — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 16:01:49 +0000

Well this is my first attempt at blogging. I really excited about sharing my photography and my path into becoming a sports/portrait photographer. I’ve been photographing for 8 years; finishing NYIP about 4 years ago. My interest quickly went to the path of portraits and started to morph into sports. I am trying work on finding an angle to combine both and I think you’ll start to see that over time.

Thank you for visiting my blog.