Capturing the Essence of MLB, NHL, and Army Football Through Photography with Danny Wild

In this episode of the podcast, we have Danny Wild (@dannywild11) as our guest, an accomplished sports photographer specializing in football, baseball, and hockey. With a background in working for Major League Baseball and as the official photographer for the Army college football team, Danny shares his insights and techniques for capturing the perfect shot on the field and developing a quick workflow. We  delve into the unique challenges of photographing football and baseball games and talk about considering where a photograph is meant to live or be published when taking specific shots.

Check out Danny's website here: https://dannywild.com/

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Thanks for listening!
Go get shooting, go get editing, and stay focused.

@sethmacey
@mantis_photography
@thephotographermindset

Transcript

INTRO:

01:08.80
smacey
Welcome back to another episode of the photographer mindset podcast. I'm your co-host Seth Macey and today we have a special guest joining us that's Danny Wild. Danny is a photographer and writer with an impressive portfolio specializing in major league baseball and college football.

01:13.17
aaronmannes
And I'm your co-host Aaron Mannes

01:27.61
smacey
He's currently the senior coordinator for m I lb digital platforms and operations manager at major league baseball danny's work has been published in issues of sports illustrated the New York Times and Espn from capturing the action on the field to the emotions in the stands his photographs tell a story that leave a lasting impact. Throughout this episode. We delve into Danny's experiences challenges and techniques as a professional sports photographer. But more importantly, we dig into the head space of. I was doing so well is it too. Scripty.

02:03.65
aaronmannes
I Don't know I mean who yet is but it's like that style.

02:09.19
smacey
Yeah, I'm just picturing the music playing behind it I'll try it again. Welcome back to another episode of the photographer mindset podcast I'm your co-host Seth Macy and today we have a special guest joining us that's Danny wild.

02:18.40
aaronmannes
And I'm your co-host Aaron Manus

02:26.13
smacey
Danny's a photographer and writer with an impressive portfolio specializing in major league baseball and college football. He's currently the senior coordinator for ilb digital platforms and operations at major league baseball danny's work has been published in issues of sports illustrated the New York Times and Espn from capturing the action on the field to the emotions in the stands his photographs tell stories that leave a lasting impact throughout this episode. We delve into Danny's experiences challenges and techniques as a professional sports photographer. But more importantly, we dig into his head space. So we can understand what mental tools in line of thinking that has aided him in his career success. Hope you enjoy this episode and if you do please leave a rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts it's a quick and cost- free way to support our weekly show and if you're a visual learner and you enjoy watching these interviews rather than only hearing them consider subscribing to our Youtube we upload both the audio podcast and Youtube episodes every Monday from now on no longer fridays. And with that. Let's hear word from our sponsor and get in the episode.

INTERVIEW:

01:33.28
smacey
First of all man thanks for thanks for your time appreciate you taking some time out of your day for for an hour forty five minute hour 45 minute hour 45 minute hour 45 minute hour forty five minute hour 45 minutes an hour and fiftee hour I don't know we never know how long these go. But appreciate you taking the time out of your day to offer up some insights to not only myself and Aaron but to everybody who listens on Mondays. So just want to say it before we gone get it anything whether that's landscapes whether that's football whether that's baseball or all of the above.

02:03.16
Danny
Yeah, thanks for having me. It's I've been been binging some of your recent podcast. So it's ah it's a little surreal to be like listen to you guys for a while and I'm like oh now I'm on it. So.

02:12.56
smacey
Um, excellence. Excellent.

02:14.00
aaronmannes
That's cool. That's cool. Well ah Danny and I have been following each other for a while. Um and I don't I don't know I don't know what what hair or what struck but I went to his page and I was looking through some things maybe a post came up. Um. On Instagram and and just was like oh yeah, like he has this whole other aspect to beyond landscape stuff and the beautiful fall photos that have been out recently. But this whole other side and in a pretty impressive resume. That's just on his Instagram Bio and I was like oh this this is interesting because it's a lot of what I like to do. But then there's this whole other avenue with the sports army football some rangers stuff working with Usa today and Mlb major league baseball for those of you that don't know the the acronym um, but. But yeah, just a a plethora of different niches and I was just like we we got to talk to this guy. So thank you! Thank you for coming on so here we are i're goingnna we're going to talk it out 1 of Seth's yeah that so I was going to do this I want to hear the Seth question.

03:14.39
smacey
Um, so here we are excellent and where's the best place to start? Do you think.

03:17.95
Danny
Ah, all right.

03:25.83
aaronmannes
Which is usually like please give us a ah rundown of how this all began and and how you got to where you are today.

03:33.26
Danny
Yeah, we could start there if you want um I would say you know a lot lot of my photography inspiration began in college. Um I did you know grow up with a disposable camera you know on vacations like probably a lot of. Kids dead and um, but coming out of high school I wanted to be a writer I love sports wanted to get into sports journalism that seemed like um, a cool career opportunity. Um, didn't really have any thought about photography and um. Went to college I was the ah sports editor of the college paper freshman year and you know just kind of dove head first into that I was doing a lot of writing covering games I went to a sunni estate school. Um. Certainly were not known for our athletic programs. So um, you know for me, it was a good experience to just write a lot and meet a lot of people and interview people and and kind of learn on the fly and um I think 1 thing that really kind of. Stuck with me is you know I did a lot of newspaper layout and I was editing what you know stories I was writing stories that other writers were putting together and we needed photos and a lot of times we didn't have photographers in college that were shooting shooting the sports there so I would get.

05:03.32
Danny
Photos from the athletic department and they would send me these these you know, professional photos and I was just like you know, kind of blown away like Wow the the quality like whoever I don't know who's taken these but they are phenomenal. You know it. It was to the point where I was like can I do this like why can't I do this, you know and of course I had um.

05:23.36
Danny
No, no idea what I was getting into or how difficult it was to create you know the the sports action photos that everyone is accustomed to seeing I mean I I grew up collecting you know, hockey and baseball cards and I think I think growing up looking at those pictures. Um as a kid. Um, you know you don't really appreciate what it takes to take those type of photos and um in terms of exposure and and composition and the timing and um and how it all comes together. So I think subconsciously a lot of that.

05:52.39
aaronmannes
Are.

05:59.15
Danny
I was really into reading newspapers as a kid you know I musta the sports section and I would clip out articles and photos that I liked and I think it all kind of snowballed at some point to me wanted to get into it at ah at a friend in college who got like a really cheap point and shoot and this is twenty years ago so this is like. The infancy of of digital photography and um, you know he let me use it and I was like man I really liked it and I ended up getting my own little. You know little point and shoot camera and it evolved into you know I used some of my dad's film stuff. Um eventually bought my own. Ah, digital. Ah Slr you know one of the first canons that came out um and from there I just start shooting a lot of sports on my own at college. Um I get some internships with a baseball team with a newspaper. Um, after college I started shooting a lot of high school sports. Um, it was a good way to get experience and make make some money to and reinvest in better equipment and then all those experiences kind of led me eventually to to getting ah a job at Mlb where I was hired primarily as a writer but um. You know by that point I wanted to my my idea was I can market myself as someone who can write and take photos I can go out to a game cover it get interviews and get some like quality photos I thought at that time that would make me unique and.

07:21.21
smacey
Are.

07:33.67
Danny
Um, versatile in terms of the journalism world. Um, and I think it did um so I've I've done a variety of stuff at Mlb not not all photo related. Um, definitely a lot of web website building and support for minor league teams.

07:52.86
Danny
Around the country and um then I got hooked up with Usa today. They used to be called us press wire about ten fifteen years ago they were bought out by ganett now they're Usa today sports images. Um and army I live I live pretty close to west point. Um. You know I I had never been up there somehow even though I grew up here in Hudson Valley and I went up there 1 year and photographed ah an army football game and I was just hooked and I haven't haven't missed many games since then so it's you know and at this point it's just it keeps me super busy i'm. Um, photographing football every Saturday in the fall and and now I'm at a point where it's over and I can kind of like take a breath and relax. You. You guys caught me at a at a good time here where I've got a a week off to to not worry about anything photo related.

08:41.98
smacey
Um, good.

08:47.49
aaronmannes
Yeah.

