It's officially fall football season. Hard to believe there’s only six weeks left in the CFL season.
My week started off like they usually do... At the airport!
Flew into Ottawa on the charter with the Toronto Argonauts on Thursday afternoon.
Took a selfie with Logan Kilgore...
got photobombed by Ricky Ray!
I had made plans with friends, we went downtown and wandered around Parliament for a bit.
I almost forgot how pretty Ottawa is! Usually when I get to a city I’m so tired from all the travelling and end up staying in the hotel. But it was nice to get out and see the city a bit...with my camera, of course! Reminded me for a moment of just how unexpected photography can be sometimes. You can plan for something and then suddenly you realize it won’t work. I planned on getting some nice shots of the sunset by the canal in Ottawa that night. Ended up having some rain. What can you do?
I was meeting my friends in front of the Parliament, at the Eternal Flame. Turned out that I got that shot above instead! Not so bad, eh!
Here are few of my favorite shots from Friday night's game between the Toronto Argonauts and the Ottawa REDBLACKS.
Ottawa won 29-12 against Toronto.
After the game, I stayed in Ottawa and caught a 6:30am flight to Calgary the morning after for the Stamps/Bombers game.
At the start of the season, you would have had a hard time finding someone who thought the Week 14 matchup between Calgary and Winnipeg was the game of the year, but it ended up being exactly that.
And I messed up.
I’m not shy about admitting that Winnipeg and Calgary are two of my favourite teams to shoot and the story line heading into that game had me more excited than usual. Winnipeg gave me locker room access before and after the game so I had an idea of how I wanted to shoot if they won.
In the fourth quarter, when it looked like the Bombers were coming back, I lost myself in the story line. Something you should never do as a photographer!
I got caught up in the idea that the Bombers might make history and win eight in a row...
...and beat the unbeatable Stampeders, that I shot the majority of the game from their sidelines, focused on the shots I could get if they won.
Well, they didn’t win...
And I didn’t get the shots I was hoping for, and only after the final whistle blew I realized I didn’t had the shots for Calgary either. I always pride myself on capturing the story of the game and being aware and quick; that’s what makes me successful and that’s why people hire me. I don’t feel like I did that this game. I got so caught up in telling the Bombers story that I didn’t tell the story of the game, as I would usually do. That was a first for me and I was definitely not happy with myself after that.
As a professional, you can’t let yourself get emotionally too involved with a team during a game.
Being the perfectionist that I am, it’s a tough lesson to learn, and it still stings a little bit, but I think I’ll learn from it and be better for it in the long run.
Live & learn.
I’m not perfect either. Some say mistakes (if you learn from them) have the power to turn you into something better than you were before...
I'd say I agree with that!
As a photographer, you have to be able to shake those days off and get ready for the next project.
Reflecting on that right now as I pack for Montreal for my next adventure.
More next week!
-Johany
Credits:
Photos by Johany Jutras