Last night I was at Hovet covering an Elitserien match betwen AIK and MODO Hockey.
I had gotten word before the game that one of our clients wanted some pictures of now ex-AIK captain Dick Tärnström. I knew he was going to be in the crowd during the match but I never bring my 400mm lens to hockey games and figured getting a good shot of him from rink-side with my 70-200 might be a little difficult. So I decided to try and tack him down before the game started. When I got a hold of him he told me he would be ex-changing jerseys with new AIK captain Patric Blomdahl before the match, so I stuck by him and followed him out on the ice to grab some shots for that.
As the game started I still wanted to grab some shots of Dick so I asked him if we could take some shots in the dressing room before he went out into the crowd. Trying to be fast about things I set him in some very simple shots. AIK shirt placed behind him in the background. Hockey stick in hand. Flash diffused and bouncing off the roof of the dressing room. I would have like to have done a little more and taken my time but with the game underway I felt pressure to get out to the rink and start photographing.
I thanked Dick for taking the time to pose for some shoots and then got going to the rink to photograph the match.
With the game I didn’t have too much luck. AIK scored in the first period on the opposite side from where I had positioned myself. In the second period MODO Hockey tied the game, again the goal was on the other side of the rink. The third period seemed to have a lot of chances for MODO but they couldn’t go on to win it there. Then came sudden death, and MODO was able to score. This time it came on my side of the rink, but unfortunately the goal came out of nowhere and the area was a little cluttered. The best shots I got from it were of the reaction and celebration afterwards.
In the end no newspaper dedicated much space to the story about Dick Tärnströn and Patric Blomdahl which was a little disappointing. Often the events of the match end up changing the editorial direction. After the game it seemed like most press went in the direction or writing about and criticizing AIK’s head coach. As a result I did see my picture of AIK’s head coach used by Aftonbladet.
All images available via Pic-Agency.
