As a freelancer, I’m always waiting for the phone to ring because a ringing phone usually means work’s calling. It’s always nice to hear the familiar voice of a photo editor on the other end asking my availability. The only thing that spoils it is when they pre-empt the assignment pitch with “So you’re an early riser, right?” delivered in a tone closely associated with a mischievous grin . I answered with “Oh boy…what’s the assignment and how early?…”

As it turned out, the next morning was the NYC Triathlon and the New York Times wanted one nice photo of the event for the paper. Given triathlons consist of swimming, biking, and running; we figured swimming would be the most visual portion to photograph…especially since it took place in the Hudson River!

So I found out I needed to be to my assignment by 5:50AM as that’s when the swimming portion for the pros was scheduled to begin. Unfortunately when I woke up at 5AM, the weather was rainy, hot, and humidity was at 99% according to the forecast. Yuck. With an oversized umbrella and rain-jacket, I made my way to Riverside Park along the Hudson on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, down to the dock where all the triathletes would soon be exiting the water, and waited. The race had been delayed about 30 minutes. Hurry up and wait. In the rain.

After passing the time under my umbrella, I could finally see the flapping arms and faces of swimmers popping up, down, in, and out of the water. Moments later the pros and elite athletes first approached and stormed out of the choppy, brown Hudson River gasping for air and pulling themselves out or the water, some with the help of lifeguards. Up the ramp and down the dock barefoot they clambered down the bike path where they jumped on their bikes and headed north along the West Side Highway continuing about 24 miles before ending in Central Park with a near 6 mile run. Woah.

It was my first time shooting or even witnessing a triathlon and I was truly amazed at the determination and strength of its competitors. It’s even inspired me to work towards a goal of someday competing in a race like that myself…though we’ll see if that ever happens….

Big congrats to my triathlete/photographer pal Jason DeCrow for completing the course!

A few weeks ago I was approached by Josh Lehrer of Unique Photo asking if I’d be interested in taking part in a Nikon D3S vs. Canon 1D Mark IV shootout with my Nikon-shooting pal, David Bergman. Josh took us to a very dimly-lit sporting venue in Long Island where David and I shot side-by-side at the various ISO settings so he could later create a write-up.

Both cameras proved to be great tools and improvements on their predecessors….Click here to see the results on Josh’s blog post to see the side-by-side comparisons and download the RAW files!

What are your thoughts? Who won? Canon or Nikon?

The shootout banner he made cracks me up!

Lately, as I’ve been transitioning into cinematography, I’ve been experimenting with time-lapse photography. I’ve had a lot of practice while working on my latest project, Betrayed, (a motion picture short shot exclusively with the 5D Mark II staring Seth Gilliam from ‘The Wire’, Cara Buono from ‘The Sopranos‘ and PJ Sosko and is due out very soon!) so I decided to take what I’d learned to the World Series because I thought it would be a great opportunity to attempt this hit-or-miss process.

This time-lapse is a compilation of over 5,000 still-images I took from 3 cameras from about 25 locations, all around the inside/outside of Yankee Stadium, that gives a narrative of attending a game-winning World Series during the inaugural season of baseball’s most famous stadium.

This was probably one of the most tiring and time-consuming processes I’ve undertaken with still-photography. I arrived at Yankees Stadium around 3PM prior to the game and began scouting out locations for the time-lapse. The process itself took many hours and required me to rush around the monstrous stadium – scaling the upper decks, zipping back and forth from the outfield to the infield, and inside and out. Finally, I arrived home around 1:30AM and began downloading to my computer the 125GB (12,000 images) of RAW footage I’d collected.

After properly organizing all the files, I set my computer to stitch and render all the still images together in a low-resolution format just so I could see if the time-lapse actually worked. Exhausted, I finally got to bed around 5:30 AM while my computer rendered the files down. Given that the time-lapse consisted only of still images and not video, the files were 3-4 times the size of HD! Needless to say, my computer spent a good chunk of time rendering all the data.

The next morning, I woke up early to check out what I’d shot, and was truly excited by what I saw; the already visually interesting images came to life in a surreal way.

Finally, after stitching together all the raw footage, I handed over the files to my trusted editor/web designer, Laia Prats, to throw everything into Final Cut Pro and help me put it all together and add the audio track. I truly couldn’t have done this without her help. (THANK YOU soooo much, Laia!) If you ever need a website built, logo made, or any graphic design, I highly recommend Laia! She’s my designer.

Also, check out the write up on the New York Times LENS Blog.

A selection of snaps I took while at the stadium:

World Series Snaps – Images by Robert Caplin

Jay-Z and Alicia Keys – World Series 2009 – Images by Robert Caplin

Wow, what a night!

While shooting the World Series for MLB’s public relations dept., I had the opportunity to get some pretty exclusive access to Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ performance prior to the opening pitch. What I found so amazing about the experience was that I felt I was documenting a genuine moment in both performer’s lives.

Jay-Z and Keys started their walk to the stage from center field which created this amazing scene where they were walking towards me far off in the distance while the Jumbotron overpowered the stadium with their larger-than-life figures. Upon arriving to the stage entrance, which is where I was shooting from, they had a few moments to wait until the live broadcast began when they could take the stage. At that point, you could tell they were super excited as the hammed it up to the camera and shared animated glances at each other. I would imagine, no matter how many concerts or stadiums they’ve played in the past, this had to be one the the most memorable moments in their lives happening in front of me. I know both are native New Yorkers and Yankees fans, quite an honor it would be to play for the world LIVE on television and in front of thousands at the Stadium. I was truly honored to have been given that opportunity. I’ll never forget this evening, that’s for sure. What a show!

I hope you enjoy the photos!

Congrats to the Yankees and to Jay-Z and Alicia on the killer evening!

Here’s the broadcast on YouTube!

More World Series photos to come….

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