On Sunday, fellow Tribune photographers Jose Osorio, Nuccio DiNuzzo and I were assigned to cover the Bears’ game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Going into it, I knew the game would be interesting for a few reasons: they were playing against former head coach Lovie Smith, as well as former backup quarterback Josh McCown, and the forecast called for scattered rain throughout the day. Rain isn’t nearly as fun as snow, but it can often make for interesting photos.
We arrived at the stadium in the morning, several hours before kickoff. Nuccio headed out to the tailgate area to make photos of fans and Jose and I roamed around inside the stadium looking for pre-game features as the grounds crew worked to keep the field as dry as they could before game time.
Normally when we’re photographing a football game we do so from right on the sidelines, most often with a 400mm lens. Being at field level gives us the best view of the players and allows for the most dramatic photos; however, it also means we get blocked by other players or officials occasionally. So for something different I brought along a 600mm lens and shot the first quarter from high up in the stands. Looking down on the action I had an unobstructed view of nearly every play. I also took a 1.4x extender which converted my 600mm lens to a 840mm lens so I could be right in the action.
After the first quarter I transmitted images back to the office and shot the rest of the games from the sidelines, switching between the 600mm and a 200-400mm lens.
The third quarter might as well have been the entire game with all three the Bears’ touchdowns happening shortly after the half. I didn’t get much from their first touchdown by Alshon Jeffery (thankfully Nuccio did), but I was in a good spot for Matt Forte’s. I was also lucky enough to be right in front of the action when Chicago Bears cornerback Tim Jennings grabbed a loose ball from Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Vincent Jackson during the second half, which made for a few nice frames.
