So it's raining...that's what trash bags are for!

Reaction can be just as powerful as the action.

Southview vs. Northview in district semi-final Oct. 26.
Metadata = Lens: 300mm / ISO: 2500 / Aperture: 4 / Shutter: 1/500

   I stood in the pouring rain for nearly two hours shooting a soccer game for The Toledo Blade last night.

   It was cold and miserable, but that didn't prevent me from enjoying the game. In fact, every time I poked my head out from under the cover of a large trash bag that I used to protect my 300mm lens and Canon MarkIV camera, I marveled at the beauty of the fall colors that surrounded the field, and how the rain looked like falling snow in the stadium lights. I kept thinking how lucky I was to be there. 

   We are in Week 10, and it's time for the students to shoot their sports assignments. I gave them two weeks to find a sport and shoot the heck out of it, which includes covering the fans, coaches and players.  Because they have to produce a Soundslides photo story, they must have at least 20 photos that document the entire game, on and off the field.

   Their biggest challenge won't be what to shoot. There's plenty of exciting action at any game at any given moment: angry and happy fans; yelling coaches; injured players; winner and loser reactions; and, of course, the peak action. As long as they keep their eyes open and pay attention, they will have moments to capture.

   The limitation will be their lenses. All of them have decent Canon and Nikon bodies, but most only have a wide to medium variable lens. If they shoot football or soccer with a 55mm lens, there's little chance they will get the shots  displayed in this blog post. They are aware of this, and have expressed concern in class. I told them to make up for the lack of peak action with great fan coverage.
    Make lemonade out of lemons!

   Next week they will post three photos on their blogs: the best action, best coach and best fan shot, as well as produce a Soundslides project. Check out their blogs to see how they did!