Photography TIPS: Photographing a UCLA football practice
Learn from my mistakes and check out some cool pics!
Please note that these photos are from late 2018. I want to make this post to reflect on the experience and provide some perspective. My photo skills have dramatically improved.
Background: The media gets 15–20 minutes to observe football practice at UCLA. I was a photographer for the Daily Bruin, UCLA’s student newspaper.
Goal: Get as many photos as possible to supplement game wraps and coverage before the official season.
Challenges:
- Limited time.
- A lot going on. Initially, I had no clue what to shoot.
- Relegated to one side of the field. Limits in movement mean you must shoot what’s in front of you.
My mistakes:
- Not knowing key players. I knew the key offensive players but not the defensive ones.
- Not dialling in. I should have had a better idea of my settings and where the best spots on the sideline were to make the most of those quick 15 minutes.
The team begins by lining up at the goal line and stretching in waves. Keeping a wide aperture is an important setting to capture the entire composition of these larger group shots.
After stretches, players split into groups for individual skill work depending on their position. If you’re new to shooting football, photographing practice is a great way to get used to the various movements. This became evident during the one-on-one sessions between wide receivers, running backs, cornerbacks, linemen, etc.
The line will have 3 or 4 1-v-1 matchups all going on simultaneously.
After one-on-ones, quarterbacks come into the mix to start running offensive sets.
Handoffs and short dump-off passes were the extent of what I captured on the offensive side.
While the offence is practicing, so is the defence.
Linemen are also doing drills in the bottom corner.
As a student journalist, this was my first introduction to the machines that are D1 College programs. Thre is 200–300 people on site for a 2-hour practice at 8:00 am on a weekday.
The process flowed like clockwork. My time was up before I knew it.
