EDITOR’S NOTE: The Georgia home opener against Samford took place on Saturday, Sept. 10 at Sanford Stadium.
ATHENS, Ga. – After six years of photographing college football in South Florida – from Florida Atlantic, Florida International to University of Miami and others – all of a sudden, I found myself in Georgia away from the South Florida schools that had become my home for sports coverage.
It was the energy of the University of Miami games, running up and down the field to capture the right photos with my colleagues like Chuck Bethel. I knew I would be photographing again in Georgia, but where how and with who.
After some negotiation, I was able to secure clearance to be able to cover the defending national champions University of Georgia. It was intriguing and exciting to land these credentials since being from Georgia I have always been a UGA fan since childhood.
So here I was headed to the first home game of the year for UGA since winning the national championship.
The matchup was UGA vs. Samford out of Alabama. The drive from my home was just around 45 minutes, which was the same time it took me to get to University of Miami at Hard Rock Stadium.
Upon arriving, I walked to the stadium as hundreds of people walked by me headed to the game. Reading my directions in how to get to the media room, I began the deep and steep descent into the stadium. Everyone at the stadium was polite, smiling and helpful. It was different from those who I came in contact at the University of Miami, but it felt different.
After getting settled and getting my cameras together, I took a walk into the stadium and on to the field and what a field it was. The first thing that caught my eye was how manicured and pristine the field itself was. The UGA logo screams at you, leaving no doubt to where you are at. Then you look up and the three-tier, 97,746-seat stadium just holds your attention. This was much larger than the 65,326-seat Hard Rock Stadium.
I found myself continually comparing my UM experience to this new UGA experience. It was a different experience altogether; the crowd, the atmosphere, the traditions, the scenery. I found myself speaking to many on the field from other photographers to security, everyone smiling and conversating as if this was my 20th time there.
About 30 minutes later the game began and it was time to kick into action, running up and down the field in an attempt to capture the best shots I could get. So now I am here and ready to do what I do on the field with my camera. The sea of red and black was prevalent throughout, and though I was new to the stadium, the stadium was not new to me.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Georgia would go on to beat Samford in its home opener, 33-0. As a result of Georgia win, the defending national champion would improve to 2-0 and claim the Associated Press No. 1 national ranking the next day (Sept. 11) in a 1-2 swap with then-No. 1/now-No. 2 Alabama (2-0).
PHOTO CREDITS: Keith Forde
