It was 8:12 PM and I had just gotten two alerts on my phone.
One was from the weather app that there was another severe thunderstorm passing through the area. The other one was from the airline that I can check into my flight. I was hoping that they would not be linked together again tomorrow.
I was in the middle of packing to head to New Zealand tomorrow to photograph my 1st World Cup!!
I was stirring and my mind was scurrying as I was looking at my lists and checking them twice trying to get everything done and get to bed early.
I realized I can't find all of my rain covers for my photo gear and in looking at the weather in New Zealand it seems that, despite being on different hemispheres, the same storm pattern is passing over us both. Normally I would ask my wife, "Babe, if you were my rain covers, where would you be?", but alas on this night I am on my own. She is out of town for the weekend for a milesstone anniversary for extremely close friends of ours. I was not able to make the trip with her because I had too much to do to get ready for this trip. And now in this painic it seems that I will need all of the time left between now and the flight tomorrow to be fully ready.
We have recently moved and are still in a bit of a state of flux. Therefore, this rain cover could be anywhere. I search the boxes in my office. Not there. I search the boxes downstairs. Not there. After a very long, time-sucking search, I finally find the errant rain cover in another camera bag that is not coming on this trip. Double check on rain covers.
I looked at the clock, it is now 10:30 PM.
Next on the list, Your sanity, triple check that one, buddy.
I moved onto the list for clothing. It seemed strange that despite being a very hot and muggy 90 degrees the past few days here in NYC, when it is not severe thunder storming, it will be in the 40s at night in New Zealand. And in the stadiums, it is usually 10 degrees colder. "Long Johns weather?" I find myself asking as I stow one into my luggage.
As I was packing, I was thinking back to the first U.S. Women's National Team match that I photographed. It was a friendly match against the South Korea played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA. The date was June 15, 2013. Last night was July 15, 2023. It had been 10 years and 1 month to the day since that first coverage.
I checked back to find this image above of Alex Morgan from the match in 2013. She was 23, but you can see from her bolting confident stride to the goal that she was already lighting up the world of women's soccer. What also struck me was the expression of man in the background with his mouth agape watching as the scene unfolded.
As I laid down to finally get some sleep, it is past midnight. Although I need sleep, I rewatch an interview with the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Co-Captains of United States Women's National Team (USWNT) Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe just after winning their 2nd straight World Cup. They were on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show and he was asking, "Why is the American team, your team so dominant?" Megan gives a graceful motion of her hand gesturing up and down to Alex, as if to say, "This is the reason!!"
My heart is filled with excitement that I get to be there to see these two amazing women, as well as the rest of the USWNT, take to the pitch to defend the World Cup title and hopefully secure the first ever -in either men's or women's - World Cup Three-Peat!!
Happy Women's World Cup to All and to All A Good-Night!!
On October 1, 1977, in Giant Stadium, 75,646 fans sat in the pouring rain to watch Pele's final match.
The original reason for the gift of a signed photograph of Pele to Joseph was because a dear friend of mine, Ted, who used to have season tickets to the New York Cosmos when Pele played in the 1970s was schedule to have a serious surgery and I wanted to do something special for him.
Ted would talk of times seeing Pele play with a sense of Ira, you missed a great time in history. He recounted to me that he was in the crowd the day of Peles last match.
It was an exhibition match between Peles old team Santos from Brazil and the New York Cosmos.
Pele played the 1st half for Cosmos and scored a goal. He played the 2nd half for Santos. Ted recounted to me that at the end of the match they honored Pele in the center of the pitch. It was pouring rain, but no one left the stadium.
Pele addressed the crowd, "I want to take this opportunity to ask you, in this moment when the world looks to me, to please take more attention to the young ones, to the kids all over the world," Pelé told the crowd. "We need them too much…I want to ask you—because I believe that love is the most important thing we can take from life, because everything else passes—to say with me three times, Love! Love! Love!"
I have thought about that many times since Ted told me and his remembrance of the words, "Love, Love, Love." I have seen the pictures of Pele hoisted on the shoulders of teammates with an American Flag and a Brazilian flag in his hands waving them to the crowd.
My picture of Pele was taken about 2 hours before a New York Cosmos match. It was during the time that the New York Cosmos had rejoined the North American Soccer League (NASL) and Pele was an Ambassador to the team. The Cosmos were playing their home matches in Hofstra University in Long Island. I made a point to cover as many of their matches in the hope of seeing and photographing Pele.
