Gearing up

Now that the teams are known, it's time to gear up to photograph Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium. Coverage plans for the game will come together, but the real planning goes in to figuring out what stories and multimedia content I will plan to produce from Super Week. There will be concerts, celebrity and player appearances , cooperate events and Media Day to plan. I've got some video interviews with players planned for Media Day, but the pieces for the rest of the week should fall into place soon.

As far as Game day goes, when you get down to it, it's really just another game. The biggest difference is the limited shooting positions due to the number of photographers, assistants, card runners, camera operators, cord pullers, audio people and others who will be on the sidelines. Dealing with all that can be tricky for the one or two-man outfit, but not impossible. This will be my third Super Bowl and fourth Super Week, so I feel I've got a decent handle on how to prepare for the game. Now, it's just getting down to it.

While I am shooting on assignment, I am also open to accept assignments during the week. So, if your company, publication or organization needs an Indiana based photographer to handle your assignments, please contact my through my website, RyanVisuals.com.

HTML coding is not my stick

Yes, that's right, I'm not a coder. I can do enough to get me by, but that stuff is best left up to the experts. But, due to me not having any experts on the Indiana Phoblographer paid staff I decided to do a little tinkering to the blog template.

I've done quite a bit actually, but I had not been able to figure out how to make photos appear bigger on the site. This is a photo blog after all, so I had to figure it out because I want my photos to be seen. The writing part, well, let's just say I don't get Playboy Sports Ilustrated for the articles.(Hi, honey!)

After finally finding a tutorial on how to do it, my photos will now be displayed in all of the grandeur. Sometimes I lean toward the edge of hyperbole, so bear with me.

So, I decided that my photo of Carl Edwards and his crew completing a pit stop at Chicagoland Speedway last month was worth a revisit. I still can't believe that sunset.

Worst ... race ... ever.

Maybe it wasn't as bad as my headline would suggest, but as far as big time races go, Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard had to be high on the list. Due to the tire issues I wrote about for The News Sentinel for Sunday Online NASCAR mandated competition yellows every 11 laps during the 160 lap race at Indy. As you might surmise, it was a long day. The fact that fans booed everytime the yellow flag waved proved even the die hards were less than enthused.

It made my job a little easier, if that can be said about anything at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I had time to move around more, change equipment a couple of times and actually make a restroom break. The sound of SpongeBob Squarepants saying "Aaaamazinggg" comes to mind. Sorry, I have little ones, and we have shows we watch.

Anyway, I didn't make all the pictures I wanted. I just don't have the access I need at that track, but after talking to one of the gentlemen who works at IMS Photo, I've got a better idea how to change that for next year. The funny thing is when I go to Chicago or Michigan, those folks do everything in their power to get me what I need. I don't get everything. There is a pecking order, and the Sentinel isn't at the top of it, but they give me enough access to get what I need.









Wait, if future Brickyard races are going to be like Sunday's, I may not want more access. Check out Up To Speed for more of my commentary on the Debacle at the Brickyard.

_{Keep in mind that these are my opinions and are not those of the newspaper that employs me.}