Promotion + Pitch Invasion = Pictures

Following on from my post on unconventional shooting positions, I found myself on top of the dugout roof at the Madejski Stadium on Tuesday evening to get the shot above of winning goal scorer Mikele Leigertwood as Reading got themselves promoted to the Premier League.I do like photographing at Reading - they are a very friendly club with an excellent stadium, plenty of parking for those not on motorbikes, lightning fast wifi, and generally excellent facilities for photographers. I've been following their post-Christmas run of wins closely and targeted this game as their most likely opportunity to get an extremely valuable promotion to the riches of the Premier League. They were playing Nottingham Forest. Starting 15 minutes ahead of them was the West Ham game - if Reading got 2 more points than West Ham then Reading would go up.Club photographer Jason Dawson gave us an excellent briefing beforehand. Because the West Ham game was starting earlier, we'd likely know 15 minutes before the end of the Reading game what was going to happen. Jason's sage advice was that if Reading were in the lead and West Ham had drawn or lost we should head back to the photographers' room, dump our bags and long lenses, and then prepare for the pitch invasion which was going to be permitted in a controlled manner.With 10 minutes to go, West Ham had drawn 1-1 and Reading were still being held 0-0 by Forest. It was looking like a dead night. Then, quick as a flash, Mikele Leigertwood slotted it in to take Reading to 1-0. The place went crazy. The noise was deafening. Leigertwood ran to the other side of the pitch to the area most completely devoid of photographers as possible, leaving the group of us on the near side looking rather puzzled. A quick look through the pictures on the camera saw 2 or 3 useable celebration shots and a goal strike blocked by at least every other player on both teams.With that, I and a few of the other chaps decided to heed Jason's advice and abandoned our posts and I galloped like fully laden pit pony along the back corridor to dump my rucksack and 400mm. I then headed back out with a 70-200 and still new 24 1.4, but horrendously I'd left my flash at home which was very annoying. I was gutted about forgetting the flash - a pretty stupid error - so had no choice but to wind up the ISO and just shoot with the available light.As the final whistle approached the stadium was going completely bonkers. I was crouched to the side of the home dugout with 10 or 15 other photographers and video chaps waiting for the pendemonium to ensue. Behind us the crowd were already getting up on the barriers ready to jump over. The substitutes were edging closer and closer to the pitch. Reading manager Brian McDermott was looking calm but must have been like a coiled spring inside.My plan was to follow the subs onto the pitch as I'd done when QPR had been promoted last season, and get some celebration pictures up close. Like any plan, it didn't survive first contact with the enemy.The final whistle went. I had about 3 seconds to take Simon Church's picture on the 24 as he leapt onto the pitch, and then headed for Brian McDermott for what would undoubtably be a superb whooping jumping celebratory picture. Unfortunately Brian had other ideas and stalked off down the tunnel in a very calm and controlled manner. Seconds later I was surrounded by fans pouring over from behind so I quickly replanned and headed for the safety of the dugout. Knowing that Reading players were still on the pitch, I wanted a higher vantage point so climbed up on a chair (note - not the lovely Recaro-like car seats but a scabby plastic job that was next to them), and then up onto the roof of the dugout.The pitch was completely covered in delirious fans. The raised position was super for the pitch action and also the celebrations up in the directors' box. On the pitch, I saw Leigertwood get picked up and carried overhead. He was having a great time, so I took a bunch of pictures on the 70-200 before he disappeared into the melee again. It was one of those occasions when there's so much going on you don't know where to point the cameras. Other players straggled in from the growing good natured chaos on the pitch.After a short delay, the players appeared in the directors' box, much champagne spraying ensued, and I again rued my lack of flash but was happy that my Canon 1DIV could handle plenty of ISO with the 70-200. The place went mad again, so I stayed up on the dugout roof with another photographer and snapped away.One problem was having too many pictures, so I was scanning and locking them on the back of the camera as things were going along as I wanted to get them sent fast, with it being an evening game and the picture desks on deadlines.Once the action had died down, I ran and pushed my way back to the photographers' room to pull in the locked pics, caption and send them. The shots of Leigertwood looked good, so they went first, followed by a bunch of other wide crowd shots, and the directors' box pictures. Oh, plus the goal celebrations as well which I'd almost forgotten about. Then the usual scan through all the remaining pictures before heading off home feeling rather knackered.Next morning, it seems the papers liked the crowd surfing pic too as it was in most of them, and 3 of my other shots had gone in as well. The following day the Simon Church pic was also in the Guardian so that 24mm lens has started earning it's keep now. Overall, a cracking evening, really exciting and the sort of stuff that makes sports photography so rewarding. It should be a nice pay-day from the pictures as well as I was on spec rather than on commission. The lack of a flash actually made the Leigertwood picture, as it looks like he's under a spotlight with a dark stand in the background and the foreground mainly dark heads of spectators. A flash would have ruined that look.Yesterday I was back at Reading again and collared Mr Leigertwood and got him to sign a couple of A2 prints of the picture, and gave him a third print. Mikele seemed quite pleased with the whole thing! I decided to keep one of the prints and the other went to the club for auction or whatever. Lastly, big thanks due to Jason for his relaxed and well thought out guidance for the evening. Note: all pitchside images taken by me for this article are copyright Focus Images Ltd, which is the agency I work for. To use or licence any pictures please contact Daniel at Focus Images who will be delighted to speak to you.