08:48.14
smacey
I like that a breath is a week

08:49.95
Danny
Which you know me? Well I mean it's at least a week I mean you know football season's over baseball seasons not over. So um, it's It's a good chance for me to kind of catch my breath I mean I know I know you know a lot of lot of photographers are probably interviewing. They're probably like every week they're just trying to go out there and and.

08:58.76
smacey
Um, right.

09:07.14
Danny
And find some doing It's like for me, it's like I do so much and then it's like okay I'm I'm good now like I can just sit in bed and relax I don't have to go out and shoot something this weekend. So um.

09:15.43
smacey
Yeah I mean everyone's different. You know it's part of the part of the great thing about having so many people like yourself on all the different approaches I mean we had you know we know Aaron I know Dave Sandford who shoots for the Nhl he usually just does the winter classic games and he does the playoffs and he has as far as I know.

09:17.15
aaronmannes
Yes.

09:35.00
smacey
He has other assignments sure. But the rest of it is like building his wildlife portfolio and that's pretty cool as well. Other people you know are out every single day either probably not getting paid every single day if you are that's tremendous, but you know always learning always improving. Always.

09:38.85
Danny
Now.

09:41.50
aaronmannes
Are.

09:53.38
smacey
Chasing passion and so it's just ah I say this to to just remind people that there's no right way to do anything. You know everyone's different.

10:05.36
Danny
Yeah, it's it's um, it's It's definitely a balance for me of the sports can be. You know I don't want to say stressful but kind of I mean it. It is kind of there was a friend of mine who described that he's like man you have a really high stress job and I didn't think about like covering sports as being stressful, but.

10:05.38
aaronmannes
Yeah.

10:24.97
Danny
It can be um and certainly with Army I get very emotionally involved in the game and what's happening and it it and when you lose it's it's horrible. Um, but then it's nice to go out and shoot a waterfall and not have any of those you know it's is the complete opposite I think.

10:37.37
aaronmannes
Um.

10:44.31
Danny
Um, and it I think it is interesting that I wound up in this place where I I am shooting I could be shooting something at the garden one night and then I can go shoot some birds or something the next day and it's like it's it's it's a good balance or it's like much more relaxing than I have to worry about you know that.

10:55.20
smacey
Are right? are.

10:55.98
aaronmannes
Um, treatments.

11:01.65
Danny
20 things on my mind to capture during a hockey game or a football game or something.

11:04.17
smacey
Right? And just for context for people who don't know when you're saying I'm shooting Army games or I'm going up to west point. Can you just describe what that is just for people who don't have no idea what you're talking about.

11:13.42
Danny
Yeah I you mean everyone doesn't know as serve as academy football is about. Um yeah, so for for those who don't know army um army football plays at West Point United States military academy they're 1 of 3 military academies in the country air force and navy and Annapolis They Are Colleges they're they're college students. They're you know they're they're in the army at west point they're cadets same thing at at Navy and and air force. Um. So they're balancing a life of preparing for ah, a career in the military as an officer and in my case, these guys are also playing division one football and I don't know how they do it because it's exhausting for me just every Saturday to go to shoot a game and and recover and. And then I go sit to my cubicle and in New York City for the rest of the week but these guys are like you know going through the stress of um of surviving west point and I mean west point is a very you know, high-st stresss environment by design the the army wants to put these kids through through hell.

12:08.60
smacey
Are.

12:26.24
Danny
Um, for 4 years to get them prepared to be leaders and in the military. Um, so I think that was 1 thing that really drew me to going up there when I started is these guys were just so much on their plate and they were just crushing. It. You know I mean our army football wasn't um. Dominant when I started. We had a lot of losing seasons and now we're a competitive team. but um but yeah so you know we play a regular division 1 schedule like any other college There's kind of different you know tiers of of division 1 where you have the sdc teams that are. Going out there winning national championships that's not what these service academies are are doing we we did play some some good teams we played Lsu this year down in in baton rouge and it was crazy experience going up against like this kind of Nfl caliber team and you know where these were you know.

13:17.11
smacey
In Brighton.

13:21.77
Danny
Bunch of cadets at west point who who are just not the same size and they're not going on to Nfl careers and um so it's ah it's a really interesting perspective on college football and there's so much passion and there's so much energy behind the team from fans from graduates. Um, mean even if you were not familiar with Army Or Navy Football most people have heard of the Army Navy game that is like our that's our super bowl every year you know it's that's the game that it happens every year Army Plays Navy with huge rivalry. You know it's it's Yankees Red Sox caliber type of of rivalry and football. So.

13:45.46
aaronmannes
Are.

14:00.67
Danny
Um, you know, even if we have a tough year like we did this year. It's like you you win that game and it's like merry Christmas you know and and that's how that's how it was this year we won. So um, but yeah I mean football keeps me busy from the season starts early.

14:10.49
aaronmannes
Um, that's awesome.

14:15.79
Danny
September we had a lot of recruiting photo shoots the summer before the season started which is a whole other thing to tackle with um, you know getting portraits of these guys that are thinking of committing to to going there. Um.

14:27.23
smacey
Yeah, tell us about that. That's interesting because it it highlights The fact that okay I'm a sports photographer but I also maybe need to be a great Portrait photographer and we talk all the time about experimenting and learning in different genres and taking tools from those genres to enhance your career.

14:44.30
Danny
Yeah, yeah, I've actually gotten into a lot more portrait photography at west point in the past couple of years not just these recruiting shoots. But.

14:45.82
smacey
Right? So it'd be. It'd be interesting to hear about that.

14:57.42
Danny
At west point a lot of the cadets when they're seniors. They're called first s at west point they like to have these traditional portraits taking of themselves around west point. Um, if you're not familiar with west point. It's in the Hudson Valley of New York it's right on Hudson River there's a lot of mountains. It's very scenic very historic place. The campus is. Beautiful. You know there's cannons and all kinds of monuments and statues and old stone buildings. So um I love driving around there and and just kind of soaking it in. Of course I didn't go to west point so I don't have like the the trauma of having survived the place myself I just as a visitor. It's great. But a lot of these guys like to have their portraits taken. So I've been doing a lot more of that the past couple of years people started started noticing my football photography and they're like hey do you take portraits and I was like I don't know I mean I can try and try it. You know it. It was a little bit out of my comfort zone.

15:35.85
aaronmannes
Um.

15:53.50
Danny
Um, in terms of just like action sports or you know going up to a mountain and shooting the the leaves or something. so um so I've been doing a lot of that. But yeah, the the the recruiting shoots. Um, we had 3 of them this past Summer um army had just hired a guy that. Was in charge of like creative stuff for the recruiting recruiting college football is ah is a it's a big It's a big business and in some ways I mean um, you know there's there's 100 something teams in in the country and they're all trying to attract. Um the best caliber.

16:19.40
smacey
Right.

16:31.22
Danny
Players They can to their program and it's ah you know they have these official visits. There's all sorts of rules of the and nca stuff that you would not believe and from how they can be contacted by teams to how many times they can visit a campus to even with photography. You know we'll have these guys come In. We have an indoor practice Facility. We set up a backdrop. We've got the lights. Everything's triggered and ready to go and it's and one of the rules is from an C doublea that the players can't um, pose in a football pose you know and it's like yeah they're not allowed to do that if they're standing on grass.

17:03.96
smacey
Really.

17:07.69
aaronmannes
Um, hi.

17:10.56
Danny
And and it's like you know they'll tell me this and you know it's Army. So like I'm used to just like oh there's a rule about this and it's like okay I get it. It's the military but this is like an Nc doublea rule and these high school kids don't they don't know you know they want to they want to come in there and they're they're dropping back like they're going to throw a pass or they're., Whatever and and and then I got to be the bad guy like oh actually sorry you you yeah you can't pose like that because of this rule. Yeah, it's um, there's a lot of weird stuff like that and I mean there's you know if if teams violate it. There's there's fines and penalties I don't I don't know that that's a serious. Ah.

17:27.91
aaronmannes
Um, yeah, we get that? Yeah yeah, but.

17:31.22
smacey
Wow.

