Given this winter it was especially nice to be back in Port St. Lucie, Florida last week for our 3rd annual photo shoot with the New York Mets at Spring Training for our client SNY (SportsNet NY), the “Online Home of All Things NY Sports.� It’s a really enjoyable assignment and we thought we’d give some insight into how we shoot it.

These aren’t sports shots or even outdoor photos; instead, what we’re going for is intimate studio photos of the players, some straight on and others with pitching or batting action.  Last Wednesday we set up a studio in the visitor’s locker room at Digital Domain Park using our Profoto lights with a softbox and umbrella and a pop-up black background.   Mike and I flew with all the equipment…I have a big suitcase I check for stands and non-breakable gear, the two Profoto monolight heads go in a Tenba backpack, and we couldn’t live with out our Thinktank Airport International roller bag for bringing all our cameras on the plane.  The bags always get hand-checked, but I’ve never had a problem.  After the set-up and lighting tests, we met with SNY’s Supervising Producer to strategize the shoot and then had our own meeting by the pool : }.

On Thursday–aka Photo Day, we arrive onsite about 6:30am.  After the baseball card shots and other promo shots are taken upstairs on the field, the Mets players make the rounds into our locker room “studio� starting at 730am…we’re the last stop on the photo circuit.  We shot the 54 players with the Canon 5D Mark II and the Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens.  It’s a very fast shoot, 1-3 minutes with each player and the shoot was over by 9:30am  The Mets players are great to work with–loose and natural in front of the camera.

We can’t post the 2011 photos until Opening Day in April, but here shots of David Wright and Angel Pagan from our shoot in 2010.  Check back on our blog and Facebook page on April 1 for the 2011 photos of the Mets.  We’ll also send out announcements on Twitter.