Post Seven

On Friday, I was taking photos for the Janesville Jets. I was waiting around with Devan for the game to start when Greg Hanthorn approached me and informed me that I was going to be taking photos of the puck drop, and that I was going to be one of two photographers on the ice while it was happening. Let me take a quick second that this was probably one of the most exciting things I've done throughout my photography career. Standing on the ice with a few other people made me feel more important than I probably am, but that's okay. 

Anyway, the other photographer who was on the ice with me was a photographer for the "Janesville Gazette." While waiting to go on the ice, I took the time to examine his gear. The photographer had two Canon bodies with an integrated battery grip, which means they were the top of the line at one point. They could have been older models, but they could have been the most recent. Either way, he had spent some serious money on his gear, not to mention that on both of the bodies he had "L" lenses. For those of you who don't know, only the very best Canon lenses are designated with an "L" and a red ring around the lens somewhere, so like his bodies, his lenses were flagships. 

The photographer and I went out onto the ice and waited for the puck to be dropped. The photographer may have taken a few shots before the actual puck drop, but I, on the other hand, made sure to get photos of the people interacting. For some reason, I find these moments important and usually try my best to photograph them. 

This is where I will get to the main reason for this post. As Sue Ann Thompson, who is the former First Lady of WIsconsin, was preparing to drop the puck, I looked through the view finder of my camera and patiently waited to see the puck begin to fall. As it did, I took three, maybe four photos. While I heard my shutter slap against the insides of my camera, I couldn't help but notice that the photographer from the "Gazette" was blowing through photos, utilizing up the 14 frames per second that his body could shoot at. 

I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I suppose that as long as you get "that moment," it doesn't matter how it's captured. While on the other, something just seems so unprofessional about it. When one just holds down the shutter button, I feel that they no longer have to wait, or take the time to make a good photo. Especially at such a high FPS rate, one might as well take a video and just take a clip from the video to use as a photo. Besides manipulating light, I feel as though the primary purpose of photography is to get "that moment." I feel that one of the main things that goes into capturing important moments is planning and anticipation, which are both pointless when photographers simply hold down the shutter button, filling whatever they're using to record their photos with almost the same thing in each frame.