Motor City Bowl: Central Michigan vs. Florida Atlantic

Nikon D700, 14-24mm, 2500 ISO, 1/800th, f2.8

Ford Field were the Detroit Lions are 0-16 is were I was last night, shooting the Motor City Bowl between Mid American Conference Central Michigan Chippewas and Sun Belt Florida Atlantic Owls. At least one thing was for sure it might be the best football game played in Ford Field this year!

I got to the stadium at 5:00 pm got my credentials heading up the press box to have a crappy media meal with hot dogs and pop corn at least their pop was well carbonated! I hung out for a bit got all of my captioning ready then I headed down the photo work from in the bottom of the stadium. The work room was pretty nice except for the fact they had really high chairs that had wheels on them and the floor was slick as shit which made trying to get into the chair kind of difficult, o well enough of the complaining. I got all of my gear together then headed to the field to get to work. 

Right as I was leaving the media room Central Michigan players were walking down the stairs from their locker room to the field as well. 

Nikon D700, 14-24mm, 2500 ISO, 1/100th, f2.8

Then I busted out the flash to try and get something different when the players were walking back up the tunnel towards the locker room. 

Nikon D700, 14-24mm, 400 ISO, 1/100th, f2.8, SB-800

Nikon D700, 14-24mm, 400 ISO, 1/100th, f2.8, SB-800

While I was walking around the field I saw a Central Michigan lineman with his jersey all rolled up, I fired off a few shots of him and moved on. I later found out that he is a Round 3 pick in the 2009 NFL draft so I am glad I got the shot. 

Nikon D700, 14-24mm, 1000 ISO, 1/1250th, f2.8

After I got a few shots of Central Michigan I worked on getting Florida Atlantic feature photos. 

I really like this photos of the players all lined up getting ready to run prior to the game. 

Nikon D700, 14-24mm, 1000 ISO, 1/640th, f2.8

Then I was walking back to the locker room and I saw a Florida Atlantic Player walking down the tunnel all by him self which made for a pretty cool feature photo. 

Nikon D3, 70-200mm, 4000 ISO, 1/200th, f2.8

After sitting in the media room I transmitted a few photos then I packed my laptop in my backpack so I wouldn’t be wasting time walking back to the media room to send photos. People call me crazy, but I say I will sell the photo before you will. 

As soon as I walked back to the field I saw Lloyd Carr who was University of Michigan’s Head Football Coach last year. 

Nikon D3, 70-200mm, 1600 ISO, 1/200th, f2.8

The game finally got under way I spent the first few minutes getting photos of the QBs so I could transmit those really quick and with in 2 minutes of sending the photos Florida  Atlantic WR catches a screen pass running my way. I grabbed my 70-200 fired off some shots, he scored a Touch Down on the play and then taunted the crowed by flapping his arms like an Owl. 

Nikon D3, 70-200mm, 2500 ISO, 1/640th, f2.8

Nikon D3, 70-200mm, 2500 ISO, 1/640th, f2.8

Then I got a decent reaction shot of Central Michigan Dan LeFevour reacting after throwing an interception. 

Canon Mark IIN, 420mm, 1600 ISO, 1/500th, f4

Then Central was backed up to its own 2 yard line so I busted out the gimmick star filter to see what I could come up with and i was pleasantly surprised. 

Nikon D700, 24-70mm, 1000 ISO, 1/640th, f2.8 (star filter)

Florida Atlantic defense forced Central to punt. 

When people say the expression, he got caught by his shoe laces in this next photo he was literally caught by foot! 

Canon Mark IIN, 420mm, 1600 ISO, 1/500th, f4

Then there was a pass play and the Florida Atlantic player got hit pretty hard and made for a solid photo.

Canon Mark IIN, 420mm, 1600 ISO, 1/500th, f4

Then the 2nd Quarter was pretty even draw so I spent some time getting some stock photos and I got his Florida Atlantic player sitting in this chair were he was sitting for most of the game, he looked pretty sick to me, but hell I am no doctor what so ever.

Nikon D700, 24-70mm, 1000 ISO, 1/640th, f2.8

After getting this photo I was just walking in no hurry to the end zone and this touchdown happened right in front of me, call me lucky or what but I was happy! 

Nikon D3, 70-200mm, 3200 ISO, 1/640th, f2.8

Nikon D3, 70-200mm, 2500 ISO, 1/640th, f2.8

Lets fast forward to the 4th quarter….

I knew Central was going to try and make some kind of comeback so I just followed Central up and down the field. Then all of the sudden a Central WR broke free and scored a TD to get the score within 3 points. 

Nikon D3, 70-200mm, 2500 ISO, 1/640th, f2.8

Then they tried for a two point conversion which they got but there was a penalty or something… I can’t really remember! 

Nikon D3, 70-200mm, 2500 ISO, 1/640th, f2.8

After Central didn’t get the two point conversion a Florida Atlantic player reacted and let out a big smile.

Nikon D3, 70-200mm, 3200 ISO, 1/640th, f2.8

The I hustled back to the media room to grab my 14-24 to get rid for celebration shots. I knew they were going to try and get Florida Atlantics head coach with the Gatorade bath so I followed the two players who were going to do it. I was like yes, I am going to get the shot then all of the sudden I just got stopped and I couldn’t go any further for some reason it was just weird here is what I came up with. It was complete shit! 

Nikon D700, 14-24mm, 2500 ISO, 1/800th, f2.8

Well, since I missed that shot, I had to make up for it. I got a perfect “jube” shot of the player lifting up the head coach since he is 6-0 in bowl games. 

Nikon D700, 14-24mm, 2500 ISO, 1/800th, f2.8

Then the rest of the photos are celebration and trophy shots. 

Nikon D700, 14-24mm, 2500 ISO, 1/800th, f2.8

Nikon D700, 14-24mm, 2500 ISO, 1/800th, f2.8

Nikon D700, 14-24mm, 2500 ISO, 1/800th, f2.8

That wraps up the Motor City Bowl for me! Next up I will be shooting the Cleveland Cavs vs. the Miami Heat tomorrow. 

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 28th, 2008 at 5:32 am and is filed under Football, Sports and tagged with Andrew Weber, Central Michigan Chippewas, College, Detroit Michigan, Florida Atlantic Owls, Ford Field, Icon SMI, MAC, Motor City Bowl, NCAA, Photographer, Sports, Sun Belt. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.