"It's Like One Big Tailgating Party With An Awesome Close Up View Full Of Action And Excitement"

AVP Tournament - Fort Lauderdale, Beach Florida


April 16 - 18, 2010


I am a person that doesn't like to rise before the sun comes up and on Saturday morning with a full day of work ahead it was no different. Waking up to darkness and a radio blasting U2 it was time for a pot of coffee, finish up packing my camera gear and head off to Fort Lauderdale Beach.

I didn't really know what to expect being this was my first pro volleyball tournament.  When I got to the tournament early on in the morning staff were still setting up for the event. I find it's always good to get to sporting events as a photographer at least 30 minutes before the scheduled time. Leaving ample room for check in and getting familiar with the layout. For the Super Bowl it was a couple of hours early.

Being positioned pretty close up to where the match would be, made it pretty easy to use a lens that put me in the range of 70 - 200mm. At times I would stand on high podiums with my wide angle lens as well. Podiums, speakers, scaffolds, roofs where ever I need to position myself to get the shot is where I stand.   I feel a full frame camera is the way to go when shooting sports. I used two different cameras and I was much happier with the full frame shots even if it was a touch slower. A full frame camera is much easier when you want to fit the player, including feet and the ball in the shot, shooting tight..Simply put.

The tournament players came from areas to include California, Brazil and a lot of locals from Florida. I have to honestly say what a genuinely nice bunch of players to include the Olympic Gold Medalists that participated in the event. Phil Dalhausser, Todd Rogers, Misty May Treanor, partner Nicole Branagh and reigning world champions Jen Kessy and partner April Ross. One of the tallest women I met at the tournament was Kelly Schumacher at 6' 5" she was in the WNBA and MVP in Basketball, Volleyball and Soccer. Talk about good genes, Kelly lives in Florida and so does her partner Capri Hilgendorf.  All the players were very open to getting their pictures taken and being interviewed before and after their matches.

The tournament was broken down like a Pro Tennis tournament with a stadium court, where the top seeds play and then all the other courts located around the perimeter. Most of the action on the first and second day rounds were on the courts outside the stadium. This was mainly due to open access and a huge fan base cheering on the local teams. It was great to watch as well as photograph and I have to say the athletes are so fit, showing off mostly skin and some tats! What’s always nice are that the fans can really feel connected to the matches by being up very close and personal on the smaller courts. "It's like one big tailgating party with an awesome close up view full of action and excitement"

Its interesting having grown up in New York City, it took me a long time to get used to living in South Florida. I compared living down here to New York for so many years. Then one day I just stopped and appreciated South Florida for what it had to offer which is actually a lot! As a professional photographer I have covered most of the major events down here. Probably in excess of over 200 events last year so I can tell you there are a lot of diverse things to do and things to see. I look forward to seeing and or meeting you soon at my next event : ).

Pictures are copyrighted..All rights reserved
(c) Michele Sandberg/Zuma Press