Coyotes from Row A

I turned 60 on December 15^th.  And I’m feeling pretty good and happy.  I’m a hockey fan and always wanted to sit on the glass, Row “A” as they call it at the Jobing.com arena in Glendale, Arizona, home of the Phoenix Coyotes of the NHL. 

So on December 14, I sat in the front row with Marni and Faron along with my Canon 5D Mark III and Canon 24-105mm lens. 

I set my camera to TV mode, or shutter priority.  I set my shutter at 1/500^th of a second.  I also set ISO to auto.  Unless you want blur on purpose, a fast shutter speed is necessary.  I could have set my white balance in camera, but I reset in Lightroom to fluorescent since I was shooting in RAW format.  It takes maybe a second to highlight all the photos and sync the white balance for everything, so I don’t worry about that much. 

You never know what celebrity might be in the audience.  Sitting several rows behind me in section 110 was the coach of the Paradise Valley Community College Puma’s baseball team, Victor Solis.  Dropping the ceremonial puck today was Arizona Diamondbacks slugging first basemen Paul Goldschmidt. 

One little lesson I learned.  As I was moving around in row A, I set my beer on the ledge in front of me, got ready to shoot, and yes some players banged into the glass in front of me.  I thought something felt cold on my feet.  Yup, one beer on the floor in front of me.  Hey, I’m the birthday boy and I’m sittin’ in ROW A baby, so who cares!

In addition to Marni and Faron, a special thanks to Haus Murphy’s of Glendale.  The owner came out and bought me a beer and gave me a free cherry strudel before the game.  And a nice bartender at Westgate’s Saddle Ranch bought me a shot of rum before the game started.  No wonder I was relaxed at the game! 

By the way, the Coyotes lost 3 to 1 to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Keep Shooting,

Jim Patterson

…and all of my photos from Row A at the Coyotes are below.