About Me

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Monroe, Ohio, United States
Began my photography career as most people do...the highschool yearbook. Upon graduation I attended the US Naval Photography School in Pensacola Fla. After getting a qualification in basic photography and then later attending their Portrait School,was assigned to a military operation. Experiences included USO photography for Bob Hope, Brooke Shields, Kathy Lee Crosby and Wayne Newton.Have also had the opportunity for travel assignments to places such as Beruit, Israel, Africa, Australia, Brazil, Italy, Spain and England. Upon exiting the Navy in 1984,opened up a Tanning Salon and Health Club in Oxford,Ohio and began photographing weddings, all as a vehicle to fund my way through college. I enjoy travel, sports photography, special event and Cincinnati Reds photography. I am frequently contracted as a sports photographer by parents, sports teams, and organizations,throughout the Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio areas, to provide the highest quality sports photography, both on an individual and team basis.

November 28, 2010

Stadium to Stage

Photo by Cincinnati Sports Photographer Vincent Rush

It wasn't the choicest of assignments for a sports photographer, covering the NFL draft. But there he was at the massive Jacob Javits Center in New York, and David Bergman had to come up with an idea.

"Most photographers stand in the pre-assigned position, they shoot a picture of the handshake and go home—I can't do that," said David, a New York sports and entertainment photographer whose images regularly appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated and other magazines.

"The first time I covered the draft I found a high angle to shoot from where you could see the green room, where the players were waiting with their families on one side, and the other players and the audience and all the excitement on the other sides. It ran as a two-page picture. Since then I've become SI's NFL draft photographer."

What's that about no good deed going unpunished?

"I feel like I have to get something new and different and unique every time," David said. "I take it upon myself to go the extra mile and make things just a little different."

David has worked hard to build a reputation as the guy who will come up with a shot that nobody else thought of.

"It's a big risk because you have to put yourself out there and maybe leave the safe position to get something different. Sometimes it doesn't work. But it's worth the risk because when you get the shot, it's a great feeling."

Case in point. David had been sent to University Park, Pa., by Sports Illustrated to cover a big game between Penn State and Notre Dame. David, the lone SI photographer, took plenty of action shots in the first quarter, then began to look around. What was different about this game?

"On a normal big game at Penn State, they do what they call a White Out. Normally it's just the student section—a big swath in the stadium that's all white."

But at this game, Bergman noticed, everyone was wearing white. "They called it the White House," he said.

"I realized that this could make an interesting picture. I left the field in the second quarter and went to the top of the stadium. I missed a lot of the game, but I was able to shoot the entire stadium, with everyone wearing white, just as the sun was setting."

It ran as a two-page spread in the next issue of Sports Illustrated. "I still get an email once every month from some Penn State fan somewhere in the country or in the world, wanting a copy of the picture." That's what Bergman likes to do and why he's in high demand.

"I like to show the scene. I like to show the setting. I like to give the viewer a feeling of place. It's not just a tight picture of the running back coming straight at me. It's the running back coming at me, and you can see the snow falling, and the stadium, and you get a sense of place."

Whether he's shooting the Nittany Lions at Penn State's Beaver Stadium, Avril Lavigne playing to a packed arena or an intimate portrait of, say, bassist Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy. Bergman's tool of choice is the Nikon D3. "It's my workhorse camera," he said. "It's built like a tank, and it's fast. I've shot in every kind of weather condition, from blizzards to monsoons."

Originally a music major, Bergman moves easily from the sports arena to the rock stage, shooting everyone from Ozzy Osbourne and Barenaked Ladies to Gloria Estefan and Seal. He shoots editorially for publications such as the British heavy-metal magazine Kerrang!, as well as commercially for the artists.

"Sports and music are alike in a lot of ways," Bergman said. "Specifically, concert photography and sporting events are very alike. There's an element of unpredictability. You have to deal with changing lighting. There's a limited space where things are going to happen, and you have no idea what's going to happen.
"The portraits, though, are a very different thing.

"I used to travel with four or five heavy cases of equipment just to do a single portrait. You'd have to bring an entire photo studio on the road." That was before Bergman discovered the compact, portable Nikon Speedlight system.

"That has really changed my life," he said. "I can get on the airplane with one rolling bag and one small sling bag with light stands, and I have an entire studio with me on the plane. I can travel with six Speedlights and do just about anything I could do with those four big heavy cases I used to travel with."

One thing about using lights that are so small is I can put them anywhere. I can put them under a couch. I can put them up on a ledge. I can hook them to a bookshelf. I can stick these lights just about anywhere. With studio light you just can't do that."

Bergman shot four World Series games, again turning to the Nikon D700 "and my favorite Nikon lens, which is the NIKKOR 200-400mm zoom."

Each of the resulting images, shot from centerfield, actually comprises 675 individual photos shot over 53 minutes.
"When you stitch these together into one giant photo it's ridiculous," he said. "It would be nearly 30 feet wide at 300 pixels per inch."
He almost makes it sound easy. Bergman knows, however, that a good picture is hard work, whether you're shooting a stadium filled with baseball fans or just the family.

"When I pull out the camera it's because I want to make a picture," he said. "I'll go through the extra effort because I want to make pictures that people remember."

See more of David's work visit his website. http://www.davidbergman.net/









Posted by photographer Vincent Rush, Cincinnati Sports Photography and Dayton Sports Photography of Monroe Ohio. Vince Rush can be contacted by phone at (877) 858-6295 or by email at vrush@rushintl.com or visit http://CincinnatiSportsPhotography.com

November 27, 2010

Professional Sports Photography Tips from SI's Robert Beck

My friend and mentor, Amway Diamond Alan Leininger

Robert Beck is a Sports Illustrated contract photographer with over 25 years experience shooting all manner of sports events. He's as comfortable applying his skills to his son's flag football game as he is to prowling the sidelines at the Super Bowl. We recently asked him to share some tips from his A-list of sports shooting advice.


