Arizona Coyotes Prospects Camp July 2015

The Arizona Coyotes National Hockey League club started their prospects camp on 7 July 2015 at the Ice Den in Scottsdale, Arizona. 

Coach Dave Tippett

I photographed the highlights of the first day.  It was what appeared to be a hard skating hour and a half.  This wasn’t a scrimmage.  They had set things they worked on, then the coaches broke them into smaller teams of three and two. 

Photographing inside with artificial light is always a challenge, but since I shoot in raw I knew I could adjust the white balance within Lightroom in post processing.  I also used Photoshop’s content aware fill to eliminate some distracting elements in a few of the photos. 

There was either net or glass surrounding the entire rink, which was also a challenge.  You may see some of the net in a few of the photos.  I photographed through the net and later through the glass. 

I used a Tamron 28-300mm “all purpose” lens on my Canon 5D Mark III.

Until My Next Adventure, 

(Spain, Italy/Sicily, Malta...)

See You On Down The Road!

Jim Patterson

Here are all the keeper photos!

Coyotes Rookies vs Kings Rookies 17 Sept 2014

The Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League are now the Arizona Coyotes along with new ownership.  Mid-September in the NHL means training camp and it was a great excuse to go to the Glendale Arena and see a free scrimmage between the Coyotes rookies and the L.A. Kings rookies.

I shoot with a Canon 5D Mark III and today I only brought my Canon 70-300mm lens.  I set to 1/600^th of a second shutter priority (to freeze action) and auto ISO.  I shoot in RAW format, so I knew I could easily change the white balance inside Lightroom, which I ended up doing. 

I stayed through two periods, enough for a hot dog and beer and a few action shots.

Until My Next Adventure, 

See You On Down The Road!

Jim Patterson

See all of my photos from this adventure by clicking the Flickr slideshow below!

Created with flickr slideshow.

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.