17:40.33
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

17:46.37
Danny
You know penalty. Ah if if a kid takes a picture and a pose like that. But anyway, it's just like one of these things you got to keep in mind and yeah we had a few of these sessions and we had I don't know 50 something kids would come in with their families and it was like okay we got an hour to take all these guys you know and and we split it up last summer with with me and this other photographer and we just kind of pulled guys in stand here hold the flag hold the ball you got the helmet take the helmet off pose like this you know you want to get in with your parents again and we were just trying to get as many pictures as we could of these guys. Um, you know, looking looking cool looking tough and you know it's it's part of the part the part of the process we're kind of treating these guys that hey you're you're kind of the the celebrity here you're you're coming in for a photo shoot their sign of attention they want to make these kids feel welcome and and important obviously and um, so. Play probably a very small part of that of just being the guy who pushes the button on the camera but um, but they're they're long. You know.

18:48.33
smacey
Well maybe yeah, maybe your your personality that day your energy your making your subject feel like they belong at Army That's an important sell and maybe that helps win games when you really think about it.

19:02.94
Danny
Yeah I mean there's there's so many things that go into into winning football games and and at west point it's like you know it's almost kind of secondary because these guys aren't going on to the Nfl most for the most part they're going into the military. So um. But you know as a kid in high school. This is an opportunity for him to play division one football at a historic stadium in New York and some cool teams and um, you know from their perspective they're putting on the uniform they're putting on the helmet and and their families there. So I'm sure it's ah it's a cool experience. It's a cool experience for me to.

19:41.70
aaronmannes
Who.

19:42.40
Danny
Be a part of but it was a lot of ah, a lot of hard work. There was a lot of stuff to set up. There was less stuff to take take apart afterwards lot of heavy equipment to push around and you got to bring everything back to a locker room and after you know everyone kind of comes you get all these great photos and then everyone disappears and it's like okay now we got to. We got to clean up all these Jerseys and footballs and ah we had um, we had like an armored humphvee come in for one of these shoots and we had all these big rifles and we we were trying to incorporate that into a shoot so it was it was very fun and um and then the season starts and it's for. For college football. It's it's every Saturday um army plays at noon. So you know it's like a lot of early wakeups for me I don't like waking up early but I got to get to the stadium by at least 10 a m so um I would say with sports in general. There's just like a lot of planning.

20:27.12
smacey
Um.

20:36.57
Danny
Yeah, the more the more you can plan ahead and and think of like all these scenarios that could go wrong and if there's ways to avoid them going wrong I try to do that in terms of like what time do I have to get there. Ah is there going to be a lot of traffic who are we playing this week you know is there something going on before the game. The opponent a local team. They're going to have more fans which is going to mean more confused drivers trying to get to west point you know all these things the weather. Um, and it's like things you don't worry about when you're like you know what? I'm I'm going to I'm Goingnna go up to the Adirondacks this weekend and just you know drive around shoot some leaves and see it like.

21:01.82
aaronmannes
Um.

21:13.78
aaronmannes
Um, hope for a nice sunset. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

21:15.17
Danny
You know? yeah you hope for a nice sunset right? You're like oh what's the weather. Oh it's it's going to be partly cloudy like this could be good right? Like that's as much as a thought as I put into a lot of it. It's like great and I and so I don't get a great sunset and I don't get a great sunset but it's but with sports it's like I feel like I have to put myself in a position to like get the right angle and.

21:21.59
smacey
Um.

21:33.90
Danny
And get the right timing and be on the right part of the field for football you know for hockey you're saying I shoot a lot the rangers and it's it's similar but different because they in the and nh shell they say you've got a hole. It's on the left side of the rink and that's it and that's where you are for the whole game and you might be on the wrong side of the ice for.

21:36.80
smacey
Right.

21:52.46
Danny
All the big moments and it's like you have to just figure out how to capture it and tell a story and and get usable photos. Even if you're you can't physically move around.

22:03.79
aaronmannes
Um, in terms. So yeah, as a couple questions think hey Thanks hey thanks, This is this is an easy one um home and away games are just home for army.

22:04.84
smacey
Um, yeah I had that question. Oh Aaron you want to go go ahead. Buddy go ahead a problem buddy.

22:16.95
Danny
Hom and away. Yes, um I started off traveling with yeah um, there was there was a a one of your episodes. There was a guy who said photography was a backstage pass to life or something like that. It was a really good good quote.

22:18.31
aaronmannes
So you're you're traveling with.

22:29.68
aaronmannes
Um, yeah, um, good memory.

22:33.18
Danny
And yeah, um, yeah, it definitely hit me I was like it is um I mean so yeah, we we do we do travel. Um I started traveling with the team in 2016 and

22:33.43
smacey
Jared sang the episode with Jaren sang.

22:50.62
Danny
I don't know what to expect? you show up to the airport. You've got a private jet there's tons of free food. Um, you're treated like celebrities for the whole the whole trip. You've got police escorts ah that take you everywhere you want to go? Um, you know there's there's people cooking food for you.

22:59.33
aaronmannes
Sick.

23:09.80
Danny
You know in the afternoon at night. There's candy. There's drinks. There's you're in a nice hotel. Um, you know and and everything's just sort of taken care of for for the team for the players Obviously but I'm you know I'm I'm kind of ah um, I'm part of it. So um, it was. It was really cool.

23:19.55
aaronmannes
Yeah, you part of it or the crew.

23:28.30
Danny
When I first started traveling is it's just like we're on a we're on a bus and there's just like all these state troopers are escorting us down a highway and like all these cars are just like stopped and it's just like really for us like they're they're doing this for us so we could get to a football stadium. But that's how it is. It's just it's It's not unique to the army. It's That's how it is in college football. There's there's police escorts and it's just like Wow it's.

23:40.71
aaronmannes
Yeah.

23:41.00
smacey
Are.

23:47.48
aaronmannes
Um.

23:48.21
Danny
And for me, it's like oh you know I spend the rest of the week taking commuter trains into penn station and and getting you know, ah pushed through through through lower Manhattan to my office and it's just some um, there's nobody fighting with with New York city and then suddenly it's like.

23:59.75
smacey
Are.

24:06.66
Danny
Oh here's your private jet and what do you want to eat for lunch today and it's you know so it's um, it was definitely yeah, it's it's it's wild.

24:11.44
smacey
Double life.

24:13.26
aaronmannes
It's funny. Yeah, your your your life seems like you like both ends of the spectrum right? like the busy New York and then treated like royalty and then the the stress of football photography and now I'm going to go to the mountains and just have.

24:28.28
Danny
Yeah, well I definitely I definitely need the the piece and the and the the time to just recover from it all I think um yeah I mean the trips are really fun, but it starts in September it ends like right around now around christmas.

24:29.70
aaronmannes
Yes.

24:34.67
smacey
Um, right.

24:36.60
aaronmannes
Um, that.

24:41.50
aaronmannes
Yeah.

24:45.58
Danny
And it's a lot. It's every weekend you know and and for me I mean this is different from other sports photographers maybe but I work a regular 9 to 5 job during the week um so it's like I've got that and then I've got football on Saturdays and maybe ah, you know in the spring and the fall I've had a lot of these portrait sessions where where these cadets sold.

24:46.00
aaronmannes
Yeah.

25:05.39
Danny
Want to schedule in and and for me, it's like all right Sunday is like the only day in my week that I have any amount of free time that I can go and do this? Um and so it's it's exhausting for for sure. So that's why I'm kind of like I've hit a period here where I can just kind of sleep in and I don't have to set an alarm and I don't know to.

25:11.17
aaronmannes
Um, yeah, yeah, yeah.

25:23.50
aaronmannes
Yeah, and it's nice to have that breath. But I bet I bet you're the type of guy that if it's too long with that quiet gets a little like all right, When's the next thing that I'm doing I got to do something.

25:23.75
smacey
All right? Well then.

25:23.80
Danny
Anywhere which is nice.

25:37.81
Danny
As soon as it stops you're kind of like you wake up, you're like what am I doing today. It's like shouldn't I shouldn't I be somewhere like shouldn't I be doing shouldn't there be isn't there something I should be doing you know and um, which is you know a good drive to have but I think it's it's also good to be like actually like no you could.

25:41.54
aaronmannes
Um, yeah, it's weird. Um.

25:49.92
aaronmannes
And.

25:53.21
Danny
You could just hang out and watch family guy today and like not worry about anything ah which is which is good for me. But yeah, um.

25:55.30
aaronmannes
No, the.

