High Beam

Gymnastics events provides photographers many opportunities to capture spectacular athletic feats.

Yale's Jessica Wang goes high when dismounting from the balance beam vs. University of New Hampshire.

The Photo

The gymnastics meet between Yale and University of New Hampshire (UNH) featured highly talented competitors on the balance beam, vault, floor exercise and parallel bars, but I quickly realized that the balance beam would give me the best pictures.  The gymnasts on the beam did numerous head-over-heels flips as they repeatedly landed perfectly on the beam, and twisted their bodies around while soaring high into the air on their amazing dismounts.  I planned to crouch down low, to make their leaps look even higher and more spectacular in a photo.  My challenge as a photographer would be to simultaneously capture their spectacularly high leaps and faces as they performed their routines.

As the young women performed, they moved rapidly, springing up and over the beam, but often turned their faces away, so I had yet to get a great photo.  The dismounts had great potential, but the athletes were moving in so many different directions at the same time, it was not easy to perfectly time their leaps, twists, and faces to capture the most powerful image. On the next to last balance beam routine, one gymnast looked my way repeatedly, and I shot several strong photos of her upside down and high in the air over the beam.  And when she dismounted, she leaped higher and spun more than anyone else, giving me another powerful photo of her winning routine.

3 Tips

1)    The balance beam event typically provides some of the best gymnastics photos.

2)    Shoot from a low angle to make the gymnasts’ leaps look higher and more spectacular.

3)    You’ll likely need to shoot many, many photos to capture both the gymnasts’ athleticism and faces in one great image.

I Did It!!

School graduations often provide very memorable, emotional expressions.

Jubilant Yale School of Management graduate happily shows off her new MBA during Commencement.

The Photo

Hundreds of students were graduating from Yale School of Management with their MBAs, and in an outdoor courtyard, despite a high probability of rain.  I sought a vantage point that enabled me to simultaneously photograph close-ups of grads receiving their diplomas, interactions among the large crowd of grads and guests, along with reactions to the forecasted downpour, should it occur.  With no special credentials or access, I camped out with proud families on the left side of the stage, so the graduates would be walking toward me as they received their degrees, much of the crowd was in camera range, and I remained safe from the elements under an overhang.

No doubt nearly all students would be very happy, but reactions still varied widely, from stone-faced to screaming for joy.  Many also brought their young children along to help celebrate the proud moment.  Since I could not anticipate which grads would provide the best reactions, I stayed ready to photograph every joyous expression I saw. Using a 300M lens, I concentrated on closeups of happy faces during the procession, both on stage and being greeted by family or classmates.  As the ceremony was about to end, and the rain began, I switched to photographing the toss of caps into the air.  There were many joyous expressions, warm embraces, arms overhead in victory, etc., and one student provided a very memorable reaction, as her face radiated happiness as showed off her degree to her family and friends in the audience. 

3 Tips

1)    Position yourself so graduates are walking toward you and you can consistently see their faces.

2)    Primarily shoot close-ups to capture emotional reactions and facial expressions as students celebrate their achievement, and interact with classmates, professors, friends or parents.

3)    Also look for happy family and friend interactions with graduates, as well as the tossing of caps in the air after all graduates receive their degrees.

Oh Happy Day!

Volleyball is one of the best sports at providing strong emotional reaction photos.

Very happy Yale volleyball players (from left, Brittani Steinberg, Tori Shepherd, Luci Tashman, Gray Malias, Kelsey Crawford, Kaitlyn Gibbons) celebrate after defeating Penn 3-0 at Yale.

Yale women's volleyball celebrates win over Penn.

The Photo:

I had almost forgotten how emotional volleyball players can be until I began shooting this Yale-Penn volleyball match.  Although I was determined to capture powerful action shots of player diving, leaping, returning, spiking, the players’ intensity made far stronger photos.  After nearly every point or strong effort, the players cheered, shouted encouragement, congratulated one another, celebrated, and visibly displayed their emotions. I finally stopped looking for action shots, and instead focused (no pun intended) almost exclusively on getting photos of powerful facial expressions. When the match was over, I had so many great emotional reactions, I almost couldn’t decide which photo was the best, but finally chose the players celebrating after scoring the final point and winning the match.

3 Tips:

1)     Emotions or strong facial expressions are almost always the strongest sports photos.

2)     Recognize if the sport you are shooting provides opportunities for powerful emotional reaction shots.  

3)     If so, prioritize shooting emotion photos over action throughout the match.