Do you know what I love about photographing football games? It’s always different. No game is the same, no two touchdowns are alike. So for the fourth consecutive year, I will be photographing the home games of the Miami Hurricanes and I couldn’t be more excited.
This season started off like the team’s namesake, a hurricane. I was greeted at the stadium by torrential rains and lightning that dance across the sky so effortlessly, it was impressive. Luckily I parked close to the stadium that I did not need a kayak to paddle up to the gate.
Another new thing this football season were the renovations made to Sunlife Stadium. The photo workroom was redesigned as well as many other facilities within the stadium. The biggest change was to the field and seats itself. The seats were brought in closer to the field and doing so some of the real estate I use to work with is no longer available on the sidelines or endzone.
The game itself was interesting. In the 2nd quarter lightning and rain delayed the game for 75 minutes. While in the rain delay, water started to pour up out of the floor in the photo room and into the adjacent hallway. As I wandered to the other parts of the stadium, flooding seemed to be the issue for many other sections.
Once the game resumed, the Miami Hurricanes decided to cause a storm of their own on the field with touchdown after touchdown. I was standing in the rain with a poncho and my gear covered trying to take photos. It’s always interesting trying to take photos in the rain especially when I’m trying to focus on a player and huge raindrop grabs the attention of my focus point.
Overall it was a great experience. You’ll never hear me say I had a bad day shooting a football game. It’s always fun and it’s always something different. Can’t wait for the rest of the season.
