Putting in the extra work allows an AP photographer to make a soaring NBA shot

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Putting in the extra work allows an AP photographer to make a soaring NBA shot

2024-04-29 02:38 Last Updated At：02:40

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Gerald Herbert insists on making sure he provides the best coverage possible when photographing New Orleans’ NBA team. That means laboriously hanging remote cameras in the Pelicans’ arena hours before every home game. For their game against the Lakers on April 17, Herbert got a sweet spot right behind the backboard glass. It allowed him to capture Pelicans star Zion Williamson as he goes to the basket against Anthony Davis while LeBron James watches the action. Here’s what Herbert had to say about making this extraordinary image.

Many people don’t realize how much work can go into covering a sporting event. Being based in New Orleans, the Pelicans are one of the teams I cover from beginning to end of the season. For the last 14 years, whether they are at the top of the standings or the bottom, I treat each game as both a challenge and a privilege. I always hang remote cameras because the team and the arena allow it. It is a challenge for the technical difficulties that always conspire against you and a privilege, not only to have the access for the remotes, but also to share the images with a grand audience. Lots can go wrong with remote cameras, such as your prefocus being slightly off, radio interference on your remote triggers, batteries dying, a wrong camera setting, etc. So often you have to kiss an entire game’s worth of images from that camera goodbye and just start fresh the next game.

Although I used to hang a remote camera behind the glass backboard, the real estate has become scarce, so I have been hanging two remotes: one on the stanchion (the metal structure that supports the goal) and one overhead in the rafters above. Every game I put in the extra hours to set them up and test them. It increases my workload, setting up and tending to three cameras and it slows down my edit with the extra images but, in the end, it makes my basketball report look more dynamic.

For the last few games of the season, I was granted permission to start using a remote behind the glass again. I chose to use an extremely wide lens, A Sony 12-24mm wide zoom, set at 12mm, and I have been steadfast about not going any tighter. My intent was to make my shots look different and incorporate as much of the gritty infrastructure of the basketball goal as possible: imperfect and real, something people don’t normally see. It is an experiment in progress. I don’t mind the reflections, but it seems they do eliminate a lot of the potentially great moments. If I get a few good frames from that camera in a game, I am happy.

Given that space is competitive, I set this remote up with little fuss to stay out of the way. Although photographers normally mask off the remote with black foil and tape to eliminate the reflections, I opted to leave that out for now to be as quick an inobtrusive as possible with the setup. I don’t want to overextend my welcome. When a team like the Lakers come to town, it draws a lot more media, a larger TV viewing audience, more cameras and people, less space. Things are more tense and fast moving, and the pucker factor increases exponentially, as people are on edge.

I trigger my remotes with my thumb on a button mounted on the lens barrel of my primary camera that I am hand holding. My remotes are on the far goal where I am not present to increase my chances of capturing key plays by keeping both ends of the court covered. I can’t always see what is going on downcourt, so if bodies are moving toward the basket, I hammer on the button, and wait to see what I got later during the edit. Sometimes the ones you think will be great turn out to be duds and sometimes the unexpected happens and you get lucky. It’s all in the planning, the taking of chances, and the edit.

The goal in this game was to get the key players in one dynamic frame. With Zion Williamson, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, I managed to get all three in. My only wish was if LeBron was more involved in the play. Sequentially, as Zion drove to the basket, as the players closed in, Taurean Prince’s hand went in front of Zion, and there was this one frame where he was peering through that hand. The superior frame stood out, with only one eye peering through, showing the intensity and determination. I decided to crop in tight to accentuate that. Other frames that I filed from that camera were looser, revealing much more of the court.

As my dear colleague J. Scott Applewhite likes to say: “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” An excellent credo to live by.

For more extraordinary AP photography, click here.

Collapsed Baltimore bridge span comes down with a boom after crews set off chain of explosives

2024-05-14 09:08 Last Updated At：09:10

BALTIMORE (AP) — Crews set off a chain of carefully placed explosives Monday to break down the largest remaining span of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, and with a boom and a splash, the mangled steel trusses came crashing down into the river below.

