Creative Process: Striving to Enhance My Skills Photographing Soccer

I infuse teaching the creative process into my Arts, Media, and Design courses at American International College.  

As several of my students play on the men's soccer team, I set out to engage in the creative process myself, aiming to increase my chances of successfully capturing key moments from the game against New Haven. 

Vying for corner kick (or maybe a free kick).

I researched tips and techniques for photographing soccer to build on my expertise of fifty years working as a photographer. (I am only 64, but was first published as a teenager.)

I found 11 Tips for Breathtaking Soccer Photography from Digital Photography School somewhat helpful in guiding my approach to the challenge. However, Sports Illustrated photographer Peter Read Miller's video Tips for Shooting Soccer proved to be an invaluable resource.  His advice was clear, precise, encouraging and empowering.  I knew what lens, aperture and shutter speed to use, optimum vantage points and angles, as well as key game moments to anticipate.

Shot List: includes the jersey numbers of my students.

After deepening my knowledge, I generated a shot list of types of images to focus my shooting.  I also emailed Coordinator of Athletic Communications Seth Dussault, inquiring about the logistics of covering the game. He got back to me, "Basically, just don't cross the yellow lines. Other than that you're pretty free to do as you please."

A tackle.

I enjoyed the challenge of working to capture the types of images from my shot list.  

A header.

This is as close as I came with a header.  I wanted the moment of a head making contact with the ball.  In many shots, the ball was 10 or more away from the point of contact.

Soaring.

At one point I noticed a hawk soaring above the field.  I took a short break from the game and photographed in the majestic bird.  I marveled and the apparent confidence and freedom of the bird, took a deep breath, and tried to infuse these qualities to my photographic efforts.

Manuel Schwarz shoots to score his 3rd goal of the day.

Read Miller's suggestions from the video informed my actions as I adjusted my camera settings and shooting locations based on changing light and conditions.  Per Miller's advice, I shot mostly from a corner of the field. 

Often near me was the linesman/assistant referee. I heard her giving advice via a headset to the head referee, who seemed close to losing the respect of the players and thus command over them.

Schwarz's teammates swarm to celebrate with him.

Though I watched Miller's video only once, it was as if he was coaching me via a headset as his voiced explanations lingered in my head.

The Professor at Work - Photo by AIC student Jalen Jordan

In the video, Miller demonstrated photographing from a lower angle to enhance the perceived stature of the players.  I wish that I had the kneepads he was wearing!

Arty.

I experimented with using a slow shutter to create an impressionistic rendering of the game.

Pain.

Looking at the images later on my computer, I reveled in reaching the photographic goals outlined on my shot list.  Not all the images are perfect examples, but it was exhilarating capturing what I could. 

Ah... the power of the creative process.

Below is one of my first published images, shot when I was thirteen. 

From The Harvard Bulletin

Professor John Nordell teaches courses in the Arts, Media, and Design Program at American International College in Springfield, Mass. He blogs about the creative process at CreateLookEnjoy.com and teaches online Zentangle drawing workshops.  

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Creative Process - Preparing, Planning and Photographing Football

I previously worked for many years as a photojournalist, but rarely shot sports.  Planning to photograph a football game at American International College, where I teach, I looked online for effective strategies.  I also looked at amazing football photos for inspiration.

Search History

Before leaving my car to shoot, I sketched different ideas of the types of images that I wanted to capture.

Celebrating, Laying Out to Catch a Pass, Making a Tackle

It proved valuable to have this vision of what I wanted to document.

Kyle Boyer-Tucker Laying Out to Catch a Pass

Kyle took my Digital Photography 1 class a few years ago.  So great to see him on the field.

Jaysen Thompsen Celebrating

As I walked behind the AIC bench with my gear, I ran into linebacker Gates Kelliher, currently a student in my History of Photojournalism class.  We fist bumped.

