Victor Aragon of Miami International University of Art and Design scores the first goal at last game of the season. Yesterday the team fought with all they had unfortunately they lost 4-6. The new season starts September 2010 and I will be back on the sidelines photographing the games. (Click Images For Larger Views)

Shooting action in general is tough; the challenge of shooting it is what makes it fun for me. Throughout articles of this blog I mention that practice is the key to success for anything you want to be great at. I’m a commercial advertising, lifestyle, portrait and sports photographer. For practice as a photographer capturing action I’ve been photographing at Miami International University of Art and Design’s futbol games. Friends I encourage you to practice, practice, practice it’s the only way to get better.

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It’s late writing this and I was thinking about calling it a night but naw. I do care about the people who stop here to read what I have to say.

Photographing Soccer Games:
I’m going to keep this write up brief by sharing with you things I experienced the day making that image for Miami International University of Art and Design futbol team. Use some of the advice when shooting your next game. Hopefully my experience will help you feel a bit more comfortable if you are wondering how to photograph a soccer game or how to capture action.

This time of the year in Miami, Florida is extremely hot. The weather is something you should always take into consideration before shooting. It only makes sense to right? It’s really irritating wiping the grass off of my leg, wiping my face with paper towels (or my shirt) and trying to focus shooting the games at the same time. I learnt my lesson from shooting previous games. So to avoid that extra distraction: I wore flip-flops for my feet to feel comfortable in the weather, a tee shirt and long jeans because I sit on the grass. I took a small bottle of water with a towel to keep me hydrated and to stop the sweat from making me look as if I was out there playing on the filed.

For this game I shot my Nikon D300’s with the AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5 – 5.6 lens. God I love that lens. Something I love to do before shooting anything is putting the camera in aperture priority mode then take a snap shot and letting the camera automatically decide its settings. It’s a comfortable starting point for me. From there I put the camera in shutter priority mode. Then I adjusted the shutter speed to 1/500^th of a second at F/9 and -0.3EV. 1/500^th of a second freezes action. My White Balance was set on direct sunlight, A-4 and the camera was shooting Vivid. Those settings allowed me to get a warm photograph with the motion frozen.  My ISO was set at 320. I start out at ISO 200 and adjust to what I feel is the best for me. When your settings are best for you the next thing to do is to wait for the moment and fire.

Good luck with your shooting out there!

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Dedication. Positive Attitudes. Team Work.

In the heat of Miami past Sunday at Senator Gwen Margolis park in Sunny Isles, Miami, Florida MIU wins 3-0. To become successful at anything, practicing is vital. To keep getting better than good enough takes commitment / dedication. Fridays are one of the days the guys of MIU’s fútbol practice for their games. Last Friday the team welcomed me to photograph their practice as practice for myself. Photographing as much action as I can helps me to become a sharper shooter as a sports photographer.

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More To Come…See you at the game next Sunday!

Btw I tweet when I’m at the game and send a TwitPic as well.

Miami International University of Art and Design student, and president of university’s fútbol team, Greg Gayle, leads with a vision to the field. I’m happy to say I’m the first photographer to photograph the university’s first fútbol team. It’s not as easy as it seems.

People was taken aback every time I told them we had a sports team at my old college at the Savannah College of Art and Design; nothing has changed with this one. While in this pool let me splash it out there. Classes like Math, English, History and all of that other boring shit still applies for us arts students. Were not only involved in: Animation, Advertising, Visual Effects / Motion Graphics, Interior Design, Game Art Design, Visual Arts, Film and Digital Production, Culinary, Graphic Design and Fashion. I only wish it was.

I still remember back late 2008 when Greg was telling me that he was thinking about starting a fútbol team. He knew the amount of extra work it would bring and boring school meetings to attend, but that didn’t stop him. He organized the club, got the interest of the team members, held practices and now Miami International University of Art and Design participates in the Sunny Isles Soccer League. I got word that the underground buzz has grown so much there’s a possibility of a soon to be MIU female’s fútbol team.

Photographing this game was not as easy as I thought it would be, but I loved the challenge when I got out there. Some plays I wanted to stop the game, walk on the field and ask the players to re-do what happened; yeah right! You really have to be prepared to capture the moment. You have to keep one eye open as well watching the players when sitting on the side lines as well because you will get ran over or a ball flying to hit you.

The fight continues. I will be photographing the games on the sidelines to help build up my action / sports photography portfolio images. The matches are held every Sunday at Senator Gwen Margolis park, on Sunny Isles Beach. Follow me on Twitter and I will be Tweeting when I post a new article of the games (what happened, how I photographed etc.) as well as reminders for you to go out there. See you at the games and here to read about the story and how I photographed.

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