Seattle Sea Gals Tryouts
- (Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 24mm, ISO 1600, 1/40th sec., f2.8)
Annual tryouts for the Seattle Sea Gals were held last weekend, with 28 women making the team out of the 52 finalists. The Sea Gals are the sideline dance troupe for the Seattle Seahawks, and finals were held at Qwest Field, where the aspirants performed two dance routines and answered questions from the judges.
(Nikon D3, Nikkor VR 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 102mm, ISO 1000, 1/250th sec.,f2.8)
- (Nikon D3, Nikkor VR 70-200mm/f2.8 zoom lens @ 86mm, ISO 1000, 1/250th sec.@ f2.8)
Seahawks: It’s Up, It’s Good!
Olindo Mare made this 46-yard field goal to give the Seahawks a 19-17 lead with five minutes remaining, but Chicago rallied for a 25-19 victory in the final minutes. While Mare converted on 4-6 field goal attempts, his two misses proved costly and those six points were the margin of victory for the Bears. For more photos from the game, see my Eye on the Hawks blog on the Seahawks website.
Seahawks: The Calm Before the Storm
As fans, we are constantly aware of the violent fury of football, whether we are watching at home on TV, or from the 50-yard line at the stadium. There are many quiet moments that surround the games, however, and those moments remind us that the sport is played by real people — not superheroes in helmets and pads. Here, Seattle’s first-round draft choice Aaron Curry collects his thoughts before his first regular season game as a pro.
While most of us see the beginning of a game as the opening kickoff, players arrive hours before the game, and slowly build their emotions to a crescendo by game time. Seattle defensive tackle Colin Cole, 330 pounds of rock-solid fury in the middle of the line during games, spends quiet time on the phone with his wife hours before the action begins.
Seattle’s new head coach Jim Mora finds some solitude as he gathers his thoughts in his makeshift coaches office on the road at San Diego.
Players in the locker room before a preseason game in Kansas City are quiet during the moments before they hit the field for pregame introductions.
Defensive end Lawrence Jackson gets himself pumped with music before the game.
In Seattle’s home locker room at Qwest Field, rookie wide receiver Deon Butler, center, with teammate Ben Obamanu, prepares mentally for the game at hand.
Players and coaches take a knee in their locker room before walking into the din of 60,000 screaming fans at their home opener at Qwest Field.
Seeing the Seahawks: Training Camp
I’m very fortunate to work for the Seattle Seahawks as a team photographer — it’s a great organization committed to excellence and doing things the right way. Despite covering the team for over a decade as a sports photographer with the Seattle Times, seeing the team from the inside has brought me a new perspective as well as a new set of challenges. My access is better, but that doesn’t take away the responsibility I feel to show our fans the toughness, the competitiveness and the heart our players, coaches and staff exemplify every day as they work towards their ultimate goal — a championship.
Seahawks safety Brian Russell cools off during the heat of training camp.
We think of football as a fall sport, but training camp begins in the summer, and the second of two-a-day practices often occurs amid the late summer sun. Seattle’s training camp is held on the shores of Lake Washington, at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center.
Defensive lineman Craig Terrill, a six-year veteran, breaks the monotony of training camp by finding some time alone with his guitar between two-a-day practices. Terrill is an accomplished musician who performs with his band in the offseason.
Seattle rookie linebacker and first-round draft pick Aaron Curry is treated like any other rookie — carrying the helmets of veteran teammates back to the locker room after practice.
Seahawks: My new photo blog.
Am I becoming one of those people?
(Don’t answer that.)
I now have…two…blogs.
The new blog is called “Eye on the Hawks”, and it’s a photoblog I’m doing as part of my job over with the Seattle Seahawks. I was fortunate that my previous blog at the Seattle Times was read by Seahawks folks, and when they brought me on board one of the things they wanted me to establish was a similar presence.
“Eye on the Hawks” will, of course, be solely focused on the Seahawks. I hope to share behind-the-scenes images as well as game photos.
The difference is that over there, I will focus more on pictures and storytelling. Here, on what has now become my personal blog, I will tell more of the stories behind the images. How I made them, what I was thinking, how it looks from the angle of the photographer.
Recap:
Eye on the Hawks — Seahawks photo blog, football-related.
