Sports Illustrated
by
RiderGalComment by RiderGal: To everyone who commented on my image during and after the challenge THANK YOU! This was a very meaningful shot to me in a few ways...
1) It was my first pro game with a press pass
2) It was my first pro, championship game (with or without a press pass)
3) My first time getting to work with Bob Deutsch, a wonderful, seasoned photographer who is the main USA Today photographer stationed in NYC
4) My first ribbon on DPC
5) It's a part of history, the Spurs won the championships :-)
6) I managed to get it in the very short time I had to shoot because I was there to edit... 10 minutes!
Plus I just enjoyed shooting it... I LOVE SPORTS!
Let me just say, I am so pleased to have gotten a ribbon, let alone a blue ribbon, let alone in open against 231 other photos! What an honor because there definitely was some good stuff in there! This whole week I was on edge... and the last 30 minutes before the switchover I was seriously BOUNCING off the walls. When I found out I had gotten first there were so many friends from DPC there to support me and share in my happiness which made it all the better! Thanks to everyone!
A few more details for all of those who were so curious on how I got such good seats and got so close to the action
I dream of being a photojournalist, specializing in sports. I have worked for this dream for 5 years now and I have tried to make contacts throughout the profession. I just happened to make the right contact (Bob Deutsch) at the right time, when he was low on people to edit for him. He took me along to this game. I got an official press pass complete with my photo on it... we got to the game before 3 pm (8:30pm start) we set up all of his remote cameras and got everything ready. USA Today happened to have been assigned two spots so I got to sit in one for the first ten minutes of the game! Right on the floor on the left of the basket that the Spurs were going towards for the first part of the game, and directly in front of Michael J. Fox! I was so close to the action, and to give you an example of how close this shot was taken with a 55 MM MANUAL FIXED LENS! (it's an F1.2, no I didn't use a flash or strobes) it was truly awesome, and this shot is almost full frame! To make things sweeter I was sitting between two very experienced photographers 1 from Reuters and one from AP... pretty cool! The rest of the game I spent watching it from a television as I edited (cropped and captioned) Bob's photos and sent them directly out to USA Today. I was underneath with the rest of the press, and I sat next to the photo editor from NY TImes. This was an awesome event! Truly... thanks to everyone for making it that much sweeter by giving me my first ribbon! (exception goes to the one "troll" who gave me the 1 ) Thanks again!
Love,
Talya AKA RiderGal
P.S. In case you were wondering if I did ok with my editing... the answer is a big YUP :-) Bob actually invited me back for the next night THE STANLEY CUP!!!! I didn't get to shoot, but it was still just as cool :-)
Message edited by author 2003-06-18 03:48:42. 
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