What a weekend

[Cathus]

I have just covered the British American Football Championship finals this weekend which happened at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London.

It is the most work I've ever done photography-wise. I've done much less at weddings.

Someone decided that they would only have one official photographer sanctioned by the league and that was me, what a bloody awful idea that would turn out to be (for me).

I was there from 0900 to 2330 on Saturday and from 1000 to 2030 on the Sunday.

I shot continuously for 13 hours on Saturday - there are several disciplines within the sport so 3 adult leagues have their finals, there are finals for junior kitted, 5 on 5 kitted, and cadet, junior & adult flag football.

I shot for 8 hours on Sunday. I didn't get a break on either day as between games I had a few minutes to download my shots onto a laptop so league staff could upload some onto their website as the games progressed. I worked so hard that on both days I didn't need a single wee all day as all the fluid I drank went out in sweat (15 hours between toilet breaks on saturday!)
Anyone who has seen my kit will know it weighs a ton - 600mm f4 lens weighing 7kg plus camera & monpod, plus 2nd camera and telephoto & belt with other lenses & flashgun carried all day long round a sports field.

I got home at 1.30 on Sunday morning & was back in London by 10 the next morning to do it all again.

I shot 5 full-length games, plus several shorter games, took just over 4,000 pics, spent 7 hours & 320 miles travelling, have 2 blisters on my toes, aching arms, shoulders, and thighs.

I missed out on the free food from the organisers as I was so busy, didn't sit down for longer than 5 minutes whilst memory cards downloaded, I dread to think how many miles I walked around the pitch over those 21 hours.

I have to say, it was great doing what I love & I really enjoyed the photographic activity, but I will be putting some feedback suggesting that next year they emply several photographers to share the workload.

The downer on the day was that I didn't get paid on the day, as originally promised, and the organiser personally thanked all the volunteers who helped out, but missed out on thanking me, which was a bit of a kick in the teeth having spent two days listening to the volunteers talking about arranging their meal vouchers and breaks where they could relieve each other and I didn't get a single break & worked like a bloody Trojan.

Anyway, I enjoyed the intense photography and hope that I have been able to provide images which the particpants will cherish. And I probably lost some weight which can't be a bad thing.

[DigiDiva]

my word.......................

[MattUK]

Nice one dude! Sounds like a lot of hard work, but rewarding!

[silversnapper1]

Nice one Garry. Sounds like you mostly enjoyed it though.

[dan123]

You must be Nackered now, i would be, Sounds like good fun though, beats my weekend,

[jimmyosram]

That's a heck of a shift and I'd expect you should have been paid (and thanked) for your work. As long as you got some enjoyment out of it on reflection then that's been worth the effort.