2 days, 2 sore ankles, 700 photos, and a new love! I took photos at the Mites X-Ice Tourney and as someone who had ZERO experience shooting inside a hockey arena, let alone on skates, I had so much fun, learned a ton, and got some great shots.
These little mites are age 8 max, but I was impressed by how well they played, how much intensity they brought, and, let’s be real, how darn cute they were. It was a mix of boys and girls playing, from towns all around Mass and RI. Two games going at once, the coaches and staff had a corridor in the middle of the ice, so I was able to be on-ice for the majority of the time – and though I could have stayed in my boots, found it a lot more stable to be on skates! So I crossed on-skates shooting off my bucket list (an item I added and crossed off at the same time), and got some action shots from on the ice. I never played hockey, but I was very active in sports from a young age, and I would love some photos from when I played sports – so I hope to capture some of those memories for kids and their families to look back on.
One little girl hockey player asked me if I was a figure skater (in my mind I was just pretty proud to stay upright), and I said “Nope, I’m just a photographer on skates, but I think it’s really awesome that you’re a hockey player.” Her smile could not have been bigger, and she literally made my day.
The action shots were really fun and challenging in their own right with low-light conditions, but I found myself loving the shots of their expressions behind the masks and catching that moment. Those ended up being some of my favorite shots.
Luckily, I’ll have a lot of opportunities to take more hockey and figure skating photos in my job with an ice sports company, because now that I have a pair of fingerless gloves, I can’t wait to get back in the arena. 🙂
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I was about to say me too! for the whole new experience of starting to shoot hockey games, then I saw the “on skates” part and thought holy crap that’s impressive. kudos to you! haha