Pacquiao-Cotto Kicks Off at Stadium

As I walked onto the field at Yankee Stadium, I couldn't help but think that a mere 12 or so hours earlier, I was watching Derek Jeter from the comfort of my home, tie the immortal Lou Gehrig for the all-time Yankee hit record on this very field. As a big Yankee fan, it was pretty cool being on the field, today however was about the biggest fight of 2009 -- Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto.

The morning started off with me changing up bags for the assignment, reloading the car and dropping the kids at school before heading into the city. (Note to self: When changing bags last minute, double check EVERYTHING)

Painless drive to the Stadium, easy parking and then...HORROR! Apparently in repacking my bag, I neglected to put in my 2nd camera body and 70-200mm, which left me with a single Mark III and a 16-35mm lens...ouch...

Two hours before the doors for fans opened, and there were already some people waiting outside.





I then ran into my co-photog at HBO Will Hart (an incredible shooter, who has taught and continues to teach me a lot about the art of picture taking), we caught up a bit since it had been awhile since we've covered a fight. I also ran into legendary photographer Joe DiMaggio who as luck would have it, happened to have a Sigma 150-500 lens he wasn't using. Joe, aside from a great photog, is a genuine nice guy, who always has a great story, and is willing to share his knowledge at anytime. I've met him often while shooting fights, and it's always a pleasure to work around him. Now that my disaster was averted, it was time to get going.

Ahhh, the Stadium, it was pretty cool seeing a giant display for the fight, and past bouts of the fighters playing on the screen, helped add to the atmosphere and get the fans (largely pro-Cotto) ready.




The fighters then took the field so to speak, first to enter Manny Pacquiao, followed by Miguel Cotto.




The press conference was standard fare, HBO announced they would be doing another 24/7 for the fight, which if you haven't seen it, is always worth watching, it's just flat out well done. The only surprising thing from the presser was Cotto's talk, he was overly confident and tinge cocky which is a bit unlike him, almost guaranteeing he would beat the smaller Pacquiao, telling him he's not Oscar De La Hoya or Ricky Hatton. It was somewhat refreshing seeing Cotto with a chip on his shoulder. Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach on the other hand were having their usual good time.





Next up the customary face off poses...





and a nice photo-op on the field, although it was packed, so while I could change angles up and down, I couldn't move left or right.






Other Sights...

Couple of iPhone shots (yes iPhone), have I told anyone lately how much I love playing with the iPhone Camera!




Of course I had to get a shot of myself on the field, couldn't pass up that opportunity!



One of my favorites of the day was a throwaway as I was heading away from the field. Boxing aficionado/historian/journalist/jack-of-all-trades Bert Sugar was being interviewed after everything wrapped up, and he was on the big screen, captured a great expression of him when he saw himself up there...classic. You can also see his hat where he is being interviewed in the bottom right of the frame.



Quick Uses

Here's a couple of quick web uses that I found last night.




This fight is easily the biggest fight of the year, and is a do not miss sporting event. November 14th, Las Vegas, can't wait to see it myself.

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Preseason NFL: Eagles at Jets

My second and final preseason game of the year brought Michael Vick and the media hordes to Giants Stadium for the Eagles game against the Jets. Donavon McNabb would not be playing at all, which would make the assignment of getting Vick images a bit easier, as he would be playing some of the first half, and all of the second half.

He wasn't out long for warmups, but captured a few of him getting a bit loose.



As well as an interesting one of the Jets head coach Rex Ryan and their former coach NFL analyst Herm Edwards.


Onto the game, Jets RB hopeful Danny Woodhead had a monster game, and it seemed to be enough for him to make the team (he did make the 53-man roster, but was cut a couple of days later when the Jets picked up a few guys off waivers)


Michael Vick on the other hand was harassed all night, by the Jets 'D'...


Not to mention some Jet fans...


But in the end, he was still smiling...


While the game featured some hits, like this one on Kareem Brown,


and some nice touchdowns, like this long one to David Clowney,



it's still NFL preseason football, which might just be the most irrelevant thing in sports, the starters barely play at all, and it tends to be pretty boring to shoot, and even more so to watch.

So with that, I take my two preseason games of trial and error, and like Mark Sanchez (who was impressive again in his one drive) head off into my "rookie" season of shooting the NFL...

