8:45PM. I’m starting with this image and how I covered the Army – Navy Football game. After a long, cold day at the ballpark in Baltimore, MD, I ran into these Hispanic workers using leaf blowers to clean the stands. That obviously meant I was in the stadium way too long after a 12 noon football game…! I heard the howl of their blowers in the tunnel and knew there was a picture there somewhere for me to make. In fact, it’s a picture I’ve seen a few times in stadiums thru the years, but never thought anything about it. yea, give these brothers some props too!
“Go early, Stay late…” (you should know the rest by now…)
7:30AM. My company car and luggage cart with gear as I arrived at M&T Bank Stadium for the 108th. Army – Navy Game in Baltimore, MD on Saturday, December 1, 2007.
Got into town on Friday night, and stopped by the stadium to familiarize myself with the entrance ways, pressrooms, etc. Since I knew I wanted to mount a third camera from an overhead postion first thing in the morning, I figured stopping at the stadium first would be helpful for a “look-see.” Doesn’t hurt to make yourself a familiar face with the security guys, and the one working press room member who was still in the stadium at 8PM setting up things for the writers. From him I got the name of head honcho at the stadium, so I could ask permission to mount the remote camera up in an overhead “Tee-Vee” box early Saturday morning. Thanks, Jim. Besides, I knew if I’d gone straight to the hotel after the 6 hour drive from NY, and relaxed a bit, I wasn’t going to be coming back out in the cold. Nothing like trying to get through South Jersey and Maryland traffic on the NJ Turnpike / Route 95 on a Friday afternoon. I think I had my “game face” on somewhere around Exit 4 on the NJ Pike for the next 100 miles or so.
9:10PM. 13 hours at the ballpark. The car is still there. Leaving M&T Bank Stadium after the 108th. Army – Navy Game in Baltimore, MD on Saturday, December 1, 2007.
*This was much more than just a football game between the service academies…:
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As the Corps of Cadets from West Point marched onto the field at 9:30AM, (top three images) I shot from the field with two cameras (short & long lenses) and fired the remote camera mounted up in the press box for the overhead fisheye views… (top left image, from the remote Nikon D-1X camera & 10.5mm fisheye lens clamped and secured in the upper TV press box above the 50 yard line.)
*As a former Marine, I really got a kick out of shooting this game. It lived up to all the hype I’d heard all season long about the “Army – Navy Game…”
Talking shop with a Navy photographer on the sidelines in the second half of the 108th. Army – Navy Game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, MD on Saturday, December 1, 2007. Navy defeated Army 38 – 3. © Photograph by Scott Strine.
Chet Gordon resides in the lower Hudson Valley region of New York. A photojournalist for more than 25 years, he recently worked as Westchester Magazine's first photo editor, and previously was a staff photographer at four NYC metro area newspapers. He was also a photo editor at the NY Daily News for 5 years. His work has appeared in The New York Times, International Herald-Tribune, USA Today, MailOnline (UK), Army Times, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Popular Photography magazines, among others. He is a career member of the National Press Photographer’s Association (NPPA), and a former board member of the NY Press Photographer’s Association (NYPPA). He served honorably as a U.S. Marine in the mid-1980's, including 2+ years stationed on Okinawa, Japan, and throughout Southeast Asia. A longtime volunteer and travel enthusiast, he accompanies several humanitarian aid clients on their international disaster relief and medical missions. Since 1997, he's worked in several African countries, the Middle East, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, as well as Afghanistan, Haiti, the Russian Federation, and Thailand. He routinely mentors young photographers looking to break into the industry and vacations in Bermuda and Kenya.
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