26:02.56
aaronmannes
Now the essence of sports photography to me has always been I mean it's nothing that I've really dabbled in um, but to me it seems so easy to miss the big moment. Ah the the turnaround play the fumble that came that that turned the the game Around. Ah. And maybe that's not the it's great if you capture that maybe it's not the objective of sports photography. Ah but I'm just curious in that Arena when you're you're looking out at the game. You're you're trying to study it. How much are you guessing ahead of time. Like what's going to happen like this is going to be a past play I know this I know this team I'm going to look for the wide receivers versus I'm right down the middle looking for a run here like how much are you guessing? what's going on and and and how much are you missing like oh crap I Just missed the the good thing right? there.

26:53.26
Danny
Oh.

26:55.29
aaronmannes
And I try to get it on the next one without beating yourself up over it because I would imagine. It's so quick that like it would it just be hard to be perfect.

27:02.12
Danny
Yeah I know I think he summed it up pretty well actually um, you do try and position yourself for you know what might happen you for me I think most sports photographers were trying to predict what's goingnna happen and obviously you don't know what's going to happen. But um, you know there's scenarios in the games. Time left the score you know in football is third down and whatever are they gonna they have to pass this this play are they gonna run just like you said Um, and so for me I'm running around a lot in football I'm I'm always trying to stay ahead of the play and. Be in a position where the guys are running at me or somewhat towards me and sometimes you do miss those big plays and and sometimes a lot of times. It's the referee who just steps in front of you or it's a coach that steps in front of you or it's some. Ah, random person who's working the game on the sidelines who's holding a microphone or that's like there's so many of those things that are out of your control and to a degree you can try and put yourself in ah in a spot where you can minimize the amount of people that are running in front of you. Um, but a lot of times. It's it's.

27:59.91
aaronmannes
V.

28:15.66
Danny
It's unavoidable in sports you know referees are like you know the enemy of every sports photographer I mean they're probably the enemy a lot of sports fans we get aggravated watching games and and the calls they make. But for us, it's like you're you're trying to capture a play and then you got this guy on black and white stripes who just this like a. Giant blurry blob in front of your photo and it's like oh my god um, so but but like you said you kind of have to just kind of like roll with it and be like all right this this happened I didn't get this I didn't get that. Um, it doesn't bother me a ton anymore. Although I would say after the game you'll have that player come up to you or Dm you and be like hey man did you get that you get the shot of me making that catch and it's like actually I was like on the other side of the field. Um, like I didn't get it. You know and and some a lot of times that is the case we had um.

28:59.27
aaronmannes
Ah, that's funny.

29:05.13
Danny
We had a Army Navy game was a couple weeks ago in New England we had ah the biggest play of the game. Um our our army player on army recovered a forced to fumble recovered the ball ran in for a touchdown and um I was I was on the opposite side of the field. The navy had the ball they were. Coming towards me so I was preparing to get you know their their offensive plays coming towards me and obviously you know we picked up the ball and we ran the opposite way and it was like there was nothing I have a four hundred millimeter lens and there was just nothing that I could do because there's just all these people on the field and they're all running the other way and they're literally eighty ninety yards away from you.

29:41.94
aaronmannes
Yeah.

29:44.90
Danny
And it's just sort of like well I didn't get that. Um and it's like I think when you miss big plays. It sucks obviously but from a storytelling perspective you try and get more photos of that player right? The guy who had ah a biggest impact on the game you at least want to get something of him.

30:03.46
smacey
Um, right.

30:03.70
Danny
Um, so you know for me in that in that in that play The guy scored the touchdown he came back to the sideline and he was just going crazy and all the teammates are jumping on him and I got my wide angle out and I just found him and I stuck my camera right in front of his face and I was trying to get you know that that reaction that um, that emotion in the moment.

30:18.43
aaronmannes
Vehicle.

30:21.93
Danny
Um, of him at least celebrating it and I got some cool shots of that I think but um, yeah, sometimes you just you just miss those plays and in hockey. It happens a lot ago saying sometimes you're in a bad position. Um the less rangers game I shot. Um this guy scored 1 of the bigger goals and it was on the other side the ice and i. Holes at madison square garden some of them. You just can't angle your camera physically to to capture something and in a part of the rink and you just have to sit there and like a fan and kind of just it is what it is like there's some just some places on the ice. You can't reach. Um.

30:57.18
aaronmannes
Um.

30:57.61
Danny
But you know once he came back and into where I was I made sure he got a bunch of pictures of him and 1 of them just ran in in the hockey news a couple days ago and it was like oh that was a picture I made sure I got of that guy just because he scored a goal and you and um, you know like you were saying you're trying to predict these plays and the moments and what's gonna happen. But at the same time for me and and I came from this.

31:02.68
smacey
Um, cool.

31:17.47
Danny
Sports journalism background I try and think of like what what picture is going to run in a website or a newspaper. What? what are these editors going to be looking for um in terms of like the moment the player, the composition I mean you know we shoot we shoot Instagram I think a lot of a lot of us shoot vertical stuff for instagram because it looks better on the app but in.

31:23.20
smacey
Um, yeah, cool.

31:23.41
aaronmannes
It's very true.

31:35.68
Danny
Website and journalism they're mostly running horizontal shots. Um, you know so that affects the way I crop photos it affects the way I shoot sports um to try and get something that I know can be useful to um, you know with Usa today. It's a wire service. So there's there's hundreds. Of media outlets out their websites newspapers magazines. whatever tv networks that subscribe to it. They could download those pictures that I take or that all of our photographers take. So um, I'm always trying to think of like what's gonna what's what are they going to need you know and and um sometimes it is the big play but a lot of times. It's like it's just a.

31:59.45
smacey
Um, brain.

32:11.12
Danny
An emotional shot of of a team celebrating a win and it's like you could miss all those not that I'm encouraging you to miss big plays in this voice but you could miss a lot of these big plays in in a game and then if you get a great reaction shot at the end where they're celebrating. It's like that's often the shot that ends up being published anyway. So.

32:16.55
smacey
Are.

32:26.24
aaronmannes
Yeah I mean that's that's a really I think that's really interesting for 2 reasons number 1 your your background in journalism and asking yourself maybe in the moment. What's the art like you can see the headline of the article. What's the article going to be oh this guy's had a hatrick they're deaf I'm going to be talking about him.

32:28.27
smacey
Um, right.

32:45.41
aaronmannes
Maybe I didn't get the goals in the moment but let me get the hats on the ice. Let me get him celebrating the goal with his buddies hugging like whatever it is because that could go with the ah the story just as easily as anything else. So I think that's really interesting number 1

32:48.64
Danny
He.

32:58.46
Danny
Yeah.

33:03.41
aaronmannes
And number 2 thinking that way is ah proactive for the next moment like living in the now like what can I do right now to to move forward and go on versus like I can't believe I missed that shot like I just changed my battery right? when they score the goal.

33:14.44
Danny
Um, yeah, right right.

33:17.20
smacey
Hey.

33:20.24
aaronmannes
Like um, like and then you're missing the next shot too. You're missing the celebration because you're you're you're whipping yourself. You know so I think those are 2 really good points to to point out.

33:30.40
Danny
Yeah, there was um if you follow the rangers last season they had a great team and they fizzled in the playoffs first round they had traded for a guy named Patrick Kane if you're a hockey fan. You know who Patrick Kane is he was superstar for the last decade and he was a injured last year he came to the rangers and it was the end of his contract and I ended up shooting what and what ended up being I think his last home game with the rangers. This did they lost the next game. The season was over and. There was no guarantee he was going toign with the rangers. So I was like on a mission to get as many like just nice portraits of this guy as possible that I knew were going to end up being run for the entire offseason of all these speculative stories of where he where is he go who is he going to sign with what is he going to sign what you know. And that's what happened for for months I would I would see these pictures of this 1 game. Um because I was like the most recent guy you know, not that that they were unbelievable photos but I was like the most recent guide to photograph him but I was in my mind of like these are probably going to be the shot so when editors are searching for Patrick Kane they're going to see these because they're the most recent ones. So. Um, that worked out pretty well.

34:38.97
smacey
Um, how do you feel when someone has played terribly and you know it's going to be the headline and you know your photos just going to dump on them. But.

34:44.92
aaronmannes
And Jesus.

