A week with Team USA Soccer in Salt Lake and Trinidad
US Soccer – Images by Robert Caplin
October turned out to be one crazy month involving quite a bit of traveling.
I was commissioned to shoot a documentary assignment for ESPN The Magazine to photograph the US Soccer team in their quest to make it into the upcoming 2010 World Cup being held in South Africa. The assignment was to generally hang out with the team at practices and hotels prior to and during two qualifying matches, the first of which against El Salvador held in Salt Lake City, Utah. The following day I hopped on a jet AND followed the team to their next game against Trinidad & Tobago way down in the Caribbean. I cant complain about that!
Though I was afforded better access than most to the team, I still was very limited. I was given only the first 15/20 minutes of practices and the normal press access during games. I worked with the team’s publicist to photograph them hanging out in the hotel, loading onto and off of the bus, as I was also staying at the same hotel.
Beyond working, the highlights of the trip including visiting my pal and fellow photographer Chris Detrick at his home in Salt Lake and firing up the BBQ. Also, down in the Caribbean I was able to spend the day prior to the soccer match buzzing through the windy mountainous roads to the exquisite beaches in Trinidad. I also had the opportunity to try Shark and Bake (fried shark sandwich), which is apparently is the national dish of Trinidad. It was alright. 
Check out the rest of the archives from Slat Lake and Trinidad.
Here’s how the spread ran in ESPN The Magazine:
Soccer Layouts – Images by Robert Caplin
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments
Comments are closed.
NIce work Robert! It was nice to catch a little time with ya in NY. I love the shot they used on the contents page of the team on the bus. Take it easy! – pt
great stuff. knowing how limited the access was, these are amazing.