When you’re assigned to a heavily covered event and every photographer there is shooting from the same spot, it’s hard to say, “Know what?…What the hell, I’m going over there, where there’s absolutely nobody.”
It’s kind of like being an antelope, seeing a bunch of lions in the distance, and thinking, “I know those other 600 antelope are sticking together, but I think I’m just gonna hang-out over here, in the shade, by this tree…..alone.
Because those other photographers are probably in that spot for a very good reason.
And whatever happens, they all have an equal chance of getting the shot from there. You on the other hand will be off somewhere, looking for a better angle, some dramatic light, or getting yelled at to, “Get back where you belong.”
So why risk it?
After you do this for a while, getting the same shot as everyone else is no longer what you’re always after. If you’re shooting for an agency, the shooter from a different agency to the left of you will have basically the same shot at the wire photog to your right. And you’ll be in-between getting something very similar to both of them.
Best-case scenario, some photo editor somewhere looking for a shot from this event will just do an “Eeeny-meeenie-miney-moe” because all the shots are so similar. So why should they pick yours?
So the similar shot may not be that exciting, but it is safe, and the last thing you want to do is answer the question, “Everyone else got the shot of Trump ducking that thrown shoe…why didn’t you?”
And if you say, “Because I was off trying to get something different,” your photo editor won’t resist the opportunity to say something like, “Oh you got something different all right…you got crap!”
But I gotta tell ya’, almost every time I try this, it’s worth the risk.
There are usually 3 or 4 events going-on simultaneously at a gymnastics championship, as well as a nice elevated spot for the photographers that offers an overview of everything. But the images from there will have the same feel as the view everyone in the stands has had all day. So if you're willing to risk missing something on the vault, or the bars, or the floor, grab a long lens and head for the beam. (C) Stan Godlewski
Now, I don’t do it with the super high-stakes stuff, that would be crazy. But I’ll do it when the odds are good that there’s something better to be found than what can be seen from the risers in the back of a hotel ballroom or almost any sports event.
Because everyone shooting together means they all probably get the same shot in front of them, and that if something happens out of view, they'll all miss it.
And that’s the allure of hanging-out in the shade, by this tree…alone. You get to see the hunt from a place other than the frenzy of the herd, and maybe bag a trophy shot no one else has.
If you don’t get eaten.