34:47.56
Danny
Well I don't know that they I don't know that they use they'll use for you know, usually it's like they'll use a shot of whoever won the game. Um, you know I don't know that there's a lot of outlets that are going to focus on the negative stuff.

34:57.28
smacey
No, ah okay I'm a I'm ah I'm born and raised toronto and the toronto media Toto may Beliefs are ruthless so like people bleed blue and white in ah in in Toronto I think it's the most insane media hockey place in the world.

35:04.50
Danny
Okay, okay.

35:10.82
Danny
Um, yeah.

35:15.67
Danny
I Believe it and they run a lot of negative stories on on those I mean this a superstar team. Yeah.

35:17.25
smacey
Um, just from just from an outside perspective. Oh man Google a toronto sun made try mapies um during a playoff run and see what happens or in the first 5 games of the season. They're either going to win the the play the the stanley cup or the the worst team of all time. So.

35:34.48
Danny
Yeah I would say you know, ah there's shots that I've gotten of guys that just generally look dejected or frustrated that you can anticipate are going to be used as like oh this team disappointed or this guy had a bad season or.

35:43.84
smacey
Um, right.

35:51.20
Danny
Something ah along those lines where they're specifically looking for a shot of the guy not looking happy. Um I've gotten those photos. It doesn't it doesn't bother me necessarily that they're used. But um, yeah I mean I wouldn't say um.

35:51.70
smacey
Um, right.

36:01.10
smacey
Um, well you feel less bad when you see the paycheck These are professional photographers. No no, no no I'm saying and I'm saying you feel less bad when you see what professional athletes paychecks are.

36:07.80
Danny
Certainly not getting rich I'll shooting these games. It's it's it's It's fun. But um, oh oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah for sure for sure. Yeah, well.

36:12.00
aaronmannes
Yeah.

36:16.58
smacey
And you you you know there's a pressure to perform that's your job right? You're getting $10000000 you have one bad game boohoo good point.

36:23.50
Danny
But but on the other side of that with Army these guys aren't getting paid. They're not. They're not, they're they're college athlete All college athletes aren't and muscle aren getting paid now that now and there's new world of college football there there are you know all these marketing deals and sponsorships that players have but it's not having at west point and um and we you know.

36:27.30
aaronmannes
Um, right.

36:37.73
smacey
Um, right.

36:42.92
Danny
Are sometimes when our guys get injured or um, you know rough things happen during the game and it's like I feel like I have to take a photo of it right? like I'm trying to do my job but I also feel kind of like terrible for them. You know? um so there there is that part of it too.

36:45.52
smacey
Um, yeah.

36:55.46
aaronmannes
Um, yeah.

36:59.60
smacey
Well let me ask you this just back pedaling a bit we were talking about. You know how a ref can get in the way of a great shot or coach walks in front of you all things you can't control and you know how being the right place at the right time is so important but you can only control so much.

37:05.00
Danny
A.

37:16.75
smacey
And accepting. There's a lot of external factors I can't control what in your mind. Do you think about either mentally or from a technical standpoint where you say this is 100% within my control and it's going to maximize my chance of capturing the best images I can.

37:35.90
Danny
Um, I mean for football I tried I really try to get away from ah people on the sideline if I can um you know if you're a football photographer. You know you think these are things you don't notice as a fan watching on Tv but there's these lines painted on the grass and there you know some of them are are meant for media for photographers not to cross. So I think a lot of us are inching our way as far as we can to those lines or a little over those lines to try and get. Ah, good angle because inevitably there's there are all these people on the sidelines referees of people holding the balls guys players coaches trainers. I mean there's there's so many and something big happens during the game a lot of them tend to like. Walk out onto the field. You know like they can't help themselves they they're drawn out there and then it's like dude your block. Yeah I'm trying to get a shot at this guy nuggert. Um, so yeah I do I do run around and I try and position myself in a place where I feel like ah the that's gonna be minimized in terms of getting blocked. But um, a lot of it. It's out of your control and for hockey. It's definitely out of your control because you can't move around. Um, and yeah I think you just kind of have to accept. Sometimes you're you're not gonna get it. Um.

38:58.52
Danny
I Mean with hockey you could get a bigger lens and go up higher up and shoot over the glass and avoid some of those those things but um I think being on the ice is a is a better angle I'll same with football you you can go up higher in the stands probably and shoot a football game shoot looking down and you don't have to worry about anyone running in front of you right? but.

39:06.23
smacey
Um.

39:18.10
Danny
Closer you are for me with sports photography I like being as low as I can I'm always kneeling sometimes I'll sit down the low perspective and in field Sports looks really cool. Um, so I'd rather be down there in the action and um and the other part of it is like. You could. You could be in a good place where no one's going to run in front of you and then suddenly the ball comes your way and now you've got all these players and people coming straight at you and it's very easy to get run over there. There is a clip that ah I haven't been crunched by a player.

39:45.95
smacey
Um, yeah I was going to say have you been absolutely crunched before.

39:55.30
Danny
Did get hit by a referee. Ah probably you want to say 2019 um he was I was on a sideline and he was running kind of left to right from my left I didn't you know it wasn't coming straight at me right? That's you you same thing with hockey.

40:08.59
smacey
Um, man.

40:11.34
Danny
You always worried about a puck coming and hitting your your lens and and you just assume it's going to come straight at you but a lot of times it doesn't it comes from the side and you have no idea that's coming and this this referee was just running down the sidelines and he um just ran into the end of my four hundred millimeter lens and it hit you know obviously it it.

40:15.31
aaronmannes
Um.

40:30.64
Danny
Pushed it back into my face the camera the the eyepiece and it hurt but I was like man what the heck I was just like stunned you know and and and I looked up and there was like players and people around me and they're like they're like oh bro, you're bleeding I was like what and I I remember I I was like I didn't know what happened I stood up and I went over to our.

40:32.00
aaronmannes
Wolf.

40:41.74
smacey
Oh now.

40:50.25
Danny
Team Athletic trainer and I was like am I bleeding and he's like you're gonna need stitches. He was like immediately. He's like you got you get? you got to go and get stitches and I was like oh my God Um and I went to the.

40:55.38
smacey
Oh wow.

41:02.68
Danny
Ah, first aid station at the stadium at West point and had all these army medics there and I'm thinking like all right these I've never gotten stitches before but like I assume these guys are just going to fix it up and I finish the game and they were and they were like oh we can't We can't give you stitches here. You can have to go to hospital you know and they and that was like really.

41:19.26
smacey
Um, really um.

41:20.42
Danny
Yeah I was I have photos of it too. It's it's funny I've got these soldiers putting bandages on it was right here right? over my eye and it didn't even hurt that much. But I think this was a pretty deep cut. Um, and yeah, that was like 1 of the only games I haven't finished I had to pack up my stuff they put this bandage all over my face and.

41:26.29
aaronmannes
Wow.

41:40.33
Danny
You know I texted our social media guy or our our media guy at Army and I was like yo I got hit I'm bleeding I need stitches I yeah I can't shoot the end of the game and they were like okay um, and I I drove home I drove like an urgent care and they gave you stitches. Um, yeah.

41:55.13
smacey
Um, damn.

41:56.65
Danny
It was It was nuts and there was a guy. Ah.

41:58.16
aaronmannes
He used the ah the army media guy being like David Goggins like oh you're bleeding you bleeding a little bit. You're gonna finish the game. Ah.

42:01.35
Danny
Um, I wanted to finish the game but you know these guys are like you need to leave you need to like put ice on it and go get stitches and I was like okay I you know? yeah that was.

42:04.11
smacey
Um.

42:11.70
aaronmannes
No, let's care of you? Yeah, oh man, that's fine. This is why you don't like refs they're in your way and they they smash you up.

42:13.15
smacey
What's worse the pain in your stitches or the pain of leaving the game.

42:19.65
Danny
Was a memorable one I was trying to figure out who it was after the game like who was this guy. Why did he do this to me I did he probably probably probably had no idea that he even hit me and and and I got a great sequence of our quarterback carrying the ball. Nice clean shots and then suddenly you see it just like obscured.

42:25.83
smacey
No pictures for you.

42:27.75
aaronmannes
Um, ah.

