With all the sports I shoot it sometimes impress me that I don’t see more injuries than I do. It’s your typical sprained knee or whatever. I covered a soccer game last night and I was following two players battling for the ball at full speed. The both fell and the ball was put in the net on the rebound of sorts. The players cheered and the opposing player was still on the gras. My first thought was that he was just pissed off that he didn’t prevent the goal. I realized he was favoring his arm and looked to be in quite a lot of pain. The trainer rushed to the field and I heard the injured player say the other guy landed on him.

I checked the entire sequence on the LCD and found that I had indeed caught where his arm is bending kind of awkward when they fell to the grass.

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM + 1,4x TC @ 420mm, f/4,5 1/1250sec, ISO200. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

A shot of the player with the trainer behind the net shows the trainer supporting the arm while the player shows just how much pain he’s in.

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM + 1,4x TC @ 420mm, f/4,5 1/1250sec, ISO200. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

The player was taken away in an ambulance.

Sunday the local soccer team ‘Avarta’ secured advancement to Division 2 after winning the game against Birkeroed. The advancement is secured with four games left of the season.

They could have secured advancement Wednesday but the game ended with a tie game which was not enough. I spent two hours on the side line waiting for the goal that would bring them to Division 2 and the jubilation shots following the game but that didn’t happen.

It was appropriate that they won the game at home in front of their home crowd.

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/3.2 1/2000sec, ISO100. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

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Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/3.2 1/2000sec, ISO100. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

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Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40 f/4L USM @ 36mm, f/4 1/800sec, ISO100. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

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Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40 f/4L USM @ 17mm, f/4 1/1600sec, ISO100. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

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Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40 f/4L USM @ 17mm, f/4 1/1600sec, ISO100. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

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Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40 f/4L USM @ 24mm, f/4 1/1600sec, ISO100. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

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Around Monday last week I received a phone call.
Voice says: “Hey Brian, our photographer is on vacation. Would you be able to cover the Cup Final thursday?”

Without much hesitation I replied with a “Yes of course!”

The Cup Final is a nation wide soccer tournament where lower tier teams compete with the top division teams. It’s not the National Championship, but the winner gets a ticket to the European UEFA Cup next year. Brondby the local soccer team where I live is so far down the standing they looked to not make it to the European tournaments for the second straight year which is not satisfying what so ever.

Not only did I get to shoot top level soccer (The final was between two top division teams), I got to shoot the local soccer team where I live. And it was played in the National stadium where the Danish National team plays their home games.

Brondby won the game 3-2 after being ahead 1-0, 2-1 and scoring their last goal to make it 3-2 with about five minutes to go.
The fans got so excited. I was sitting in the same end as the Brondby fans and when they scored their second goal to make it 2-1 I almost got bombed with beer. A container hit the dirt right next to me and a spray of beer flew up and soaked my sock and left side of my pants. Why would anybody toss an almost full cup of beer? I’d empty it up instead!!

Anyway here’s a slideshow with sound and photos from the very exciting game! Click the image to launch.

Death in the family has kept my mind on anything else but this blog. Now that everything is back to normal (as normal as it can get) I figured it was time to give a little update on what I’ve been doing..

A couple of concerts, a couple of soccer games, some handball, a demonstration and other stuff is among what I’ve been pointing my camera at.

I made a small gallery with captions in it with some of the most recent stuff I’ve been doing.

Click image to launch.

A apologize to the few who actually visit this blog, for lack of updates. Work has been shit busy lately. I haven’t forgotten you but I’ve had my hands full of other things. Here’s eight photos of recent assignments without much explanation. No explanation actually.

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/2,8 1/200sec, ISO1000. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/2,8 1/2500sec, ISO100. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f4L USM @ 35mm, f/4 1/60sec, ISO200. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f4L USM @ 40mm, f/4 1/160sec, ISO640. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/2.8 1/2500sec, ISO200. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f4L USM @ 29mm, f/22 1/125sec, ISO100. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/2.8 1/320sec, ISO1600. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/2.8 1/320sec, ISO1600. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)

I couple of months ago or something I spent some money on a raincover for my 300mm + camera setup. The danish summer (or should I say lack there of) has been rainy as hell. So I figured sometime during the soccer season I would need either a huge umbrella or a rain cover.

Saturday proved to be THAT day.

No it’s not camera noise. It’s shot at ISO 500. That is rain coming down hard.

I discovered that not only does my camera need a raincover. I need rain covers as well. My jacket was soaked but kept the water out. My jeans was a completely different story. It wouldn’t have been such a big problem if it wasn’t because I had to shoot a handball game after the soccer game.