Beyond the Best Seat in the House — my personal photo blog, photo-related.
Two blogs.
Well, at least I don’t Twitter.
Yet.
Seahawks: Fill ‘er up with 23,000 lbs of jet fuel, please
You know how it is when you're on a long road trip.
Can never find a gas station when you need one.
I was lucky enough to tag along with Seahawks coach Jim Mora, strength coach Mike Clark and tight ends John Carlson and Joe Newton as they went on a little field trip to watch some refueling…at 25,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean, going oh, say, 400 miles per hour.
As guests of the Washington Air National Guard, we were invited to ride on an Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker as it refueled F-15 fighter jets in midair as part of a training mission.
Yes, one of the great things about my job is some of the perks that go along with spending your life visually documenting the world.
Some of my friends argue that my entire career is a perk. I can't say I would argue.
We knew we were welcome when we saw the Seahawks logo painted on the tail of our plane.
(Nikon D3, VR 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 200mm, ISO 200, 1/320th sec,f5.0)
Unlike a commercial 707 (which is the same body as the KC-135), there are only a couple of windows along the fuselage, so the cabin is very dark. But we were fortunate there were actual seats (although they faced the rear of the plane) so we didn't have to sit in the webbed seats that military personnel have to use.
Seats facing backwards (or, more correctly, "aft"), resulted in a spate of jokes about frequent flyers (as most who cover sports are). Which way is first class? Is it the first rows, which are in the very back? Or the last rows, which are in the very front?
Turns out first class is the little seat behind the pilots. I found this out because that's where Coach Mora was seated as we took off.
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 14-24mm/f2.8 lens @ 24mm, ISO 800, 1/200th sec, f4.5)
Bryce Fisher, former Seahawk and longtime NFL player, graduated from the Air Force Academy and helped coordinate the flight as part of his duties with the Air National Guard. He chatted up some of the Air Force personnel during the flight.
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 14-24mm/f2.8 lens @ 22mm, ISO 400, 1/60th sec, f4.0 w/ flash)
Seahawks tight end John Carlson took some photos out of the window as we headed out to the ocean to meet a group of four F-15s that had taken off from Oregon.
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 14-24mm/f2.8 lens @ 24mm, ISO 800, 1/100th sec, f2.8)
In case you're wondering, this is what he saw (cue "Top Gun" music):
(Nikon D3, VR 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 160mm, ISO 200, 1/2500th sec,f4.5)
Pretty cool.
Back in the refueling bay, there was room for two guests to lie down next to the the person doing the refueling, in this case Sergeant Steve Tilford. Joe Newton squeezed his big frame down next to him for a bird's-eye view of a fighter first approaching, then refueling, finally falling away after a thumbs-up from the F15 pilot.
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 14-24mm/f2.8 lens @ 14mm, ISO 800, 1/640th sec, f2.8)
Here's the view:
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 44mm, ISO 200, 1/2500th sec, f4.5)
Yeah, in my professional photographer opinion, that's worth a photo. We were so close it was like you reach out and touch the fighter. How close? The photo above is shot with a 44mm lens, which is wider than the "normal" 50mm fixed length lens that used to be standard on cameras.
That's a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo. This image, shot with a 200mm lens from over the shoulder of the John Carlson, puts in better perspective.
(Nikon D3, VR 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 200mm, ISO 200, 1/1000th sec,f4.0)
Upon landing, the Air Force guys gave us a walkaround tour of the plane. Coach Mora checked out the bottom of the refueler where there aredirectional arrows and lights that show the F-15 pilot whether to move forward or back in order to position the fuel pipe.
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 24mm, ISO 200, 1/200th sec, 2.8)
As much of a highlight as the flight was for us, the opportunity to meet Mora and the players was great for our military hosts.
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 34mm, ISO 2000, 1/200th sec, f4.5)
They talked all afternoon about the signed 12th Man flag that was presented to them on behalf of the team.
Afterward, there was time for pictures and an autograph session. The usual assortment of posters, helmets and footballs was signed, but the most unusual item of the day was this training bomb (filled with cement, not explosives) that was passed down the table.
Definitely NOT the type of bomb that football players usually catch, but John Carlson didn't bat an eye when he signed his name.
(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 24mm, ISO 200, 1/200th sec, 2.8)