42:39.54
Danny
By the referee and that was it I was like oh that this is what he ran it to me. Um, but otherwise I don't think I've god I did get a pocket that hit my lens at ah at a rangers game I want to say it was like 2017 or so same thing puck rattling around the glass I didn't see it coming glanced off the edge of my.

42:40.21
aaronmannes
Oh oh man.

42:41.16
smacey
Um, you.

42:53.14
smacey
Um.

42:58.74
Danny
My lens and it it just shattered the lens filter that I had on the front you know, get no no, that was on me. Um and it was frustrating because I couldn't It was the the lens filter got.

43:02.54
aaronmannes
Now Does Rangers hockey help you with that one or is that on you.

43:16.60
Danny
Cracked and shattered kind of spiderwebbed and I couldn't get it off. You know I figured all right? The lens is okay I think I can just take the filter off and finish the game and it was just like dented and just stuck on there and um, you know with hockey. It's like.

43:28.96
aaronmannes
Um.

43:33.32
Danny
You need a lens that fits in that little hole in the class and there's only you know I use a 70 to 200 for hockey which I think is ah probably a pretty common or popular choice if you're on the on the glass and um I didn't really have anything else that but I could use to finish the game I ended up shooting the rest of the game with this shattered filter and ah. It was okay, it would like the pictures kind of lacked contrast because it was shooting through this mass of cracks but you probably wouldn't have otherwise known that I was shooting through a a cracked el. Yeah, it was. It was what I remember telling my editor from yoa tales like ah my.

44:01.34
smacey
Um, really.

44:02.60
aaronmannes
It's interesting.

44:06.72
Danny
My lens got hit. It's all shattered like I don't know I'm gonna do and they're like oh man that sucks. It's like yeah it does suck like I don't know what to do? Um, this has never happened to be um but I finished the game and I had to take the I had to take the lens over to cannon in New Jersey and and their technicians you know, surgically remove the ah the filter for me. So.

44:13.39
aaronmannes
But.

44:25.75
Danny
So lenso is fine ended end up getting a new filter but that but I am that was how how many years ago I'm still paranoid when when I'm at a game and you hear the puck rattling around the glass and I just like I have to go back this I don't want that happening again.

44:27.13
aaronmannes
Um, ah, that's good.

44:27.42
smacey
Um, ah.

44:39.90
aaronmannes
Um, now.

44:39.11
smacey
Right? Well let's ah, let's talk gear then what your canon by the sounds of it I can't but you maybe you said that and you know what bodies do you have and and what's coming with you to a certain sporting event.

44:55.68
Danny
Yes, Canon Um I have um Wendy X Mark Two is my main main. Ah camera one D X The original is kind of my secondary. Um, you know they're not super new but they I love them. Um, they got the job done for me.

45:09.23
smacey
Are.

45:12.75
Danny
Very reliable, high frame rate um the battery life is pretty good on them. So I use the 1 dx mark too primarily is for for football for whatever really for all my stuff for for football I'm taking my 400 to 8 um. Yeah, that that lens is you know it's awesome. it's it's huge it's very heavy. It's a pain the as to haul around especially on airplanes and on buses. Um I'm a big guy and I get on a bus with the football players and they are all big guys and we're. Squished in there and I've got my bag of camera gear and I've got those lens and it's like it's just really awkward to travel with the thing because it's so big. Um for football I'm usually mostly the four hundred to two Eight I've got the 7200 I have a 16 to 35 2 8 um wide angle Zoom.

46:07.39
Danny
And um I had a fish.

46:07.69
smacey
And when did those lenses come out for what scenario is that is a particular lens going on your body. You know we're in the end zone we're with twenty yards within the end zone like what's happening. How's your head. How's your mindset changed to.

46:18.75
Danny
Um, yeah.

46:25.76
smacey
From a technical standpoint of what you're going to use.

46:26.80
Danny
Yeah I try to use the 400 as much as I can because I think it looks it makes everything just look amazing. But yes if they're in close if they're in close to the end zone. You know it's sometimes depending on where you are if we're in the very back of the end zone and you're basically ten fifteen yards away from them on the goal line.

46:33.87
smacey
Um, and.

46:43.18
Danny
Then it is too tight and I'll switch to the 7000 to 200 if I'm in the corner of the end zone and and I'm shooting kind of almost across the end zone and and they're thirty yards away then um, the 400 is still a good option for me I think um, but yeah, sometimes you just have to be quick about switching. Um, you if you watch at Nfl and you and you look at the guys on the khaki vest in the back of the end zones there. Some of them are are caught flatfooted and they're just standing there as the guys are celebrating right in front of them and they're not even taking they're just like stunned you know, but some of them are really quick. They're they'll switch to their wide angle. They're switch to their 70 to 200 and they'll get all those shots. Um.

47:22.38
smacey
Honestly I'd be pulling out my brand new if I was you know, professional like that I'd have the newest iphone and I would just be seriously I don't know if that's not very professional, but.

47:30.76
Danny
Yeah, ah the the wide angle lens on the the iphone's great I love it I actually I actually had to use an Iphone once um because I didn't know what else to do it was an Army Navy game

47:38.50
smacey
Um, right.

47:45.46
Danny
Army navys played every winter in December it was snowing and just you're outside. It's cold but it was I guess because the snow just was kind of humid or damp or whatever meteorological term it is for it. But it was cold and wet right? and your lenses get you know.

47:58.60
smacey
Um, if.

48:01.82
aaronmannes
Ah.

48:04.60
Danny
Accustomed to the temperature and then we won the game we run inside to the locker room. It's hot as hell in there and all there's a hundred football players neural screaming and jumping around and my lenses just fogged up immediately and these guys and it's just this this moment that you of of raw emotion that you want to capture we just beat.

48:17.12
smacey
Um, bright.

48:22.92
Danny
Our biggest rival and we're just ever is go crazy and I'm just looking through my camera ands like you can't see anything. It's just all fog and I I do remember taking out my iphone I was like I don't know whats to do because the iphone was fine and I was just trying to take whatever I could because I felt like you know as you talk about things are out of your control like I felt like that was just like what am I going to do like.

48:32.54
aaronmannes
No.

48:36.82
smacey
Um, a.

48:40.99
Danny
I don't know there's nothing I can do at least this camera is just physically covered in condensation and fog and the next year I went and put like a third camera body in the locker room. Just let it sit there the whole game with the wide angle lens.

48:41.13
smacey
Um, right.

48:49.73
aaronmannes
Ready to go there.

48:50.54
smacey
Um, right I was going to ask.

48:54.78
Danny
Just so like in the event that it rains and it's cold and we go in and this happens again I've got a camera that's like adjusted to that temperature. But I yeah I I do use the iphone um pregame I'll help out our social media guy at army.

48:57.40
aaronmannes
Um, yeah, mistakes are the best teachers.

49:10.39
Danny
I'll take videos of the guys in warmups or things like that and then I'll just text it to him and he can put it on our Instagram or Twitter so I feel like I'm trying to make myself useful in that regard.

49:21.45
smacey
Now have you ever been in a situation. Um I actually have a family member who's just gotten into um football photography funny enough 17 16 17 year old kid um just landed his first gig doing you know? um. A private league on weekends and so I guess in a general sense. What advice would you offer to somebody maybe younger just starting off in that that that genre and also to your point or to your your last statement about how you're you're ascending. Videos or photos to your social person if you're doing that yourself right? I think it's probably important that you want to post in a timely manner during the game during warm up immediately after how do you How do you make that workflow as fast as possible. Do you have experience in this.

50:12.92
Danny
Yeah, um, what I use personally is I have this little adapter that fits my Cf card the the 2 Wendy Xs you both use Cf Cards so it and I guess it also it also takes like sd cards. But. I use cf cards and it lets me plug it into my iphone and I can see all the images if it works and it doesn't always work but when it works it shows up immediately on my phone I can import them and then I just text them um, off to whoever he is are it usually our our main social media guy at army his name is Matt.

50:46.49
smacey
Um, right.

50:47.55
Danny
And whoever else might need them. Um, but that I you talk about planning and trying to think ahead like that's a big part of it like I we get to the stadium early. One of my first things is like is there wi-fi in general some of these stadiums have great wi-fi some of them don't at all. Um and you know once there's.

51:02.47
smacey
Are.

