The final RiverKings home game of the 2017-18 in the regular season (and what turned out to be their final regular season game... ever.) was against the Fayetteville Marksmen on April 7, 2018. As team photographer there were certain images I *had* to capture, certain images I wanted to capture, as well as all the images required to tell the story.
1. The Mascot
2. National Anthem (this was a requirement of the team, but it’s also a good part of the story)
3. Anything special/different happening pre-game. As this was the final home game of the regular season, the booster club handed out awards to different players. If I were posting a gallery for fans to click though I would most likely include photos of all five players receiving their award. This is something fans want to see.
4. Game photos. Beware of posting similar images. The RiverKings went on to win 12-1, the amount of goal/celebration shots became tedious and felt redundant… but it was the story of the night.
5. Another requirement of the team- photos of check recipients. I had not been told that was happening that evening so I wasn’t there to photograph it, but I made it work. Is this something I’d include in a gallery for TSB? No, probably not.
6. Intermission shows/entertainment. I had to get all the teams/clubs/groups that did anything during intermission. It’s also part of the story. I always took special care in photographing cheerleaders and dancers. Beware of poses and what you’re trying to represent with your photos.
7. More game photos (finish telling the story). If you follow my work at all, you might notice that I had a routine covering RiverKings games. 1st period I’d be up in the upper bowl, 2nd period I’d be at ice level behind the goal we were shooting at, 3rd period back up in the 200s. Also depending on where I was and what lens I was using, my camera settings were usually the same spanning an entire game. This shot is interesting to me and I’m not sure if I’d include it on TSB. The goalie should be the focus, but he’s not. For some reason I like it though.
8. Something a lot of photographers seem to forget about are the fans. Fans being fans, not sitting there staring at their phones. In this instance some of the more… boisterous booster club members wanted to get a shot of them with their cowbells. I was happy to oblige. This is the kind of stuff teams want to see from us, the stuff they’ll share. Also this makes games looks fun and teams worth following (and reading about, and looking through more galleries….)
9. Final Outcome. This can be shown in a couple different ways. Here it’s fairly obvious. “RIVERKINGS WIN” is in huge black letters across the top of the photo. It can also be shown as a team defeated, a frustrated goalie, an angry coach… etc. Be creative and LOOK AROUND YOU.
Saluting the crowd with leading lines drawing the eye to the final score in the upper third of the frame.
10. Post-game. This goes hand in hand with the final outcome and can easily overlap. Where there stars of the game or was the home-team defeated? Was there anything special happening with fans? In this game, all players skated out onto the ice to throw t-shirts (after the fans were declared the stars of the game), and then there was open skating with the players. All a part of the story.
These images were specifically for the team (mostly to use for marketing- “Hey we’re awesome and we love our fans, come to games and then skate with us!”). But I also have a lot of fans, players, and player families following me on social media and they enjoy seeing these.