• The first thing I look at is the background. Whatever the action is, the background will complete the picture. I don't want a busy background—a lot of fences or light glaring off a fence. A lot of people in the stands are okay, but I don't want one person walking by or just standing around. Some sports are good with the bench as background, like lacrosse or football, with coaches and players behind the action. Shooting Little League is trickier. The field is an odd shape, and I try to crop out distractions. I shoot the batter so the bench is in the background as opposed to two parents and otherwise empty aluminum stands reflecting light. The rule of thumb: real clean or real real.

• The first lens in my kit is the 70-200mm zoom lens [AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED]. Very sharp, very fast, and if I have to shoot through a fence, I shoot wide open and the fence won't even show. It also offers me a lot of flexibility in composing; too tight, I zoom out, too loose, zoom in. My next lens is the 200-400mm [AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 200-400mm f/4G IF-ED]; fabulous for any sport, just perfect.

• I'm shooting D3 right now almost exclusively. I also have a D700 and a D300. Focusing is quick on all, but the D3 is a little faster in its burst. But I suggest you don't get caught up in shooting sequences. In reality the high point of action is really one or two frames, especially in sports where a ball is struck. The ball is only going to be in there for one frame, and if a kid is fielding the ball, the ball's only there for three frames. Generally, five frames per second is fast enough.

• The truth is that professional sports are almost easier to shoot. The younger the kids, the less you can anticipate—they don't have a sense of timing like the pros or older kids; the young kids are all a little bit off the timing. Be prepared.

• Some parents go to a game and just follow their kid. In soccer or football, that's kind of hard because it means they are not in tune with the game. Just follow the game and shoot the ball and the flow of the game; you'll get more good pictures, and when the ball gets to your kid, you'll be on it.

• When people see a great pro sports shot in a magazine, they don't realize that picture was culled from 600 or 700 images. You may not get a good shot of your kid in one game; think in terms of a season and hope for ten or 12 good images. If you get one or two good images from a game, you're in there. And don't give up because you didn't get one—referees get in the way of pros, too. Keep shooting.

• Check the schedule of the games. You're going to get the best light in the early morning or late afternoon. Shoot more at those games. In the middle of the day the light is harsher. But if you have to shoot mid-day, use your Nikon's Active D-Lighting. Turn it on in your camera menu; there are several levels of it, but all of them work very well to open up shadows. If your son is playing a baseball game in the middle of the day and you properly expose it, you'll lose his face because of the shadow of his hat; Active D-Lighting will keep that detail open.

• I shoot in manual. Over the years I've learned what the settings are for various situations. I’m always within a little bit—and now with the preview on the back of the camera, it's a no-brainer. If I were to use an auto setting, I'd go with shutter-priority and then move my ISO up or down accordingly. I'd try to keep the shutter speed at 1/1000 or 1/2000 second. I like to shoot wide open because it makes the subject stand out. If you're shooting your kid, keep a very shallow depth of field—it'll make your kid pop out from everyone else. Most pros shoot wide open for that pop out factor.

• With any lens from a 400mm on up—including the 200-400mm—I'm using a monopod; 300mm and down I can hand hold—and I prefer to be mobile.

• On my D3 I can change the focus tracking setting so that the camera will hold focus longer on a moving subject even if someone else crosses in front. In football if I'm following a running back and players cross in front of him, I don't want the focus to change too quickly, to lock on to the other players. But in swimming or in water polo I want the focus to change quickly. In the camera's menu I have the ability to change the time the camera will hold the focus.

• Frankly, I don't worry a lot about exposure. The [RAW] files are amazing on the Nikons. I can be a stop-and-a-half to two stops underexposed and still get detail. If you're going to make an error, underexpose, don't overexpose. I use Matrix metering when I'm shooting wider pictures—a group shot, a field shot; otherwise I use spot metering. And when I meter, if I can't meter off a uniform, if there's no gray spot, I meter off the grass. That'll give a good reading of what the overall exposure is going to be.

And there you have it—Robert's rules of keeping sports orderly.


Posted by photographer Vincent Rush, Cincinnati Sports Photography and Dayton Sports Photography of Monroe Ohio. Vince Rush can be contacted by phone at (877) 858-6295 or by email at vrush@rushintl.com or visit http://CincinnatiSportsPhotography.com

November 23, 2010

Ferrari at Paul Brown Stadium


Posted by photographer Vincent Rush, Cincinnati Sports Photography and Dayton Sports Photography of Monroe Ohio. Vince Rush can be contacted by phone at (877) 858-6295 or by email at vrush@rushintl.com or visit http://CincinnatiSportsPhotography.com

November 7, 2010

Ferrari 360 Spyder

Ferrari 360 Spyder. Ferrari pictures, images and automobile photographs, by Cincinnati Photographer and Dayton, Sports Photographer Vincent Rush of Monroe, Ohio and Cincinnati Sports Photography; http://www.CincinnatiSportsPhotography.com

Over the next few days, I will be posting some pictures from a photo shoot I did for a very important client in Cincinnati on November 6th.

A year or so ago, when I began a blog, it was for the purpose of putting fresh content on the web, promoting my name in Google searches and opening new opportunities to me as a result.

I really don't know if anyone actually reads it, but it effectively serves its purpose. Such as this particular assignment.



Posted by photographer Vincent Rush, Cincinnati Sports Photography and Dayton Sports Photography of Monroe Ohio. Vince Rush can be contacted by phone at (877) 858-6295 or by email at vrush@rushintl.com or visit http://CincinnatiSportsPhotography.com