51:06.40
Danny
10 twenty thirty thousand 40000 people in the stadium. The cell phone service is like debt. You know it's and it's it's very frustrating so one of the things I try and do when I first get to a stadium is like where can I sit at my computer is there wi-fi can I plug it in can I use wi-fi on the field.

51:08.99
aaronmannes
Are.

51:11.87
smacey
Um, right.

51:25.80
Danny
Um, because inevablyably what happens is we'll score touchdown. Ah, they'll go to a Tv commercial break which is like 2 2 to 3 minutes conveniently there's a guy who stands on the field with a big clock so you know exactly how much time you have I'll I'll go down the sideline I'll kneeil I'll take my card out I pop it into this adapter plug into my iphone try to quickly get.

51:31.28
smacey
A.

51:44.65
Danny
Ah, the key photos I'll download them and then hopefully I have wi-fi or good enough cell phonee service and I'll text it to our social guy as quickly as possible. He puts together graphics and they're on. They're on Twitter on Instagram within minutes if if it all goes goes together. Um and he doesn't even.

51:52.51
smacey
Wow.

51:56.18
aaronmannes
That's crazy.

51:59.23
smacey
Um, and the social is already working on caption. All that stuff already huh That's amazing.

52:04.70
Danny
Yeah I mean our our social guy has got his little templates and he's very talented and he doesn't even have to ask me at this point I think he just expects that we score a touchdown within a couple minutes I'm going to send them unless my what' the cell phonee service is not cooperating or their wi-fi is not working then I'll I'll have the photos there and.

52:09.12
smacey
Amazing.

52:22.66
smacey
Um, yeah.

52:23.22
Danny
Which is cool and I like to it's like for me I don't have I don't have time during the the game to pull out my phone and look at this stuff and see what they're posting. Um, but but afterwards yeah I just assume it's getting done and afterwards I'll take a look and be like oh that I I remember taking that photo like 3 hours ago and there it was um.

52:28.55
smacey
Um, right, you just know it's getting done.

52:37.23
smacey
Um, right.

52:40.93
Danny
So yeah, that's typically my workflow the adapter I got it on Amazon. It's not very reliable I end up buying backups and keeping them in my bag in the event that they break and they inevitably just will randomly stop working and it's very aggravating. Um, so but I don't I don't haven't found a better solution to that I mean obviously if you have a camera that has like. You know wi-fi capabilities. You can wirelessly transmit it to your computer to your phone or to an Fdp or something like that then that's easier, but the canon kind of cameras I have don't have those transmitters. So um.

53:05.81
smacey
A.

53:09.22
aaronmannes
Um, under.

53:12.70
smacey
Right? So I guess what you're sending for speed's sake is just straight out of camera. There's no way to apply any basic corrections sending wrong right? right.

53:18.87
Danny
Yeah, yeah, I'm just sending whatever I can as quickly as I can yeah and it's it's hard and we talk about Iphone we we beat navy a few weeks ago we're in the locker room and the team's just going crazy and I took I took a couple of pictures with my iphone with a wide angle shot and just to send them because I'm like. Once you're in the locker room and they're celebrating. You're there for a while and it's like you know the rest of the world is like oh the game's over. They want to see they want to see you know the celebration but it's like when you're actually part of the celebration. You can't just like walk out. You know you have I stay there till the end. So I did try and get some some quick shots just the centaur I don't know if they were even used. But.

53:41.93
smacey
Um, okay.

53:46.10
smacey
Are yeah.

53:57.31
Danny
Um I don't know I try to be mindful of the timeliness of it and and obviously social media people looking at the stuff through the whole game or sin or their phones even the stands and they're just looking at social media. So I think it's cool to get it out there.

53:58.90
smacey
Um, right.

54:04.26
smacey
Right? So then another question in that sense are you are you snapping raws combined with Jpegs and sending the Jpegs off as a smaller file size.

54:15.20
Danny
I do that with nature and landscape stuff with sports I just shoot Jpeg. It's always been good enough for me I know there's some people that that it's definitely quicker I don't feel like I need the needer.

54:20.74
smacey
Um, right just quick right.

54:31.30
Danny
I Don't feel like I need the raw file myself. Um, if I can nail the exposure and the white balance in the camera not that I always do but I try to um, then you know then it's fine. It is what it is for photojournalism I feel like you know less is more when it comes to editing. There's certainly a lot of editors that will feel like oh you shouldn't really.

54:33.91
smacey
Um, yes.

54:51.16
Danny
Do all do much to it right? You could crop it you could sharpen it or adjust the contrast or something but I don't I try not to do too much to it and and now with photoshop. You've got all these Ai you know things that it will generate all sorts of stuff that you know is fun to use but with photojournalism you can't you know you can't do that. So.

54:54.86
smacey
Um, right.

55:03.63
smacey
Um, are you using Ai at all in your business or at work or in what you do at all. It's a you know it's a trendy topic right now I want to get in the habit of asking photographers this either either for answers. Ah, don't use it at all. Don't care to or.

55:08.79
Danny
Um.

55:15.91
Danny
Yeah.

55:21.89
smacey
You know I'm fully integrating it into my practice.

55:24.29
Danny
They only need the only stuff I've used it for is is the photoshop. The generative expand option if you've used that but you can kind of so I mean I was just telling my boss about this. Ah at Mlb a couple weeks ago and he was like totally blown away that I was.

55:32.80
smacey
Um, yeah.

55:32.92
aaronmannes
Um, there.

55:39.14
smacey
The.

55:39.65
Danny
Doing it or that you could do it. But basically if if you look on our on Mlb.com or I work primarily on the minor league site which is ilb.com and if you look at at a player page. There's action photos assuming I've uploaded them I don't upload them for everyone. But um, we try to upload action shots of the players at the top of their page and they're they're 3 by 1 So It's It's a weird crop. Um, even if you're shooting Horizontal. It's it's it's Weird. It's a weird ratio. Um So a lot of times I'll I'll crop these photos as like kind of a photo editor at work and I'll crop them. You know a beltie or middle middle of the chest up to the top of their head.

55:59.65
aaronmannes
Um.

56:04.85
smacey
Um, right.

56:17.76
Danny
You know a guy swing in or a guy throwing a pitch but in the 3 by 1 the both sides of the photo there. There's like it just it doesn't doesn't reach. Um, so either you have to crop it differently or when this new Ai stuff with photoshop came out it lets you just paint in sort of like background and for baseball. I wouldn't recommend it for for photojouralism. Certainly it's like you know you get into an ethical discussion about it for for these It's like like they're like empty seats behind a guy throwing a pitch right? So it's like I I try to win so I was like wow it. It looked amazing like you would not be ah it just paints in outfield walls or. Blurry out-of-focus fans or empty seats and it's like oh this looks great and so I did get into that a little bit. Um this year where I was just able to take a photo that otherwise would have been cropped really tightly um and I was able to kind of frame it nicely and filled it in with the.

57:01.92
smacey
Um, here.

57:11.80
Danny
With photoshops ai stuff on the side which I thought was was cool I have tried it with some of my landscape stuff just kind of messing around. Um, ah definitely like I like on drone stuff you know, ah my drone shoot shoots and whatever it is like 4 by 3 It's kind of almost square ratio and it's like sometimes I just want want like a a wide.

57:18.93
smacey
Um, a.

57:23.67
aaronmannes
Um.

57:31.18
Danny
Shot or a tallll shot so I started playing around with that this year adding some of it I think I think it's kind of limited at this point in terms of the resolution that it it generates. Um, if you have a high resolution photo and you add in the stuff with photoshop. Currently it. It's kind of.

57:40.79
aaronmannes
Yeah.

57:50.00
Danny
Doesn't look very sharp. It's kind of pixelated and Blurry I don't know if they're going to fix that at some point Um, but it is fun to yeah yeah, there's this.

57:56.45
smacey
I think it has to do also with the size you're trying to fill. Um I think Mike Aaron mentioned that gilling.

57:57.63
aaronmannes
Yeah, yeah, I Forget what? the the stats were but he's like just do little chunks at a time if you can. Yeah, yeah yeah.

58:07.16
smacey
Um, yeah.