In our house we have an expression which is "Ira Time." This is meant arriving to where you need to be anywhere from 30 minutes to over 2 plus hours ahead of time.
In this case, I was there over 2 hours early. I got into the stadium and saw Pele escorted into a golf cart. They drove him to one of the buildings in the stadium. I followed them. He went into the building, I again followed. He went into an elevator, I got in as well. There was a film crew that was there to film part of a documentary about him. I believe they thought I was part of the film crew. I was not about to clue them in otherwise. The crew had Pele sitting in the stands for an interview. I was behind them and waiting for a moment to take a few shots of him as well.
After they finished the interview, I moved into position and asked Pele if I could get a few shots. I took a couple of frames with him smiling looking at me. I asked him to look out to the stadium. He gave a wide grin.
I then did something that I have only done one other time. I take getting my credentials very seriously and never use them to take selfies with any of the players. In this case, after the film crew were done they took some shots with Pele and I thought I might really regret not at least trying this one time. I asked one of the film guys if they would take a picture with me and Pele. It is such a moment for me. He and I are locked hand in hand. Pele the Great and me, a scrawny kid with a camera.
It is Christmas morning, 2017 and we are exchanging gifts. My son, Joseph, is 9 years old.
All but one of the presents were opened. It was a special gift that I had for Joseph.
I give it to him. It is heavy. He opens it. He looks at it and then looks at me in shock.
It is a picture of Pele that is signed "To Joseph, Best Wishes, Pele"
He knows that the picture of Pele is one that I took. I tell him that through my friend Frankie, the image was given to Peles daughter in New York who then brought it to Brazil for Pele to sign for him.
In getting the final preparation of the framed picture, I got patches from the three teams that Pele played for: Santos, The Brazil National Team and The New York Cosmos. These patches were placed below the picture. Above the picture was a patch of the Brazil National flag.
Joseph looks at the picture again. He looks as if he is going to cry but he holds it back and seems a little self-conscious in front of the full family.
He runs over to me and gives me a very tight and long hug. Joseph is a soccer player and Pele happens to be his favorite player.
The next morning we are having breakfast. Joseph tells me, "Dad, I am sorry if I was not really able to say how much your present meant to me. I can't believe how amazing it is!"
And then he floors me with a line that I am not sure as a 9 year old I would have ever thought about.
"I can't wait to tell my grandkids the story of how I got this signed picture to me that you took of Pele!!"
This shot of The U.S. Women's National Team (USWNT) on the steps of NY City Hall with Confetti and the World Cup Trophy was featured on CNN and was a good image to use as the basis of the 2nd Blog posting in the series of How Did I Get This Shot. A platform for sharing stories of the behind the scenes of an image.
These posting will cover the following:
1) Gear 2) Settings 3) The true backstory of this shot
The gear: Per my last post, I am mostly a Canon shooter. However, in the last 2 years, I have also started using a mirrorless camera. I have chosen to use the Fuji XT-2 for my purposes. I started photographing back when I was about 11 with my dad and he gave me a Minolta SR-T-201 film camera. This Fuji has a very similar look and feel. And the shots and the color renditions are incredible!! For this shot, I was expecting to need a wider angle lens just because I was hopeful that I would be able to be very close and I wanted to make sure to get the team, the confetti and City Hall behind them. The Fuji is not a full frame camera which means that there is a crop factor of 1.5 to the sensor. Meaning that if I attach a 24 mm lens to the camera, it is the equivalent of a 36mm. Given this, I was using their 10-24 mm lens which at the widest opening of 10mm is really a 15mm.
The settings.
Lens (mm): 15
ISO: 800
Aperture: 4.5
Shutter: 1/1600
Program: Manual
The Backstory:
I have been a very big supporter of the USWNT for many years. Mostly because I saw the energy that was created between them and the fans. It was always exciting to watch them play and see them signing autographs, helping to inspire the next generation of female soccer, sports or other stars!! The empowerment that they conveyed to the next generation of women was great.
I had followed the team throughout the campaign to win the World Cup in 2015. There were friendly matches leading up to them going onto win the World Cup.
Though my media outlet, I was able to secure credentials for the Ticker Tape parade in NYC after they won in 2015. I was working with another photographer and he and I split the coverage. One of us would be riding in sanitation truck in front of one of the floats along the parade route and the other would be able to go to the City Hall celebration. Having photographed a number of parades over the past 15 years - I have a very strange obsession with photographing the ethnic day parades that happen in the city - I know that I enjoy making sure that I can roam freely. Not to mention the thought of being in a sanitation truck didn't sound too appealing. For the record, it was a very clean sanitation truck, but still.
