Watching the game

I was lucky enough to be invited to watch the World Cup qualifier match between Ireland and Italy from the comforts of a corporate box in Croke Park last Saturday evening, courtesy of the Galway Advertiser who published some of my photographs of the Volvo Ocean Race last June.  The match was exciting, while I wanted to watch it more than photograph it, I naturally did bring my camera.  I was sitting alongside the Eircom corporate box which, I’m told, is usually good for a familiar face or two, and Saturday was no different, with John Aldridge amongst those enjoying the game.

The corporate box setup in Croke Park is, as you might suspect, quite a good one – inside, behind a glass wall you have a bar facility, some tables and chairs, and a television to allow you to watch the analysts before the game, and half time, and afterwards.  Outside the glass wall are four rows of seats with perfect views of the pitch, which was looking great under the floodlights on Saturday night.

The floodlights in Croke Park are distributed along the tops of both stands, rather than just being in the four corners, and they make getting photographs of the play much easier since they illuminate the pitch quite evenly.  When I turned my camera momentarily on my famous neighbour they served another purpose.

While each floodlight is a small light source, all of them together effectively combine to make one very large light source that throws soft light across the pitch, and in this case, into the opposite stand.

The resultant light falling on John’s face makes for very little shadow, as the light is coming from about a 120 degree spread, and so the shadows cast by each individual floodlight are filled by the adjacent ones.

I could probably have asked John across the barrier if he would allow me take a photograph, but I wasn’t that brave and instead opted for a sneaky shot without looking through the viewfinder, and with the camera sitting on my lap.  I preselected a focus point at the left extreme of the frame, knowing that when I composed the shot this is where he would be in the composition.  I used aperture priority mode with the aperture at its widest of f/2.8, and the shutter speed of 1/15s was manageable as long as he didn’t move during the exposure.   My first attempt was out of focus, so I tried again and this shot was the result.  I like the composition, and the railing on the right leading into the frame, complemented by the struts in the ceiling, and the focus and shallow depth of field nicely isolating my subject from the background.

As you can see he is smiling – perhaps he is enjoying the game, or perhaps he knew exactly what I was at and is smiling for the camera.  Afterall he’s probably used to people discreetly and not so discreetly pointing cameras in his direction and taking photographs.