When you’re a Miami sports photographer you really never have an off or down season. There is always something to photograph sports wise. My latest assignment has been to photograph the Miami FC soccer club. This would be my first time photographing soccer, so I was really excited about it.
Walking into FIU Stadium, where the Miami FC play, I was not sure of what to expect. When I photograph football games, I’m usually 5-10 yards away from the action. With soccer, I was 3 feet from the field. The action was that close. Good news was that I was so close to the field. Bad news, as I witnessed in warm-ups, I’m so close that the ball can hit me at any time and with a high rate of speed. I saw an fan take an errant shot to the face 15 yards away from the goal. I felt their pain, but I didn’t want to physically feel their pain.
The home opening match against the New York Cosmos gave some great insights on how to photograph a soccer match. The action was constant and the ball was being passed all over the field. What I really enjoyed was the pace of the game. No timeouts or commercial breaks. Just soccer for 45 minutes straight then a brief halftime followed by another 45 minutes of soccer.
While the Miami FC did not win the match, I had an amazing time photographing it. I can’t wait to photograph the remaining matches. My goal for the season is to come away with more appreciation for the sport of soccer as well as some amazing action shots that really tell the story from the match.
One match down, many to go.
