Not all my photos from the Washington Wizards game were taken
with my DSLR. My camera gear was limited to a 70-200L and a 300L lenses. My
45-105L was left at home because it would not be very useful from the distance the
photographers in my group were stationed. My iPhone was pressed into service to
get a few wide shots of the court, scoreboard, and stands.
Last weekend, I covered the San Antonio Spurs at Washington
Wizards basketball game. My first National Basketball Association (NBA) game! Saying
it was a different experience than covering college and high school games would
be a gross understatement.
I went in with good ideas about how to cover the action. I’ve
covered a few D1 college games at George Mason University in addition to numerous
high school games. Photographing these games is relatively easy. Your access
lets you shoot from behind the baselines or sidelines and move around. But not at the Wizards game.
My media credentials were for Tier 2 access, which put me in
an assigned seat in the media area at the top of the lower bowl of the arena. As
the photos below show, the view was looking down rather than my preferred court
level location (very limited – Tier 1 only). However, the different angle made
it easier to capture some of the action. At court level, player movement can
easily block the photographer’s view.
The game was a blast. The score was close the entire game
with Spurs pulling out the win 157-153 in double overtime. It was the highest
scoring NBA game of the season at that point. An enthusiastic crowd added lots
of excitement.
[My recent resolution called for me to post each month. Okay,
okay. I missed February! Since February is only 28 days, I counting this post
as meeting my resolution! 😊]
