The Big Shoot With A Sharp-Eyed Assistant, D90 Game Shooting, and Trying A New Angle

The last Blog entry that I posted was written with a large bundle of nerves eating away at my mind, and here we are a week and a bit later, the bundle of nerves is still there but it's a different bundle of nerves than last week's!

Last week I was preparing for the big shoot, which I can now confirm (since the cat's out of the bag) was the Manchester Phoenix 2012 Calendar shoot. I'd borrowed a 35mm f2.0 prime lens for the job, done some tests, acquired a Nikon D90 and planned as much as possible, but was still at the mercy of the players! The players had been given the project brief, and it was down to them to interpret it and turn up for the shoot accordingly. The brief was to "bring something personal that symbolises their life outside of hockey" and be ready to pose with it. The shoot that we did with Ryan Johnson a few weeks back was the spark for this, as it was Ryan's tattoos that showed a side of him that the hockey world hadn't seen before, it was something personal to him. So that theme was expanded for the whole team.

The shoot was set to take place in the Phoenix locker room on a game day, last Sunday, before the team took on the Slough Jets. This was the easiest thing logistically for the team, as it meant that they were all going to be in the same place at the same time anyway, but from a photo shoot perspective it was a daunting task. We had a window of around an hour to complete the shoot! So, armed with a three-head 300w lighting kit, a few sheets of diffuser, a D90 camera and a heart beating fifteen to the dozen, I set up and went for it.



I ran some tests with the f2.0 prime lens, and whilst it's a great lens it quickly became apparent that it wasn't suited to the environment that I was shooting in. It was great for getting the back cover shot of Tony Hand that I wanted to get, but when it came to the main shoot it didn't give me the depth that I found that I needed, so I returned to the 18-55mm kit lens and got the job done!

As I'd borrowed a D90 to do the main shoot, my D40 was free for use as a Documentary camera, and my lovely assistant Yolanda was co-opted into getting some behind-the-scenes shots. She's not a trained photographer at any level, and with little experience on a DSLR she was more than a touch nervous about being entrusted with documenting the event.



Surrounded by hockey players who were in turn a little nervous about the shoot, and tasked with shooting an event and getting a feel for the whole experience, it was a role that in all honesty I had high hopes but little expectation from. But once I'd finished editing the calendar shots and went on to look through Yolanda's behind-the-scenes shots, I was simply amazed at some of the moments she had managed to capture. Her sharp eye picked up on so many moments to capture, and shooting from within a group of people, she has managed to capture photos that I am genuinely envious of:



The shoot took place in two locations: the locker room area is made up of two main rooms, and we utilised both. For shooting a close-up of Tony Hand we used his space in the main locker room, and for the other shots we used the front half of the area which also serves as the physio room. Cramped and hot from the lights, hardly ideal shooting conditions at all, but the approach and attitude of the players made it a hugely memorable shoot. To say that the guys went above and beyond what I'd expected is an understatement!

Every person who took part in the shoot gave it their all, I honestly couldn't have asked for more from the experience. I was hoping that some of the guys would turn up with 'props' to pose with, but I didn't expect the array of props and outfits that the guys brought with them. Everyone took a turn in front of the camera, watched eagerly by the rest of the team, in a locker room that was echoing with laughter from the posing, the ribbing and the out-and-out piss-taking that was going on!

After the shoot, after the game, after the editing of the photos, the nail-biting began again. I'd spent hours and hours working on the shots before sending them on to Nick Ogden for him to take over the process with his design work. I'd done the shots, Nick's job was to come up with an eye-catching design for the calendar and to put my shots into their places. When the first proofs were e-mailed through, Nick had certainly done his job - the designs were in my opinion simply outstanding! After a few tinkerings and adjustments here and there, the final proofs were prepared and sent to Phoenix owner Neil Morris for his approval. Neil enthusiastically gave the nod, and the proofs were sent off to the printers!

Now, as expected, I can't release any of the shots that were used in the calendar on here, but all will be revealed when the calendars go on sale on Saturday Dec 10th, at the home game against Guildford!

Yolanda's sharp-eye on the documentary camera did give us an unexpected bonus though, in the shape of a behind-the-scenes Flickr album which will also be released next week:



I know that there's nothing more I can do for the calendar, but I'll still be biting my nails until the launch itself!

Already having the D90 with us at the rink for the shoot, it made sense to give it a go with the shooting of the game itself. Manchester Phoenix v Slough Jets is always a skill versus skill game, but it's also a game where both teams seem to increase the intimidation factor, so I knew I'd have a few opportunities to test the camera.

The D90's ISO range goes beyond that of the D40, and the in-build noise reduction is certainly a step up too. The big advantage meant that I could shoot at a faster shutter speed, giving me more clarity on the shots. When I'm shooting with the D40, I'm working mostly with a 70-300mm lens, shooting at f4 to f5.6, ISO 1600, at 1/250th of a second and then pushing the levels in Photoshop. With the D90 I was able to shoot with the same lens and the same aperture but at ISO2500 and a shutter speed of 1/400th at times:





Before the game, I'd been asked to get some shots of one of the Slough fans with the Slough players as they stepped onto the ice, which meant that I was down by the player entrance gate for the start of the game. Sensing an opportunity, I squatted down next to the gate, waited for the smoke to be pumped out, and started shooting:



All in all, quite a productive day!

The Phoenix v Jets photo set can be seen on Flickr here.

Thanks for reading!