I followed the parade route as it traveled through the city. I mostly stayed with the float that had Mayor de Blasio, his wife, Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe and Jill Ellis (Head Coach). I knew that I wanted to make sure to vary the shots between close ups of the players holding the trophy and wider shots of the float with the city, ticker tape and fans lining the streets.
At the time, a big amount of attention was being placed on Abby Wambach because it was expected to be her last participation in a World Cup . Here is one of the shots of Abby from the Ticker Tape Parade back in 2015.
For this 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, I had been trying to cover the team as much as possible. The U.S. Soccer Federation sponsored a "She Believes" campaign where there were a series of matches around the U.S. to enable fans to see the team and give them a supporting send off before the World Cup in France. I tried to cover as many of those matches as possible believing that the images would be used for stories leading up to the World Cup.
I think we all know how the 2019 FIFA World Cup ended. The U.S. Women's National Team won!!!
I had the opportunity to photograph the team as they came off the plane at Newark Airport arriving fresh from the World Cup victory. I have to say that when the doors opened and Julie Ertz, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe stepped off holding the trophy, there were tears in my eyes. I felt so glad for them they they were able to put this exclamation on their effort as a team and as well be a symbol of strength, perseverance and equality for so many young women and people of diverse backgrounds.
This year's parade and City Hall celebration on July 10 was set to be very hot. I knew I wanted to cover both the procession of the parade and the City Hall celebration but it would be hard because I would be carrying so much gear. I would have 3 bodies with associated lenses.
I had been speaking with Vinny, fellow photographer who works for USA Today and he mentioned the gear he was bringing. He told me he was also going to bring his 400 mm lens. As we were talking, I was thinking, "Really man, that is going to be a pain in the ass to cart around." But the more I thought about it, it sounded like a good idea. This way I can also get some close up shots of the players.
I carpooled to NY with Vinny. We met at the local Stop and Shop in NJ parking lot at 5:15 AM. It was already 79 degrees at 5:15 AM.
We parked the car in a parking garage slightly far from the City Hall ceremony just to make sure getting out would be easy given all the barricades along the street. I had brought 2 camera bags with me. One, a larger one in case I needed to be stealth and carry everything in one bag. The other slightly smaller which would allow me to carry the 400 mm lens and any additional things I needed (breakfast bars) and I would carry the other 3 bodies on me via a harness for 2 and one around my neck. I chose to go with the smaller bag and carry my other 3 bodies on me as we left the garage.
We were able to pick up our credentials starting at 7:00 AM. The parade wasn't scheduled to start until 10:00 AM.
Vinny was credential to cover just the City Hall ceremony and was going to and wait until the parade is over as they had another USA Today Photographer covering the parade route.
I decide to cover the team going through the parade route and then cover the ceremony at City Hall. This means walking with all of my gear from City Hall to the start of the parade down by Battery Park a distance of 1.2 miles. And a backpack with the 400 mm lens (thanks Vinny).
I am pretty beat when I arrive to Battery Park. And pretty hot. I am thinking that my wife's comment about "Are you really going to wear jeans and 2 shirts?" might have been a precursor to something I should have rethought.
First order of business, find which float NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and the other key players will be on. Given all the press surrounding the Megan Rapinoe, I know I will want to focus on her.
It is about 9 AM and the players start arriving and getting on floats. The energy gets going. I, along with about 35 photographers, and an equal number of broadcast people descend on the players. Fans are all along the sides of the streets screaming out there names and getting them to sign everything from shoes to balls to shirts before the parade starts. It is a pretty cool site.
I am negotiating around other photographers and the serious amount of security on hand that is trying to keep us back away from the players. I get into a bit of a thing with another photographer that wants to just try to shove me out of the way. Typically, when I am photographing, there is an understanding among other photographers that we all know we are there for the same purpose and that we can all get the shot we need without having to be jerks (wanting to be more forceful in my language, but my 11 year old son will read this). Sometimes however, there are a few photographers that can be shitty.
I am at the float with Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe the World Cup Trophy and a few other players. I shoot off a few images to get in the groove and shake off my nerves. I check my settings and my shots to make sure that what I am getting is worthwhile and looks right. I check my image count and keep track of when I have to change out cards. That is when it happens. I reach into my pocket to confirm that I have my extra case of memory cards which is where I always put it.
