Finnish Cup – Final 4 – Day 2
This one was the long one, three games back-to-back.
Despite all the negative comments (then again, isn’t that what Twitter is for… 😉 on social media about the first game starting at 10am – believe it or not, some people like to wake-up at 5am and are wondering at 10am why they have to wait until 2pm to get to a game. I might be in a minority in that.. but still, I liked the early start.
It also seems like on Friday I was caught ‘jamming’ during a time out.. and this video was sent to me by a fellow photographer.. but hey, photography can sometimes be a lonely thing on the baselines and when you get a good tune played by the DJ.. you can’t help but move a little.. maybe I start to offer half-time entertainement as part of my photography services… or do one of the those social media thingys where a security guard or someone all of a sudden jumps on to the court during a dance team performance and starts dancing… open to suggestions.. and watch out for Susipaparazzi jumping in the middle of Dance Team Finland performance at a Susijengi game ;-)….
After relatively boring games on Friday, was really hoping for something bit more lively and exciting to be photograph on Saturday – first game was never gonna disappoint as it was the ‘Comeback for Ella’ game – well, first time I saw her play since the last season. This being despite meeting her randomly over the summer while walking around Tampere.. where she was quite adamant that she was not gonna play this season… But hey – great to see the smiling face and all the energy she brings to the game!! Game itself – not quite as close as I was hoping for, but I didn’t know what was to come later in the day…
Second game – ViVe really gave PeKa a run for their money and the game was close all the way from the start to the end of over-time – great game to photograph with both teams playing in a way that looked good on the photos. I do always say that teams should consider this more – not just that they win.. so far no-one is listening to me 🙁 But yeah, enjoyable game and whether the level of play was high/great.. don’t ask me.. all I know is that it was a close game enjoyable to photograph.
Last one was the mens Final – and another OT .. with twists and turns to keep everyone glued to their seats all the way until the end – at no point could you guess who was gonna win it.. whether it was the last second of regulation or last second of over-time.. there was always three outcomes available. The photographer once again thanks the teams for this – but does NOT thank the refereeing .. seems very much like any emotion is being drained out at the moment, any time a player shows some emotion or shouts ‘let’s go’.. or so on.. it looks to be an automatic technical foul. No wonder the players don’t dare to celebrate dunks or three pointers. But.. perhaps there are reasons for this beyond my understanding.. just makes the games a bit boring when players can’t express themselves.. sorry refs, you are great guys but I want emotion from the players…
From photography point of view – three games 10am, 1pm and 5pm tip-offs – with doing all the photography, keeping the leagues social media channels updates all the time and sending photos to the participating teams as well. It does keep you busy all the time – and in between games – you go through all the photos.. edit them and upload them to THREE!! different online galleries.
Being a photographer sometimes (often!!) is so much more than just doing photography – and no matter how much I do, I still always feel like I should do more, I should do better… and see where I could improve and see things I missed, etc.. it’s a constant learning and trying to develop yourself…
In the end – the day did go OK, as usual on these long days.. it is breakfast in the morning and then next time I have time to eat is around one/two hours after the last game.. talking of which, it is not easy to find places to eat around 8.30pm/9.00pm near Pasila.. even with the Mall of Tripla (or as I think of it Pasila trainstation with few shops) most places had signs ‘Kitchen closed, we’ll see you again tomorrow’ when I walked past them at 8.45pm. In the end my ‘main meal’ of the day was a Chicken Fajita wrap from Subway’s. Days like these reminds me why I have gotten the mobile home as my means of transportation for games.. unfortunately Helsinki especially in the winter is NOT a mobile home friendly city.. but soon I can get to travel to the smaller cities/towns.. and then I have my own kitchen with me, and dining will be easier 🙂
Also – social media is a strange place, looking through some Insta posts in the evening saw one from a basketball friend.. looked at the photo and thought.. hmm, those curtains look familiar.. and so does the bedside lamp, turned my head.. looked at the curtains in my hotel room… the bedside lamp.. yes.. they look familiar… so hit an DM to her and asked if she happened to be in the same hotel.. long story short.. yep – she indeed was. What do we learn from this.. post on social media at your own peril.. you can easily give a way where you are… even if it is just a random photo from a hotel room, someone is always watching.
Sunday will be an easier day – just one game (Women’s Final) to do at 17.00 – so plenty of time to get editing done and book the last hotels/flights for the ’12 days of basketball’ which starts.. probably already on Wednesday this coming week.. the foreign travels on Thursday..
