Anyway...
First photo:
I took this photo, and sometimes photographers defend an image because of what they went through to get it. Photogs will become attached to their picture because they climbed a ladder, or hung off a ledge or something. But I have to keep reminding myself that what you do to get the photo doesn't always mean it's a good photo. I've shot net cuttings a couple times before and never liked what I got. So when this team started cutting the net, I tried to figure out a way to get something different than what I've gotten before. All the other times I've shot this event, I stood right under the net and looked up a the folks cutting the net. So this time, I ran to the team bench, grabbed a chair and placed it just out-of-bounds along the baseline. Then I held my camera "Hail Mary" style above my head. If could have gotten higher, I would have.
So the fact that I got something different than my other net cutting photos made me REALLY like this one. But, to get specific, I like that I have so many aspects of the event in the photo. The head coach, the cheering girls, the happy parents... etc. The only thing missing is the losing team crying in the background.
The only thing I'd do different would maybe take my flash off camera. The light on the net and the coaches face is pretty harsh because my flash is on my camera. And, of course, if I could have gotten higher, I would have.
Second Photo:
Jim Cenac took this picture. And when I first saw it, I didn't like it. It was too busy. The background is really cluttered with rafters and redness. And that really distracts me from the moment. The net gets lost in the rafters. But I'm glad I asked for thoughts on the two images because nobody really said the rafters bothered them. In fact, Erica said something about how the net and the bars work together and that the player is consumed by a net like pattern. I would have never thought that. I just saw the funky light on the rafters with the shadows of the bars and stuff. The rafters and lighting were problems I had during the other times I've shot net cuttings, so I didn't even try this shot.
I got a call from the coach in the first photo. She was asking for a print of another photo I took, but also said that she wished it wasn't her in the photo. She said she wished it had been one of her players. Like any coach, they'll give credit to their team and not themselves. I agree. I picked the coach photo b/c all the elements in that photo fell into place better than the ones I took with the players. That's a good aspect of #2, it's one of the top players cutting down the net.
(Should be noted that the Ellender girls put t-shirts on at the end of every game after this... covering up their numbers... making it really hard to identify who they were when writing cutlines for the photos.)
Another thing to think about is that the image is from a low angle. A low vantage point gives the subject a dominant feeling. Very "manly" for a lack of a better term. The subject is looking down on the viewer, it's powerful. And it's a vertical image which, on a newspaper page, is very powerful. And the Ellender girls were a very dominant and powerful team. Kind of a stretch... but true.
Final Thoughts:
I'm really glad I got some other thoughts on these two images. To be honest, I was a little upset when I saw #2 huge on the front page and mine small on the sports page. It boiled down to me being attached to the image because what I did to get it. And that's not cool. So to hear some thoughts in favor of both was really cool.
Both images are solid shots. And both get the point across of what happened that night. We could go on forever debating the two images. Both have arguments for and against them.
And what we just did there... debating two images... happened almost every night in college. We'd have 4 people at an event and when we got back and pulled up our photos, everybody would just argue for or against different images. It was great. Sure, it got pretty heated sometimes, but once the decision on what photo to use was made, everybody was cool and couldn't wait to do it again the next night. But that's what I love about photography, everybody sees things differently.
sweet.