Here is Gates (43) Making a Tackle

Later, once again traversing the AIC bench as the action shifted to the other end of the field, I heard Gates yell to me, "Hey Professor.  The leaves!"  A reference to the sun drenched fall beauties adjacent to the field.  I was trying to capture game highlights, but Gates' enthusiasm about photography in this moment became a highlight of my teaching career.

The Handoff, with Leaves

Experimentation - Searching for Art in Structured Complexity

One of the preparatory articles I read suggested to stretch your legs before game time, to be ready to run down the sidelines when field position changed quickly.

The Prof in Action - Photo by AIC Graduate Samira Abdul-Karim

My legs were fine.  However, kneeling for hours while steadying the camera, along with dipping my head to review the images, left me with a sore neck.  It's sometimes hard to prepare for everything.  That's part of the process.

I later asked two Visual and Digital Arts majors that I photographed to write about the connections between playing football and creating images.  Click here to read their reports and see their images.

Professor John Nordell teaches courses in the Visual and Digital Arts Program at American International College in Springfield, Mass. He blogs about the creative process at CreateLookEnjoy.com  Instagram: @john.nordell

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Manifold Histories - From Horse-Drawn Trams to Digital Cameras

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"Gallery A3 is excited to announce its 6th Annual Juried Show, to be held August 1-31, 2019, with an opening reception on Thursday, August 1, from 5-8 pm."

I am excited that my image Manifold Histories was selected for the exhibition.  Hope to see you at the opening reception!  28 Amity Street, Amherst,  MA.

Manifold Histories

The digital image, an in-camera multiple exposure from my Reality-Based Abstraction series, melds multiple viewpoints simultaneously of the Summit House porches:

Porches and Pathways

This view from Mt. Holyoke has seen many changes, from industrial ascent and decline to the digital revolution.  According to MassMoments, "With the closest source of water halfway down the mountain, John French built a wooden railway to haul barrels of water up the track.  Power was provided by a horse hitched to a circling crank at the top.  French soon realized that, properly equipped, the tram could also transport people.  He installed the body of a sleigh, and passengers were soon being carried over 600 feet up the mountain.  Moving at a 38-degree angle, riders had the sensation of being pulled almost straight up."

The Covered Tramway, circa 1860.  Photo courtesy of MassMoments

In 2017, a Mt. Holyoke College graduate looked to creating her history:

Bring it On!

In the far distance, beyond the Connecticut River, is the Oxbow, a shape evocative of the apparatus placed over an ox's neck that connects the animal to a wagon.  You can see the Oxbow clearly in Thomas Cole's painting:

View From Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, After a Thunderstorm - The Oxbow,
by Thomas Cole, 1836, The Met

In the same way Cole (bottom center of the painting) looks at the viewer, perhaps asking, "What do you think?",  I encourage my students to look closely at this painting.  They pick out the trees cut down for farming, the storm clouds, the broken tree.  "Might the cut trees and storm foretell the industrial revolution that severely polluted these waterways?" I ask.

One day riding my bike I happened upon the Oxbow Water Ski Show Team demonstrating their athletic waterborne artistry on the Oxbow.  My water ski lesson starts at the 56 second mark in the video.



I wonder what Thomas Cole would make of this activity.  You would need hundreds of horses attached to a circling crank to power one of the boats.

The Many Forms of Water

Image added January 2022.    In the exact areas where I water skied, people ice-fished and skated.  After overcoming my fear if the ice was solid,  I sort of slid-skated along the ice in my winter boots.

Professor John Nordell teaches courses in the Visual and Digital Arts Program at American International College in Springfield, Mass. He blogs about the creative process at CreateLookEnjoy.com  Instagram: @john.nordell

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A (Satur) Day in the Life of Professor Nordell

Driving to Springfield, Massachusetts to watch some of my American International College students compete in the Women's Rugby 7s Invitational, I listened to Amisha Ghadiali on The is Future Beautiful podcast interview Charles Eisenstein about possible responses to serious environmental issues.  How does Eisenstein stay centered in tumultuous times?  "My practice is to ask, 'what is it like to be you'?  What it is like to be the people you judge the most."