They are not there!! Holy Shit. WTF!!! "Ok, Ira, just relax. It is probably just in your bag." The parade hasn't officially started so I take a moment and put my bag on the steps of one of the floats to do a complete and utter cavity search for my memory cards. It's got to be here. As I am frantically checking my bag, I am thinking. I was up at 4:00 AM to make sure I could meet Vinny, maybe I left them at home. Maybe they are in the other bag that I left in Vinny's car.
It's confirmed. I don't have the memory card case and I am about to shoot the parade and the City Hall ceremony with just 1 card in each camera. Let me try to give you the magnitude of this screw up. This is and event that happens every 4 years. If you are lucky enough and the U.S. wins the parade will take place in the U.S. Who knows how long it might be before this happens again. And you only have 1 memory card per camera!!!
I am wearing a Captain American shirt that my wife got me for 4th of July and today seemed like a good day to wear it. Go team USA!! Except that I am absolutely certain that Captain America wouldn't be shooting the parade with no extra memory cards.
It is about 9:10 AM and I start calling my wife. Hoping that she can confirm whether I was stupid enough to leave my cards somewhere like on the fireplace mantel before I left in the morning. She, is still sleeping. I call another 3 times and she still doesn't answer.
I call Vinny. "Dude, I don't have my extra memory card case. I think I left it in my other bag in your car in the garage. Is there any chance you have any extra memory cards on you?" His answer was, "Yes, once you finish the parade and get to City Hall, I have an entire extra set I can let you use." For the record and off the record, I love him. If I have another child, we would most likely name him Vinny and when little Vinny asks how he got his name, we can tell him this story.
But for now, my focus has shifted. I have to shoot the parade and get to Vinny for my memory card life support.
I realize that having 1 card per camera is still not going to get me there if I am shooting even just the parade. I could shoot using a lesser quality setting to give me more images but I dont want to do that for this event!!
I see a few of the photographers in the sanitation truck. Its the usual suspects of photographers that I know from shooting events over the past 10 years. Al Bello, Chief Sports Photographer of North America for Getty Images, is one of the photographers in the truck. Al is one of the best sports photographers on the planet and just an all around amazing person. Coincidently enough, I took a sports photography seminar with Al about 10 years ago when I was just starting out. Right or wrong, I decide that I am too embarrassed to ask my hero Al if he has any extra memory cards. As a freelancer, I am always trying to create great images, but in the back of my mind I am also fighting the feeling of being legit. I think asking Al would clearly say I am not legit. Captain America wouldn't have to ask Al Bello for memory cards. Al is actually Captain America.
There is another photographer that is in the truck that I also know but do not feel as shy asking if he has any extra cards. He lets me have an extra of his Compact Flash cards and I thank him profusely.
As I am waiting for the parade to start, I happen to run into a friend, Ed Aussem, that is behind the barricade and photographing with the crowds lining the street. I shake my ego and tell him of my plight and he also agrees to give me an SD card to use. I thank him as well, promising to give him a print from the parade as a token of my thanks. (For the record, Ed's last name is pronounced the same as Awesome, which is what he really was that day. Also. I did make good on that promise of giving him a print from the day).
The parade starts. I follow the float with Megan, Alex, the Mayor and others. It is hot. I mean Desert Iguana hot!! Meaning that it is good weather for an Iguana. There are crowds of photographers pushing, there are security personal keeping us this way or that. There are people trying to interview the players. There are fans with signs. There is ticker tape coming down from the sky. It is chaotic, and magical. I am hot, I am being pushed, I am trying to get a shot. I am running backwards to follow the float. I am just thinking, I am so glad that I am here and that I have some extra memory cards to keep shooting freely.
We make our way to the end of the parade route. I am hot. It is 88 degrees and it is blazing sun. I am drenched with wet all over. My jeans are soaked. No joke, And I have not had anything to drink since the start of the parade. I am feeling it and feeling a little lightheaded.
My only thought is I need to get to Vinny for my intravenous shot of memory cards. I try to get into City Hall at the opening closest to me. I have my proper credentials around my neck but the security is telling me that there is only one way in. Around the complete other side of City Hall.
There are thousands, I mean thousands of people trying to move in any direction. There are barricades blocking the paths. I need to get me and all of my gear around to the complete other side of City Hall. You got to be kidding me.
Did I say I was hot?
I make it to the other side. I get in. Metal detector. I have to take off all of my gear to have it scanned. Then put it back on.
