A couple of weeks ago I was asked if I’d be willing to shoot some photos at a lacrosse game. I’d never actually been to a lacrosse game, let alone photographed one. When my kids were in school, the sport hadn’t yet taken off to the degree that it apparently has now.
My immediate concern was about gear. I recently sold some of my best sports photo equipment, including the 1D Mark IV body, the 300 f/2.8 IS, and the 600 f/4 IS. I figured if I wasn’t going to be shooting motorsports regularly anymore, there wasn’t much point in having such nice gear sit in the closet and collect dust. I was able to sell the lenses for even more than I had paid for them a few years back, which was a different experience than with most other investments I’ve had. I picked up a 5D Mark II body, which is a fine camera, especially for portraits and landscapes, and the stuff I anticipate doing in the near future – it’s just not necessarily a great sports action camera, as my1D Mark IV was.
So, although I was very willing to give it a shot, I was a bit concerned about trying to shoot sports action with a 5D Mark II and a 70-200 f/2.8 IS II with a 1.4x TC and 2x TC. The light wound up being (mostly) pretty decent that evening, and it was fun to finally see a lacrosse game. That sport can get a little rough, even with young kids like these! I was reasonably pleased with the way the photos turned out, and look forward to shooting lacrosse again sometime. Here are a few samples:
