World Cup Fever Comes to D.C.

Do you know that saying that your first intuition is probably right? There is another favorite of mine used in gambling circles by players of baccarat. “Don’t get off the horse until it dies.” This is in reference to betting method where you are betting on the “dealer” or the “player” and pressing the bet every time you win. They say you should never pull your bet until you lose it. It sounds nuts but it is sound advice.

What does this have to do with photojournalism? Well here was the plan.

I was wandering around Dupont Circle during the showing of three of the World Cup matches on big screens to a couple thousand people crowded in the D.C. park that is inside a big traffic circle. Looking for photos of reaction and dejection. I finally decided that the best course was to find a group that was really into the matches and that were being vocal and animated. I found a good group.

The score was 1-0 in favor of England over the U.S. and I figured the regardless who scored next, that the American fans I was camping on would give up some good reaction. I was there about 30 minutes, BAKING in the sun and starting to get claustrophobic in the tightly packed, sweaty crowd. It was starting to get unbearable. I had show some emotion, but nothing like I knew would come if the U.S. team scored. So I hung in there.

Then with about 4 minutes or so to go in the first half, I gave up. I simply was feeling the heat and the crowd closing in so I made my way toward the outer edge of the circle and some shade.

Yep, as you can guess, within two or 3 minutes of me leaving my prime spot. The U.S. scored. The crowd went wild, and I had no good vantage point to get the reaction.

Lesson learned. Again.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 13th, 2010 at 1:09 pm. It is filed under On Assignment and tagged with linkedin, People, photojournalist, Soccer, Sports, Washington D.C., World Cup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.