Sports Photography

Thanks to Hurricane Helene’s tracking, and the upcoming rains we were expecting on Friday, we had a football game on Thursday night. It was Military Appreciation night as the Hickory Hawks hosted their rival, the Great Bridge Wilcats.

The combination of high school stadium lighting, dark open spaces between the two sides of the stadium, and Hickory’s all black jerseys, make for a difficult night of shooting. It gets so dark out there. Even shooting wide open at f/2.8 on the 400mm lens, my ISOs were reaching my peak settings. Lets hope these schools can switch out to LED lights in the near future.

I got to shoot my second ODU football game in a row on Saturday. This time, I was prepared. I would be shooting my Nikon Z9 with the 400mm f/2.8G lens. And I would be using my Nikon Z8 with the amazing Nikon 135mm f/1.8 S Plena. This time it was against the Virginia Tech Hokies. Virginia Tech has had a rough time in Norfolk, losing each of the last two times they’ve played here. Virginia Tech has been notorious for getting their seasons off to slow starts under the current coaching regime, while ODU is struggling to find any semblance of an offense.

I had the opportunity to shoot Saturday night’s matchup between East Carolina University and Old Dominion University in Norfolk, and let’s just say it didn’t go as planned. I came ready with my Nikon Z9 paired with my Nikon 400mm f/2.8G ED AF lens, along with my brand-new Nikon Z8 paired with the Nikon 135mm f/1.8 S Plena lens for more close-up work. But, in all my excitement, I forgot the most critical piece of equipment—my Nikon FTZ II mount adapter. Without it, I couldn’t connect the 400mm lens to my Z9! So, I had to shoot the entire game with just the Z8 and 135mm lens.

I went down to Greenville, NC (or as the locals call it, G-Vegas) to shoot the football game between Norfolk State and East Carolina. Opening game of the year for the Pirates. The Spartans had lost a close one the week before against Florida A&M in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Atlanta.

It was a pretty warm day with highs close to 90°F at kickoff. I entered the gates around 4:45pm for the 6pm kickoff. I wanted to get some shots of the players warming up.

I drove down to the Virginia Beach oceanfront on Saturday morning to catch some of the surfing action taking place at the 62nd annual Coastal Edge East Coast Surfing Championships. I arrived around 7:30am and got a good parking spot. I decided to walk around with my Nikon F6 at first and capture some images on film. I’m still working on that roll, so stay tuned for a post about it.