Each week I have a little ceremony so to say to flip through the magazine and look at every photo. I might read a thing or two, but the first thing I do is look at each photo. Then, I go back and read the stories.
My thoughts on the photos have really progressed since I first started to subscribe. At first they were just out of reach. After a while, I learned to appreciate the images because I learned what it takes to make those pictures.
A while later, after shooting many of the events that Sports Illustrated photographers were also at, I would think "Man, I got a picture of the same play, but I didn't get a picture like THAT of the play."
And recently, I've felt that I can at least hang in there with the best sports shooters. Don't get me wrong, I'm no where near the level of a Sports Illustrated shooter... But think of it like this...The Royals get base hits and home runs against the Yankees and Red Sox each year. They might not win the game or have a better record at the end of the season, but they do have some success against the best of the best.
My "New Sports Illustrated" routine didn't change when I got the latest issue on Friday (one day late btw). I came home from shooting a basketball game and stood in my room flipping through the pages looking at each photo. This issue is the College Basketball Preview issue, so it's a little larger than normal. When I turned to page 128, two pages from the end, for some reason I went right to the photo credits before looking at the photos.
Matt Stamey/US PRESSWIRE
I had to do a double take... I had a photo published in Sports Illustrated. I talked a little about this photo in my last post... Reggie getting knocked out at the one yard line against St. Louis.
A side story about this photo... I actually liked the frame before this shot a lot better. Reggie was reaching out a little more towards the endzone and it had the moment of the impact that knocked him out. But it was a little soft (out of focus). So I transmitted this image instead.
I've been freelancing for US PRESSWIRE for the past few years. They're a photo wire service for sports images. An A.P. for sports photos if you will. When I shoot a game, I send them a bunch of my best photos from the game. From there, an editor posts the majority of those photos on their website (www.uspresswire.com) for clients to purchase. (Clients include USA Today, Sports Illustrated, ESPN... etc)
So, Friday night I went out to find more copies. I hit up five places... nothing. But I had a funny encounter at the Walgreens. While searching the the S.I. on the magazine rack, I saw a Runners World and thought I'd check one of those out since I've been running. So I went to the counter with my Runners World and a thing of Tic-Tac's. The lady scanned the magazine, then the Tic-Tac's, looked at me and said "Wow, you must be really bored tonight." What's that mean? So I asked her "what?" to see if I heard her correctly. "You must be really bored tonight uh?"
How in the world does a Runners World magazine and some white Tic-Tac's translate into me being bored on a Friday night? Oh well.
And, as of Sunday afternoon, Books-a-Million has no more copies of Sports Illustrated.
