CaryEdmondson.com

It’s always fun to shoot the Battle of the Bay between the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders… Even when it is during the preseason. Most of the time I am distracted by all of the fights that break out in the crowd, but I didn’t really happen to catch many fights on this night. The game worked out just about perfect for me though. The 49ers were trailing in the fourth quarter and then former Fresno State quarterback David Carr led them down field to score a touchdown with just over a minute remaining in the game. I got a few great shots of Carr celebrating the touchdown which I know all of my friends will love back in Fresno… So it was nice to get a few shots of the guy who did so well for the school when I was attending Fresno State. In fact, Carr was the quarterback for the first college football game I ever shot. I don’t want to think about how long ago it’s been now, but it was a great feeling to take some pictures of him in action because it’s been a long time. Hopefully he’ll get a chance to play a little more for the 49ers in the upcoming season.

So once again Brett Favre made his return to the football field. Actually… Now that I think of it, I don’t think he really retired this last time around. But nonetheless… He made his announcement last week that he would return to play quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings for the 2010-11 NFL season.
It’s rare to have an opportunity to shoot anything that is really too meaningful during preseason, but I knew after his announcement that the media would be out in full force to cover Favre on his first game for the new season. Rumors were that he would probably play a couple of series and take about 10 snaps, but unfortunately no one was lucky enough to see Favre play for very long.
Before the game started, photographers and videographers stood out on the field extra early before warmups, just waiting to get that first shot of Favre jogging onto the field in his uniform. I got tired of photographers leaning over the rope in anticipation of his arrival… And one thing I’ve learned is that it’s always better to get a shot that no one else has rather than join the party and get the same thing that everyone else is getting. So I went over to the opposite side and decided to shoot Favre from a distance with the line of media behind him. When he jogged onto the field… I don’t think anyone was really too thrilled with what they got… But I was content just trying to get something a little different.
When the game started, Favre was in the game… And then the next thing we knew… He was done. He took about four snaps, and then took a hard hit and fumbled the ball. After that… I think his coach got a little worried and Favre’s day was done.
After that there wasn’t really many other shots to get of Favre besides him standing on the sideline… I did get one decent shot which ran on ESPN.com the next day. Besides the sideline shot all that was left was to get the final handshakes on the field once the game was over. This isn’t always an easy task because all the players rush out there and if you don’t have your eye on the player you want you may miss that crucial shot. Most of the photographers lined up on the sidelines and prepared to jump out on the field right after the clock expired. I decided to stick right next to the Vikings bench and keep my eye on Favre from the back side rather than try to find him from the field. Once the clock ran out, Favre went the opposite direction and jogged straight at me and then straight into the locker room without shaking any hands. I was lucky because I was the only photographer to get the shot… And I ran into a few photographers later who had no idea where Favre went… They thought they had completely missed him on the field… But really they didn’t miss a thing because he never went out there.
I think it’s safe to say that will be the last time I shoot Mr. Favre… But with him… You never know. He may end up playing til he’s 50 years old at this rate.

So last week I shot my third wedding of July when I photographed Trung and Stephanie’s wedding. The ceremony was being held at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Modesto which was right across the street from a junior college. I knew we were going to be short on time when it came to taking portraits because Stephanie wanted a lot of family portraits and she was changing dresses from a traditional white to a Vietnamese dress midway through the portrait session. So it was highly important to scout the area first since I didn’t know how much time we’d have to get location shots done. Luckily we had about fifteen minutes before they needed to take off to the reception area so I was able to get a few unique shots in before we hit the road. My favorite shot ended up being a shot of Trung kicking his feet up in the air… His posture made the shot look great. I also got a good shot of the two of them laughing against the same wall from a different angle that I thought came out pretty nice. Once we made it over to the reception it was time for the introductions. Once those were finished the speeches began and I must say… To me that was the highlight of the night. I’ve never been to a wedding where so many friends and family members spoke on behalf of the bride and groom… And it was easy to see that while Trung and Stephanie have two different types of families, both come from great backgrounds and upbringings. Overall it was a fun night and I’m sure Trung and Stephanie will have a great future together.

Gary and Kristine tied the knot last week, getting married in the city of Ripon before ending the night at their reception in Manteca. I knew the couple already from shoots I had done at the university. I first met Kristine when I took pictures of her moving into the dorms her freshman year in college, and I first met Gary on a photo shoot we were working on for a brochure at the school. … So it’s been fun to keep in touch with them through the years and be a part of their wedding day as their photographer. I was pretty excited to shoot their wedding because both Gary and Kristine LOVE to have their picture taken… So I knew the toughest part of the day was going to come when we had to stop taking portraits after the ceremony… And that’s exactly what happened. We did a quick round of family shots, then I found some great light inside the church and we took some photos in the pews which turned out amazing! Our last shots we had to get were going to be with a scooter. At first we were getting some decent shots but I knew something was missing because we were shooting on the streets and I had previously envisioned a shot on a dirt road. As luck would have it… We stumbled upon a good dirt road after shooting in the streets… But since the clock was already ticking we had to act fast. Gary and Kristine did one drive down the dirt road… And then took a few posed shots and we were on our way to the reception. The extra ten minutes we took to shoot on a dirt road was highly worth it though because it took the pictures up to another level and I’m glad they put in a little overtime. That’s probably the hardest of my job though… Trying to get amazing photos in a short amount of time. Every wedding is different but more often than not they’re always a little rushed at some point… But that’s one thing that gets me going because I love a challenge and I always feel pretty good when I’m able to get some good shots under pressure. Looking forward to the “post-honeymoon” shoot I’m doing with Gary and Kristine when they get back from Cabo San Lucas… I’ll make sure to post that once I catch up with my editing!