Photographer Scott Nobles of Milton, Massachusetts recently did a shoot for a newly-formed soccer club, The Rochester River Dogz FC. A coach of the Rochester River Dogz FC was Scott’s old roommate and teammate at Rochester Institute of Technology, Matt Tantalo, at the helm for its inaugural season. Scott had always wanted to venture into sports photography and given that he was connected to this team by way of his friend, this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Scott met with the team’s director of marketing, Damian Graybelle, and was given complete creative autonomy. Man, those three little words are the best.
It was great to see my old friend! But it was also such a pleasure to photograph a sport I love and continue to play.
Scott hired an assistant—an RIT student, naturally. The two of them headed up to Nazareth College to shoot some action and head shots. The catch? It rained the entire day. Luckily, Scott had a contingency plan and bested nature’s attempts to ruin his day. Earlier that day, he had paid a visit to Home Depot and purchased a few slabs of turf and a backdrop that matched. Instead of working with a 120-yard pitch, Scott shot the players with the turf slabs and backdrop in the comfort of their locker room.
I knew the one factor that may be an issue with the lighting set-up that I had in mind: weather.
Scott finished shooting the players, coaches and a handful of executives in just 30 minutes. Later, he photographed Coach Tantalo at halftime in the tunnel, and I’m confident the three of them took a few selfies for the alumni yearbook.
Scott’s images caught the eye of Boston University and they have since cultivated a relationship. His only regret was not shooting sports sooner and advocates that photographers shouldn’t shy away from pitching ideas to potential clients.
The positive comments from the players, their families and friends have been fun to read. Seems quite a few of the players have been eager to use these photos as their new profile picture.
To view more work from Scott, visit scottnobles.com.