When I first started freelancing, a local photographer whom I have a great deal of respect for agreed to meet for coffee and to give me advice. One of his biggest suggestions was that I immediately join the National Press Photographers Association if, for no other reason, than to allow me to enter the monthly clip contest as a means of getting my name out there. And so I promptly did.
And it turned out to be a great suggestion—and a great learning experience. Yes, contests are contests and not necessarily indicative of the quality of the photos. On the other hand, I’ve submitted solid photos—1A above the fold dom photos—and they’ve failed to place. Why? Because shooting solid, 1A above the fold dom photos is something that all of us are expected to be able to do. But the question is, how do you go beyond that? And so, if nothing else, the monthly clip contest has exposed me to a lot of really strong photography—as well as kept me humble.
However, I have managed to land a couple of podium finishes during my brief time competing. If you haven’t seen them, they’re still new to you:
Swim Call
The Big Ten Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships were in Iowa City this year which meant that I had the opportunity to shoot for some clients that I might not otherwise have had the opportunity to work for. in this case, I was hired by the University of Illinois’ and Rutgers University’s athletics departments to cover their respective teams.
I’ve shot college and prep swimming a few times so it wasn’t a particularly novel assignment—and in a bonus, I’d never shot a high level championship before so I’d never shot a swim meet where the swimming and diving *weren’t* going on simultaneously. Combined with the fact that we got the heat sheets well in advance, it was one of the easiest swim meets I’d ever shot.
Covering the Away Team
Greetings sports fans. It was an incredibly busy February and I’m just now getting caught up. As it happens, I’ll be getting caught up in reverse, starting with my most recent assignment. In this case, Penn State reached out to me to cover their team at Carver-Hawkeye for a recent basketball game and I jumped at the opportunity. The shooting went well, but at Carver, it always does—the lights are great and the color temperature is constant. All I need to do is lock in my exposure and then just shoot.
