sports sports and more sports
Lately it seems like I’ve worked the 1-10pm shift at the newspaper a lot, and when that happens I shoot a lot of sports. I love it. It’s a shift from everything else I shoot, less intense from an emotional perspective, but more exciting because of the adrenaline rush that comes with every goal, run, obstacle overcome and victory obtained. Although my own emotional investment in a typical sports shoot isn’t the same as say a week in post-earthquake Haiti, the intensity of emotion that can be captured in sports makes shooting them extremely satisfying. When athletes are pushed to their limit and you can see the strain or exhaustion in every protruding vein and drop of sweat, getting that peak action is like a natural high. And then, there’s nothing like seeing the raw reaction to victory or defeat, no filters or inhibitions, just pure emotion. Following are some of my latest sports images. We’ll kick it off with the ultimate summer sport: play ball!
and in honor of the World Cup…
Final 4 NCAA men’s lacrosse
and here’s a mix of a few different sports
a little jumping
and finally, some of that raw emotion I was referring to
Photos by Eva Russo
All photos @ Richmond Times-Dispatch
The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represents the positions, strategies or opinions of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Shake ‘n Bake!
It might seem strange to see photos from a high-speed car race mixed in with engagement sessions and beautiful couples on their wedding day, but it wouldn’t be a truthful depiction of what I do if I didn’t include them. This is my life, one day I’m at Southside Speedway with men in overalls, loving being (literally) 2 feet from cars going really fast with a wall that comes up to my waist as the only protective barrier… and the next I’m looking a little more cleaned up as I photograph…the president of the United States. I’m a newspaper photographer/wedding photojournalist, it’s just what I do, and I admit it’s pretty cool. So, back to the cars, I shoot Nascar every year, usually twice a year when Nascar comes to Richmond. It’s a big deal here, a huge influx of fans and a lot of coverage. This year, I discovered Southside Speedway. They race all the time at this little country track, but on Nascar weekend Denny Hamlin, our very own Richmond-grown big famous Nascar driver, holds a charity race at Southside Speedway, the track where he learned to race. Whereas at Nascar the drivers put on their full diva/drama queen attitudes, shoo away the media and feed into driver rivalries that the media gobbles up, here I was amazed to see some of the biggest drivers in the profession joking around and coexisting just fine without their RVs. Another perk of SS versus Nascar? Well, the fact that the media tent happened to be the same as the VIP tent kind of set the tone for the day… Everything else, the sunset light, the wrecks every 5 turns, the fans, the whole feel of the event was so real that I loved it. So, here are some of the images from the night and check out the slideshow I did for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Enjoy!
Photos by Eva Russo
All photos @ Richmond Times-Dispatch
The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represents the positions, strategies or opinions of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Richmond Marathon
I think I have shin splints…no, I didn’t run 26 miles, or even half that, but I really think I might have shin splints…This past Saturday I covered the HCA Virginia 8K, the McDonald’s Half Marathon and the SunTrust Richmond Marathon for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. And let me tell you that running with full camera gear is ok for a few blocks, but when you have to book it for about 20 blocks in 15 minutes after a full day of race coverage, people start to wonder why the camera lady is tomato-red and looks like she’s going to pass out. Honestly though, it was a blast. I love covering sporting events because of the adrenaline rush, that peak moment, the drive and the emotion, so so much emotion. Watching people cross the finish line after they’ve accomplished the feat of running a marathon (or even an 8K for that matter) is such an exciting occasion. You get to witness pure exhaustion, the total depletion of all strength and energy, but most of all you see that intense satisfaction of having overcome physical and mental mountains to cross a finish line.
Photos by Eva Russo
All photos @ Richmond Times-Dispatch
The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represents the positions, strategies or opinions of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
The Wizards
I shot my first NBA game last night, the Washington Wizards against the Memphis Grizzlies. Granted it was a preseason game, but I was psyched and pleasantly surprised when the players actually played rather than just running up and down the court and doing their best not to get hurt. Now, I’m going to be honest and admit that I don’t know any famous basketball players except for maybe three obvious ones (Carmelo Anthony, because I went to school with him, LeBron and Kevin Garnett…oh, and Shaq of course…), but my boyfriend briefed me the night before the game on the players with some notoriety and I faked it as a savvy sports shooter. The game was great, close right up until the end, and the Wizards beat the Grizzlies 101 to 92. I even got a few frames of Allen Iverson (and I now know what he looks like) making the fans at the Siegel Center happy by signing a few autographs. I’ll spare you the captions on these, since the sports guys at the paper still make fun of my sports captions, but enjoy!
Photos by Eva Russo
All photos @ Richmond Times-Dispatch
The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represents the positions, strategies or opinions of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