58:08.22
Danny
Yeah, that's basically what you have to do which is a pain in the ass depending on what you're doing but um, but if you I don't know if you resize a photo. We're just posting on Instagram and you want to shrink it down and photoshop and then just do it I've done it I think it's cool.

58:18.67
smacey
Um, right.

58:22.41
aaronmannes
Instagram has a new Ai prompt in the stories at least I saw it was like do you want to it worked I I didn't use it but it worked really nicely because I liked my background I I just posted a photo my dog with a Christmas tree behind it and I liked it but it was like do you want to try something new and ah.

58:24.20
smacey
Really I don't have this update.

58:24.80
Danny
I haven't played with that yet.

58:40.60
smacey
I'm going to pull this up on my.

58:40.13
aaronmannes
You know we'll'll we'll find the subject and then it did perfectly and then I just did I was like do a winter holiday Christmas scene and it did like a nice nice job I was I was like fifty fifty like Hush I use this or was just ah, it was a bit much. It was a bit wintery.

58:49.33
smacey
Are.

58:51.20
Danny
Yeah.

58:58.29
smacey
Did you post it.

58:59.62
Danny
It's scary. How good it is.

58:59.91
aaronmannes
Um, no and I I mean I posted the real photo. It's a real photo I didn't use I just went through the whole steps and it it. It did a nice job. Yeah, it's going to be Ah, it'll be a thing more and more.

59:05.31
smacey
Um, ah, that's interesting. Oh.

59:18.52
Danny
It's definitely gonna be a thing I have used um if you get the a light room app for iphone. It's It's a very cool app for editing I use it a lot just edit photos on my phone but now there's like a blurred tool in there where you can kind of blur out that it it kind of.

59:18.56
aaronmannes
To yeah.

59:30.66
aaronmannes
Um, yeah, yeah.

59:35.67
Danny
Automatically detect. Yeah, it detects like a subject or you can put it on a focal point and then you can adjust the the background bar and it looks I do it sometimes as a kill time I'm walking to work I work in your times square radio city there's like you know the the Christmas tree is there.

59:35.73
smacey
Um, the bouquet.

59:50.60
Danny
Subway like all kinds of crazy stuff that you can see and it's like sometimes I'm just bored and I'll take pictures and then I'll go into light room and I make them look like I took them on a you know like on a 51.4 something like that was like nope I was actually from my iphone with with ah their fancy blur technology. Yeah, it is.

59:55.51
aaronmannes
There.

01:00:02.10
aaronmannes
Um, yeah, you could sell you could sell your 402.8 and

01:00:07.57
smacey
Um I was this going to stay.

01:00:09.93
Danny
I mean to to go back to when I was in college and I had this little point in Shoe camera and I was getting these awesome photos from a professional photographer I'm like why don't my photos like I didn't understand depth of field and and foal I didn't know any of this stuff. You know I was I was I was annitty at the time and and now it's like.

01:00:19.90
aaronmannes
Um.

01:00:25.00
Danny
You could probably take a picture with a point shoot camera and and use these Ai tools to get a nice, really flurry background and really nice step the field and people probably wouldn't know the difference as yeah.

01:00:32.21
aaronmannes
Yeah, it's getting better and better for sure.

01:00:36.53
smacey
Um I was just in I was just in California with a couple friends and 1 friend who came out isn't a photographer by any means but he bought like a little point and shoot Sony for the trip and ah it had one of those like little electronic zooms that comes out to it went out to seven twenty

01:00:52.50
Danny
Um, wow.

01:00:53.29
aaronmannes
Really, she's.

01:00:53.51
smacey
This little tiny pointing shoot. Yeah and you're thinking these photos are going to be garbage and then he he shows this like back of camera here and like what do I have all this thousands of dollars a gear for I can just be out in the field a little po shoot killing it throw it into light room use. The new bouquet feature and you know.

01:01:06.90
aaronmannes
Ah, for issue call a day seriously carrier. That's the thing.

01:01:07.59
Danny
Um, yeah, yeah.

01:01:12.36
smacey
Call it a day. Don't need to pine over the 400 prime anymore and I don't have to carry it to you say would love me a lot more. You know.

01:01:16.28
Danny
You don't have to carry it which is which is the huge benefit. Yeah thing is so heavy.

01:01:21.95
aaronmannes
Yeah, that's funny. Love it. Ah so we're at the hour mark to wrap things up. We like to ask? ah 1 1 simple question and I mean. Seth this might be a question. We keep for a little bit and it might change flavors. But right now the flavor. The flavor of the month is if you could tell your younger photography self something. Ah so something you'd want to you know.

01:01:40.62
smacey
Um, yeah, sure.

01:01:54.82
aaronmannes
If if you do things over potentially or let's call it piece of advice to your younger self in photography. What would it be.

01:01:55.91
smacey
Um, piece of advice.

01:02:05.62
Danny
Um, I mean my to myself or to anyone in Journal come goes back to what you're saying about your your friend who's getting into football photography um with sports. It's like.

01:02:12.76
smacey
Are.

01:02:13.87
aaronmannes
Maybe from yourself like the best lesson you've learned or maybe the the mistake you wouldn't want to make again or anything.

01:02:21.10
Danny
I think for me, it was just getting as much experience as I could and I would say that's that's what you should do now in terms of for for sports. It could be really what shooting whatever you can whatever is accessible to you and and and and pro sports are. Kind of literally inaccessible to a lot of people right? like you, you can't just show up at yankee stadium and say hey man I want to go shoot the game today but you can go to your local high school and get right on the side of the the field. Um, so I would say whatever so experience you can get with sports just shooting it. Um. It's going to help you learn how to shoot it where to be how to expose to you know, understanding how to caption certain moments. Um the emotions you know you know little league baseball is at its core. Not that dissimilar from a major league game right? I mean it's the same plays and. Um, the guys are not obviously able to to do the same things that major leagues can do but you can you can go to a luly game and get some awesome photos of of little kids with you know, crying or thrilled that they just got a hit or you know whatever there's there's a whole range range of emotions with that and um. You know for me I did a lot of high school stuff after college and it was a really good experience shooting sports that I had never seen before I never seen like field hockey or I'd never gone to a swimming meet in college but you go to a high school and you can shoot all this stuff and um.

01:03:53.76
Danny
You know, especially if you don't have top end gear it forces you to really understand like how do I expose for this really crummy. Ah you know, high school gymnasium lighting. You know what do I do to? Ah, you know, um, freeze it with ah with a proper shutter speed with with limited. You know technology in your camera or the lighting is a lot of lot of it's very difficult at the lower levels and I think that was good. Um, a good way for me to learn um just to learn how to do the basics of it all, um, in ah, you know, but in terms of experience you know I feel like the pandemic. Kind of set a lot of us back. It certainly set me back like it. It was sort of like oh you can't you can't go outside now you can't do any of these stuff you like sports were getting canceled. You know there. There was no fans allowed right? There was a lot of restrictions. Ah for the spoon about the rangers like they weren't allowing anyone besides I think ap or getty images to come shoot games for like the whole twenty twenty season um and it's like it's very easy to kind of get sucked into of that mode of like not going out, not putting yourself out there not trying to get these different experiences and I look back at my younger self and I was like man I can't believe I when did I did I internet this newspaper internet. This. My league baseball team and it was really good experience meeting people networking making those connections and just seeing how things are the how things operate from you know, talk about the the backstage thing of just seeing if you want to get into sports sports photography. It's a great way to see how things work.

01:05:27.14
Danny
Behind the scenes and if it's something that you think you would enjoy to being a part of um, you know there's a lot of nights and weekends when it comes to sports. Um, there's certainly a lot of people that work in sports that get burnt out because the the hours and and the time commitment and you know, um.

01:05:45.98
aaronmannes
Yeah.

01:05:46.65
Danny
So I would say yeah, there's as much experience you can get is going is going to help with a career but also just sort of learning the the fundamentals of photography.

01:05:57.60
smacey
Um, excellent stuff. Well Tanny Thank you very much man I was that was awesome I learned a lot.

01:05:58.48
aaronmannes
That's great.

01:06:01.11
Danny
Oh cool. Well thanks for having me appreciate it.

01:06:05.69
aaronmannes
Yeah, it was great and it was great to finally ah meet you face to face over the interwebs. Um, but yeah, let's stay in touch.

01:06:10.28
Danny
Yeah, sounds good.