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Boxing in the Dark

Covered a small fight card last week in New York City, just for the fun of it, the show was part of Lou DiBella's "Broadway Boxing" series that highlights hopefuls on their way up the rankings. Didn't have to cover it and wasn't assigned, just felt like getting out and seeing some people I hadn't seen in awhile and shoot a "small" fight card. These cards are how I got my start, and I hadn't covered one in quite sometime...



Kinda forgot how dark these cards are, it may be called "Broadway Boxing", but it has off, off Broadway lighting. Just as a gauge, most of my shots were taken in the range of ISO 6400, 1/320th, f2.8, in other words dungeon lighting. Didn't really have to focus on any fighters in particular, so had some fun wandering around, and chose to shoot the whole show in B&W, which I never do because editors and magazines generally don't want it...

Here's a quick one of friend and HBO colleague Harold Lederman and his wife Eileen, who were on hand to take in the action...



also on hand, Paulie Malignaggi, who had just gotten back from his loss to Juan Diaz (in which he was blatantly robbed of the decision) in Diaz' hometown of Houston...



Spent the rest of the night just wandering and shooting the fights, played a bit with some blurs, shot some wide angles which normally I don't, but as a B&W they kinda worked, also had some fun watching the corners and of course the ring card girls...


BOXING BLUR


SHE'S GOT LEGS


ROUND 3 FROM THE LAST ROW


HEAVYWEIGHT PROSPECT TOR HAMER


WIDE ANGLE CORNER


GREAT ENTRANCE MASK


BB KINGS


ANTHEM SINGER

It was fun to just get out and shoot a bit with no pressure of getting the shot or transmitting on deadline, but I did miss the bright lights of the bigger event. Now I'll step away and begin my drive to tonight's Jets game...Michael Vick comes town...Bow Wow...

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Round 3 with the Executioner

Had the opportunity to once again to a photo shoot with living boxing legend, Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins. This was the third time around with Hopkins and Ring Magazine, and he never fails to entertain. The shoot is for a monthly piece that appears in the magazine called "Perfect Execution".

Each month Hopkins show the correct and sometimes incorrect ways of performing in the ring. It's more than just a photo shoot when you are with Bernard as he'll have you moving around the ring, throwing punches and teaching you angles. Sometimes you'll even take a few from the champ (unfortunately I can attest to that last part)...

Shoot started in a bit of trouble as I hit a bunch of traffic and arrived 15 minutes after our planned 11am start time, fortunately for me, everyone else was running behind me so I still had time to set up lights and tape down all the wires (have to in a gym setting, as people are still going about their business working out). Once Bernard arrived, we were told he had a 3:30pm flight to LA, so our day would be cut short and we would have to hustle. Here's a quick one snapped of me testing some lights...



Once we got set we moved quickly from one thing to another including body punching, the correct way...



and the incorrect way...



Next up was feinting, which was tough to demonstrate in stills, but we ended up trying a 3 photo sequence, which works, but still wasn't the optimal take...These are two of the images, the first (not shown) is a normal fighter stance, the second shows the left hand dropped as if a punch was going to be thrown and the fighter on the left pulling back, the third is the right hand that follows. Would have been nice to use more frames, but ultimately you are limited by print space.




Did have some fun with the feinting part as Bernard had me stand in as he feinted, then accidentally dropped a right hand in on me. In fairness I was holding my camera in my left, although I'm fairly certain it would have landed anyway. He then threw some body shots until I finally fired back with a right to the body. I can now say I've landed a punch on a boxing champ! Wished I had pics of that...

Went through some other things before he had to take off, such as cutting off the ring, which was another challenge to shoot, and we went with some footwork closeups, as well as some wider shots.



and some basic pad work shots...




On a side assignment, they also asked me to do a quick shoot of Hopkins' trainer Nazeem Richardson. I had never had the chance to meet him before, but he is a really nice guy, polite and very easy to work with. The idea was to get a very quick portrait type shot that would run one page, and then several images of Nazeem speaking to go along with the interview. These are always the tougher shots as most people I've done end up looking uncomfortable knowing their being photographed. Took a bunch, here are a few I think will work for the piece.

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