See Ya Later

The first open parking space near the rugby field was close to a tree. What is it like to be you I wondered about the tree, and thusly chose to move my car rather than park atop the roots.

What is it Like to be You? 

After the tournament, I found that others had parked right next to the tree.  In homage to friend and master tree photographer, Benjy Swett, I photographed the specimen.  Benjy comes from a family of photographers.

I thought of his sister, Evelyn Swett, when I spied some of the first glorious spring colors and chose to photograph the dandelions in black and white.

Color Burst

Evelyn had recently posted a black and white image on Instagram of salad greens, and pondered, "Am I crazy to shoot a luscious local green salad in black and white or do the subtleties of shades of green deserve a quieter palette?"

Monuments

I stuck with monochrome for these tanks, inspired by the way the photographs of industrial sites by Bernd Becher and Hilla Becher teach us to see beauty and majesty in large structures.

Using the vegan Happy Cow app I discovered Pita Pockets on Main Street in Northampton.  As I sat in front and throughly enjoyed my sandwich, @postaljeff walked by delivering mail.  We chatted.

Main Street Life

I kick myself for not taking a portrait of Jeff, but the mail carrier by day and photographer the rest of the time is one of the masterminds behind @igers413, a site that connects Instagrammers in Western Massachusetts.

Figure 1                                                                                Figure 2

Up from Main Street and heading towards the Smith College Museum of Art on Elm, shapes and shadows caught my eye (Figure 1).  I then shot a three image in-camera multiple exposure of the scene (Figure 2).

Figure 3 - Crystalline Solid

I later used a filter in Photoshop to manipulate Figure 2, and in the process, created Figure 3, one of my Reality-Based Abstractions.

Sons of Joeson: Squirt Water Not Bullets!

For my Art and Culture: A Global Look course, I was searching for material that addressed the issue of whether artists need to present/promote their personal ethnic heritages or might choose a more universal, less culturally specific approach.  So I was delighted to discover Modern Images of the Body from East Asia at the Smith College Museum of Art.

Above, South Korean born Mina Cheon presented this work, "painted" by her alter ego, North Korean socialist realist painter Kim Il Soon.

The Judgement of Paris, 1992

The issue of ethnic representation remains complicated.  Chinese born American Hung Liu created this work that mixes Greek myth (a motif of 18th century Chinese art made for export to western markets) with renderings of prostitutes to entice male customers (based on archival photographs from Beijing).   "The equation is always the same: woman [as] object," says Liu.

Bowl with Scene from the Judgement of Paris, Mid-18th Century, Unknown Artist, China

Liu's work asks us to examine the portrayal of women across time and space, making connections based on gender rather than ethnicity.  Ushio Shinohara's work below, for which he covered boxing gloves in paint and punched a canvas, presents little indication of his traditional Japanese heritage.  Therefore, he may be more universally connected to others by virtue of being an artist that pushes boundaries, rather than by creating Japanese art.

Boxing Painting

I tell my students that I love going to museums because the experience helps me see the whole world as a museum.  For example, I noticed this precious single sheet of toilet paper in the men's room.

Impermanence

I then headed up to the Dublin School in New Hampshire to watch the Putney School Ultimate Frisbee team compete.

Airborne Focus

On my way to dinner in Keene, New Hampshire, I spotted Life is Sweet cupcake shop.  I snapped this image to send to a student in my entrepreneurs class who was developing a business plan for her mock bakery named, "The Sweet Life."

What it is Like to be Me

A full day of creating art, looking at art and enjoying connection.  Life, indeed, is sweet.

Professor John Nordell teaches courses in the Visual and Digital Arts Program at American International College in Springfield, Mass. He blogs about the creative process at CreateLookEnjoy.com

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