I am rushing. They are about to start the ceremony on the steps of City Hall.
I get through to City Hall. In the distance along the back wall of media, I see either Vinny or a mirage of Vinny. I don't care. I am happy to see ether one of them. It is actually Vinny. He sees the state of dehydration I am in and recognizes that I am about to go down. He hands me a water and says, "Drink this." He is in triage mode. He also hands me a sleeve with memory cards. I learn later on our ride home that he as seen people pass out from heat exhaustion so he knows I was close to it.
I take the water and just sit on the floor for a moment trying to find a sliver of shade. I am hot. I am tired. I am soaked. I am happy I have water and memory cards.
I recover long enough to make a decision that I want to move up front to shoot from the front rather than from the back.
I see other photographers with me, a line of about 35 to 40. Maybe more. Hard to tell, still just recovering from possible heat stroke.
They are all trying to take a position directly in front of the podium.
I decide to take a position slightly off center to the right recognizing that from the direct center the podium mostly blocks anything of a good shot but off to the right I can get a clear shot of the person talking. The way that they have the chairs set for the players there is a series of them on the left and the right of the podium. I take a chance and position myself to the right of the podium and hoping that Megan and some of the key players take the seats on the right side.
The only problem with this position is that the TV camera that is covering the event is directly to my right. It is a big heavy object with a see saw like metal lever that has something like 100 pound weights at the bottom of it to stabilize it. The 100 pound plate swings back and forth and I have to be careful to not get hit in the head by it. As I keep moving farther right to get a better angle on my shot, I am coming closer to the TV camera boom and a security women keeps asking me to keep left as she is also worried that they will hit me in the head. Getting hit in the head with the TV boom would be the same as not having memory cards, I would be rendered unconscious and not able to take any shots.
I shoot the ceremony on the steps of City Hall. I vary my shots between the 70-200 and I get to actually use the 400 mm with the speeches and reactions. It is amazing to have this extra coverage and perspective. Vinny, ok you were right!!
When the ceremony is over, there is a clear dash for the center to get the full team with the Trophy and the confetti coming down on them. I am at a slight disadvantage given my position to the right, but I am able to move quickly and get right in front. I switch to using the Fuji with the wide lens. I get the shots of the team with the confetti.
I had given myself a goal for this shoot. And it was not, "Hey man, don't bring any memory cards so that the only memory of this is in your head or from other photographer's shots."
The goal was to try to get a shot of Megan that was good as the one that I got from the 2015 World Cup Champions Ticker Tape Parade.
I am taking a poll to see which one you like better? 2015 or 2019?
Megan Rapinoe 2015
As further background. I had a moment before the parade started to show this shot to Megan and tell her this is the shot that I took of her from that celebration. She said, "That is a great shot."
Megan Rapinoe 2019
Here are 2 shots of me:
1) On one of the floats just before the start of the parade (wearing my Captain America Shirt)
2) After everything was over covered in confetti and I was heading to go to edit and upload my images. You can see the TV camera Boom just behind me on the left.
I have a standing saying as I leave my house as a way to make sure I have everything.
Wallet, Cell Phone, Ring, Pen, Keys.
And now Memory Cards are absolutely added to this list!!
This shot of Real Madrid Head Coach Zinédine Zidane that was featured in French GQ Magazine was something that I thought would be a good opportunity to start a "How did I get this shot? blog." The headline reads, "Zidane responds curtly to Gareth Bale's agent."
In this I want to give the reader some of the important information:
1) Gear
2) Settings
3) The true backstory of this shot
So, here goes, I hope this is helpful for others that are trying to be great at their craft in the arts.
The gear: I am currently using mostly Canon gear. It is not for any great reason other than I have a significant investment in bodies and lenses. For this shot specifically, it was the Canon 1DX Mark II with a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L II (note that there is a newer version that Canon recently released as an upgrade for this lens which is the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L III).
The settings.
Lens (mm): 200
ISO: 4000
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter: 1/400
Program: Manual
The Backstory: This shot was taken during a press conference the day before a match between Real Madrid and Arsenal. The press conferences usually are very quick events that require you to think and act fast to get anything valuable. Let me take you back to the moments before this frame was shot. Since this press conference and match were being played in the DC area, I needed to get from NJ to DC which is typically between 3.5 to 4 hours. Actually that is not true.
