A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to take a road trip with my friend and help her move across the country to New York. Since we decided it would be a good idea to avoid the cold weather for as long as possible, we started our journey by heading down south to Los Angeles to watch Kobe Bryant and the Lakers take on the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Staples Center.
I’ve never shot a game at the Staples Center before… and I was immediately blown away by the ambience surrounding the place from the moment we pulled into the parking lot. Fans surrounded the front of the arena to watch Charles Barkley and the rest of the TNT crew broadcast live outside the arena while most the remaining fans acted as tourists and took photos next to several statues of famous L.A. sports figures which were scattered outside the place. While I found this all to be pretty entertaining… I even found myself staring at the trees that lined the area which were decorated with strips of motion lights (… trust me when I say that the lights were a little more exciting than your typical set of Christmas lights).
I couldn’t help be taken back a bit by everything that was going on since I’m used to shooting most of my games at Arco Arena in Sacramento where the Kings play. I’m not looking to bash the facility in Sacramento, but at Arco, the arena is surround by nothing more than a parking lot. There aren’t any statues to take pictures of… And unlike the Staples Center, it is poorly lit around the arena which makes it even hard to find your way back to your car at times.
Sadly though, this was only the beginning since I had yet to see the interior of the building.
Shortly after I took the elevator down to the floor level I walked into the media room which was two or three times larger than Sacramento. Once I got situated and went out to the floor… I found my name on the list and took my seat on the hardwood. Shortly after I walked out to this “cathedral” of a basketball court, I found that there was plenty of space on the baseline for photographers to shoot …which is a huge difference to what I’m used to. In Sacramento, the fans knees are literally hitting our backs when we shoot… but in Los Angeles… the only knees that may end up grazing us in the back are those of the Lakers girls (…so I really don’t feel there is anything to complain about there). Lastly, the one difference which most photographers already know about is that the lights are dimmed around the court, providing photographers with a dark background which helps the pictures to “pop” a little more. It’s a minor change to most, but it’s almost like having a black background pulled down behind your subject which is an amazing effect for sports photography.
I inhaled all of this before the game even started and tried to avoid thinking about tip-off because I knew that once the ball was thrown in the air, the clock would start ticking and my trip to the Staples Center would end after just 48 minutes of game action. But after it was all said and done, I was thrilled to have had the chance to check out an amazing arena, see a few celebrities, and come away with some good photos of some great players.
It was definitely a nice feeling to fly first class for a change.
