I love soccer. One of my favorite things is to get the opportunity to shoot an international level soccer game. So of course when Getty Latin America needed a shooter to cover the match between Haiti and El Salvador in Houston I was in.
Another thing I love is BBVA Compass Stadium. The home of MLS’ Houston Dynamo is just about the best venue I have shot at. The light is bright enough to keep ISO to 1600 or below and still have a shutter speed fast enough to stop action. An evening game – usually a take full of grainy, dark-faced, blurry shots – comes out looking almost as good as a day game shot under a translucent dome.
So anyway, I was tasked with covering the Haiti side. Except for the difficulty finding Haitian fans – I saw maybe 1 for every 300 or so El Salvador/Honduras fans – the game went very well. Haiti lost, scoring no goals, but the action was good and my timing was on target.
I brought a D3 and D7000 with a 200-400 and an 80-200. I ended up using the 200-400 on the D7000 almost exclusively. Since Haiti never really threatened I didn’t have to switch very often. And with most of the action being in the middle third of the pitch, the extra reach of the 7000’s crop sensor really worked in my favor.
On Wednesday, I travel to Arlington to cover Mexico v Panama in the Semi-finals. They had originally asked me to go to Atlanta to cover the quarters, but I convinced them that a local guy would work just fine and save them a ton of money. Not that I wouldn’t have enjoyed going – and earning the paycheck – but a Saturday spent at home with my family trumps that kind of traveling any day. I am also slated to go to Chicago on the 28th for the final – if Mexico makes it, and they are expected to. A final v (probably) USA is definitely worth the trouble of traveling. Sorry, family.
So here are a few pics from the game. Hopefully I’ll post more not to long after Wednesday’s action concludes.