On this particular day I was leaving from having spent a long weekend with my family in upstate NY. I had to get back from there to NJ first and pick up my gear and then drive to DC. This added an extra 2 hours to the driving time. This is the reason that I left at 5:00 AM. My son and my dog had managed to both find themselves in my bed with me and my wife sometime in the middle of the night before I was leaving. The 3 of them were looking very comfortable and making it extremely hard to just say, come on man, is the press conference and training really that important. It is 5 AM. Just climb back in bed and share some more quality time with your family.
The pursuit of getting the shot somehow won that battle. I got back to NJ at about 8 AM, picked up my gear and left for Audi Field in DC. As I was driving down, my GPS kept rerouting because it was saying that there was another accident.
The press conference was scheduled to start at 6:00 PM. I got to the stadium at about 3 pm. I like being at places very early. I would rather sit around than be rushing in to a shoot. As we were waiting outside the stadium to get in, some of the players were arriving as there was scheduled to be a press conference and then a training session for the team.
I got out my gear to see if I could get off a few quick shots of some of the players arriving. I took out my 1DX Mark II and attached it to my Canon 400 mm 2.8 lens. I attached my 5D Mark III to my 70-200 mm 2.8 lens. I tested out a few shots and that is when it happened. I was shooting with the 400 mm and it would fire off a few shots and then give me an error message. I was like, ok, just a blip. Shut off the power and turn it back on. Same thing. Let me just check the connection to from the camera to the lens. Same error message.
Shit!!! Are you kidding me? Not now!! Not for a Real Madrid match!!
We were now being lead into the room for the press conference and I have a MAJOR equipment failure happening. I had a few moments to test whether the error was also happening if I attach the 400 mm to my 5D Mark III body. I had within the last month had my 1DX body fully overhauled. I bought it 3 years ago and the recommended amount of frames for that body is 400,000. When they told me that I had 514,000, I had them replaced the entire shutter.
Yes, it is still happening. Ok, think Ira, think. I realize that the 400 mm attached to the 5D body is cranking out a few more frames than if it was attached to the Mark II. Either way the process to make any images happen with the 400 mm was to shoot a few images. Get the error message and then turn the camera off, turn it back on and then get out a few more frames. I think I mentioned that Press Conferences are not long.
In checking my log, the first frame of him walking into the room is at Time: 5:50:28 PM. The last frame of him concluding the press conference is at Time: 6:02:34 PM. 12 Minutes and 6 seconds. Thats it!!! And I am fumbling with an equipment failure that is causing me to take 3 shots and then restart my camera to take more pictures. I varied my shots between the 400 mm and the 70-200 mm. There are about 25 broadcast film crews, some as far away as Japan since Real Madrid just signed what they are claiming is the "Japanese Messi", about the same number of still photographers and a number of journalists. We are all positioning for a place to get a shot.
The goal I give myself is to make sure that I am getting something unique and possibly different from all the other rapid fire clicks I hear around me. I move around the room trying to shoot Zindane from a different angle, pressing the shutter when he shows a different expression, shooting him directly on and from his profile.
Here is one of the shots that I was able to get using the 400 mm lens. I thought it had more intensity as a black and white image, stripped of any other distractions.
I know that Zindane is a subject of many articles having been a player of great importance at Real Madrid and then being a Head Coach and in total leading Real Madrid to the UEFA Champions League an unprecedented three times consecutively, a La Liga title, a Supercopa de España, and the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup twice each. His success saw him named Best FIFA Men's Coach in 2017.
Having photographed many press conferences over the past 10 years, I was careful to get an angle that gave me a clear shot of him. Not being distracted by the microphone or a water bottle or an interpreter sitting next to him. I also wanted to make sure that the signage behind him was blurred out and not so distracting which is the reason for the f/2.8 aperture. I want to make sure I get a shot where he is showcasing some emotion or expression.
After the press conference is over, I review the images that I shot in Photo Mechanic, a rapid photo reviewing program, hoping that I got anything good from the 400 mm with all of my turning off and on my camera. From there, I select the images that I believe could be used for a variety of articles I do my editing in Lightroom for final adjustments before loading the images onto the Getty Images site. I am typically hard on my self and my images, but when I saw this, with him looking directly at the camera, I was hopeful that it would get picked up for use in an article.
In this particular case, there was a great amount of press on the fate and future at Real Madrid of one of their star players Gareth Bale which is why the image was picked up by French GQ.
As stressful as this was, I was grateful for the 12 hours it took to get 12 minutes and 1 French GQ publication.