The explosives flashed orange and let off plumes of black smoke upon detonation. The longest trusses toppled away from the grounded Dali container ship and slid off its bow, sending a wall of water splashing back toward the ship.

It marked a major step in freeing the Dali, which has been stuck among the wreckage since it lost power and crashed into one of the bridge’s support columns shortly after leaving Baltimore on March 26.

The collapse killed six construction workers and halted most maritime traffic through Baltimore’s busy port. The controlled demolition will allow the Dali to be refloated and restore traffic through the port, which will provide relief for thousands of longshoremen, truckers and small business owners who have seen their jobs impacted by the closure.

Officials said the detonation went as planned. They said the next step in the dynamic cleanup process is to assess the few remaining trusses on the Dali’s bow and make sure none of the underwater wreckage is preventing the ship from being refloated and moved.

“It’s a lot like peeling back an onion,” said Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Officials expect to refloat the ship within the next few days. Then three or four tugboats will guide it to a nearby terminal at the port. It will likely remain there for a several weeks and undergo temporary repairs before being moved to a shipyard for more substantial repairs.

“This was a very big milestone for our progression forward,” Col. Estee Pinchasin, Baltimore District Commander for the Army Corps of Engineers, said in the immediate aftermath of the demolition. She said crews don’t anticipate having to use any more explosives.

The Dali’s crew remained on board the ship during the detonation, and no injuries or problems were reported, said Capt. David O’Connell, commander of the Port of Baltimore.

The crew members haven’t been allowed to leave the grounded vessel since the disaster. Officials said they’ve been busy maintaining the ship and assisting investigators. Of the crew members, 20 are from India and one is Sri Lankan.

Engineers spent weeks preparing to use explosives to break down the span, which was an estimated 500 feet (152 meters) long and weighs up to 600 tons (544 metric tons). The demolition was postponed Sunday because of thunderstorms.

“This is a best practice,” Gov. Wes Moore said at a news conference Monday, noting that there have been no injuries during the cleanup to date. “Safety in this operation is our top priority.”

Fire teams were stationed in the area during the explosion in case of any problematic flying sparks, officials said.

In a videographic released this week, authorities said engineers were using precision cuts to control how the trusses break down. They said the method allows for “surgical precision” and is one of the safest and most efficient ways to remove steel under a high level of tension. Hydraulic grabbers will now lift the broken sections of steel onto barges.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the FBI are conducting investigations into the bridge collapse. Officials have said the safety board investigation will focus on the ship’s electrical system.

Danish shipping giant Maersk had chartered the Dali for a planned trip from Baltimore to Sri Lanka, but the ship didn’t get far. Its crew sent a mayday call saying they had lost power and had no control of the steering system. Minutes later, the ship rammed into the bridge.

State and federal officials have commended the salvage crews and other members of the cleanup operation who helped recover the remains of the six construction workers. The last body was recovered from the underwater wreckage last week. All of the victims were Latino immigrants who came to the U.S. for job opportunities. They were filling potholes on an overnight shift when the bridge was destroyed.

Officials said the operation remains on track to reopen the port’s 50-foot (15-meter) deep draft channel by the end of May. Until then, crews have established a temporary channel that’s slightly shallower. Officials said 365 commercial vessels have passed through the port in recent weeks. The port normally processes more cars and farm equipment than any other in the country.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Baltimore native whose father and brother served as mayor decades ago, compared the Key Bridge disaster to the overnight bombardment of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry, which long ago inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner” during the War of 1812. She said both are a testament to Maryland’s resilience.

Pelosi, a Democrat who represents California’s 11th district, attended Monday’s news conference with two of her relatives. She praised the collective response to the tragedy as various government agencies have come together, working quickly without sacrificing safety.

“Proof through the night that our flag was still there,” she said. “That’s Baltimore strong.”