Ok so I know the title is a bit misleading. This is about the sun however.

As I guess all of you know the calendar says mid September. We’re no longer looking at high sun past 8 pm which means it’s getting darker faster and once the sun is setting it gives you some harsh shadows.

When shooting outdoor (sports in particular) under a clear sky and bright sun, i always position myself so I shoot with the sun straight behind me. so I get a well distributed lighting of the subject(s). With this rule, some stadiums give me end line shooting while others give me side line shots (which is not always great for soccer as you tend to get “side shots” - pictures of people’s side instead of front).

This past Saturday I shot game from 4pm and it was sort of corner lighting which meant it came in on the field in a 45 degree angle. Turned out to suit me well. I rarely get good jubilation shots as I tend to find myself camping at the wrong side or end of the field. This time it turned out just perfect.

Jakob Halling of Ledoeje-Smoerum celebrates after scoring a goal against Ballerup. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/2,8 1/3200sec, ISO100)

Talk about contact with the player. I shot like 10 frames as he came running towards me and just one of those frames had him looking at the camera.

I’ve been busy not updating the blog, so I figured it was time to spam you with a series of photos from recent assignments.

Every year the city and local track and field club arrange a race. This was the start of the 5km run. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 70-200mm f2.8L USM @ 200mm, f/2,8 1/500sec, ISO500)

Road construction resulted in a broken gas pipe, so the fire department and police blocked off a longer section the street. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 70-200mm f2.8L USM @ 70mm, f/2,8 1/800sec, ISO125)

Teachers might have to run faster in the future. A potential budget cut in the teachers budget, will not allow for payment for extra hours. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f4L USM @ 26mm, f/4 1/125sec, ISO250)

The Dane Mikkel Bodker was selected fifth overall in the CHL import Draft by the Kitchener Rangers who plays in the Ontario Hockey League. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f4L USM @ 33mm, f/22 1/250sec, ISO100)

A rally car blazes past spectators during a local Rally Sprint. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f4L USM @ 40mm, f/20 1/50sec, ISO100)

Skjold goaltender picks the wrong side on a penalty kick and can only watch the ball go in the net. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/2.8 1/2500sec, ISO400)

A shakespeare comedy theater show. (Photo: Brian Poulsen)
(Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f2.8L IS USM @ 300mm, f/2.8 1/400sec, ISO640)

Usually the weekends are pretty easy. A soccer game or two to cover a day. Anyway this Saturday was crazy as hell and is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. The main reason for this madness is the paper has a soccer section in the paper because the season has just started. That meant I had to cover just about every team in the city! And not every team was playing at home. to make things nuts, I had an unrelated assignment during the mess and late at night. Here’s my Saturday as it went.12:09 PM - Avarta soccer club, opened a girls team for the first time in the club’s history.Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM @ 200mm, f/2.8, 1/2500sec, ISO100 (Photo: Brian Poulsen)1:50 PM - Game action + picture of head coach of the soccer team B77.Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM + 1.4x TC @ 420mm, f/4, 1/1600sec, ISO100 (Photo: Brian Poulsen)2:27 PM - Local soccer star Hjalte Bo Norregaard who’s playing for the national championship team (far left) visits a reopening of a youth club that just restored their buildings.Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM @ 17mm, f/7.1, 1/800sec, ISO100 (Photo: Brian Poulsen)2:38 PM - A small horse riding competition which was part of the reopening of the youth club.Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM @ 17mm, f/4, 1/2500sec, ISO100 (Photo: Brian Poulsen)2:51 PM - Soccer action + picture of head coach of Team VEST.Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM + 1.4x TC @ 420mm, f/4, 1/1600sec, ISO100 (Photo: Brian Poulsen)4:08 - Soccer action + picture of Club President from the Avarta soccer club.Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM + 1.4x TC @ 420mm, f/4, 1/1600sec, ISO100 (Photo: Brian Poulsen)4:54 - Soccer action + photo of the head coach of the soccer club Orient.Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM + 1.4x TC @ 420mm, f/4, 1/1600sec, ISO100 (Photo: Brian Poulsen)5:40 PM - Got home and edited photos for a couple of hours, having shot 800+ photos during the day.9:54 PM - A Small concert by ‘KNA connected’ at the youth club who held a party at night.Canon EOS-1D Mark II n, EF 17-40mm f/4L USM @ 40mm, f/4, 1/160sec, ISO1000 (Photo: Brian Poulsen)10:30 - Home around 10:30 PM, Edited photos from the concert and sent everything in to the paper. Was done around midnight.

I figured it was about time I did another slideshow. I shot a pro soccer match today.Anyway… enjoy.click image to launch.