Police Soccer

My camera is back and I'm back in action, or should I say I'm back capturing the action. One of my ex-partners on the force is the coach for the Los Angeles Police Department's Soccer team and this last Saturday they had a game against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Soccer team.

I know it was just a little more than a week with not having a camera, but it sure was nice to be outside shooting some action again. So here are some of my favorites from the game. The LAPD is in blue.

All of these were shot in aperture priority at f/4.0 with an ISO of either 100 or 200. I did have my 1.4 converter on, which is why my aperture was at f/4.0 instead of f/2.8. To view all of the pictures from this game just click on the above heading "Police Soccer"

Just a little bit of holding

What is a soccer game without a few shots of the goalie, unfortunately all of the good jump shots were away from me, but when photographing sports you deal with what's presented to you.

Finally finished going through all of the pictures I took during the Hero's cup with LAPD playing against LA County Fire. Both are very good teams and play hard. I didn't get there until the first half had already started but I was still able to shoot some pictures for about 15-20 minutes before the half was over. During the second half it started to rain a bit, not much but enough to feel a few drops here and there, although with the equipment I have I don't let this bother me.



So take a look and enjoy.



I like these next two shots due to their jumps. Nothing like a good header to show the height and determination some players have during play. As for the lone jumper, he jumped up to take the ball in the chest and drop it down by his feet to play it.

This shot just shows the focus the player in blue has on the ball, which is almost comical.



I just loved the expression on both of these grown men. You just know something is going to happen by looking at their faces.

This last shot has to be my favorite out of all of them. There's a few things going on here that you can look at. First you see the intensity of the player in read as he tries to gain control of the ball while blocking the player in blue at the same time. Also notice the bit of blood along the blue players right eye (your left). It may not show here but he had a nice cut next to his right eye that was bleeding a bit. Now you may look at this shot and see what could be a great action shot that tells a story or is the player in red making that face becasue the player in blue is kneeing him in the groin from behind. Hard to tell, either way I just love this shot.

Soccer, just when you thought it was over

The Home Depot Center here in Carson puts on a Hero's cup soccer tournament with police and fire department teams every year and this last weekend was their most recent tournament. The tournament started on Thursday and ended on Sunday. LAPD has a very competitive and strong team and usually does very well. I've worked around both of the teams coaches and was asked if I would come out and shoot a game. I planned on going out on Saturday to shoot one of their games but haven't been feeling to well and after shooting my nephew's scrimmage football game I decided to stay home. On Sunday they had an early game at 8:30am, but needed the sleep so I didn't go to that game either. Just after noon I called one of the coaches to get their status on the tournament and found out that they were about to start their final game in just a few minutes, so I rushed home, cleaned up, grabbed my gear and went to the Home Depot Center for their game. I was able to shoot the last 15 minutes of the first half and the whole second half. I used my 300 f/2.8L lens and my 1.4x converter at ISO 400. I ended up with nice shots and hope to post some when I get home tonight.