Photo Essay: Documenting Game Day
The public address announcer at University of Michigan football games always reminds the fans that they are part of the largest crowd watching a college game anywhere in America. What he could also brag about these days is that those same 112,000 or so people sitting in Michigan Stadium are making the game the most photographed event anywhere in America that day.
At the Nov. 10 University of Michigan game against Northwestern, local journalist Lynn Monson documented that no matter where you look on Game Day, someone has a camera raised. Here’s a small selection of the people who decided to freeze moments in time before, during and after the game won by UM in overtime, 38-31.
These three photographers were among many gathered in a large crowd watching the Michigan Marching Band drum line perform in front of Revelli Hall before the Nov. 10 game.
Perhaps an indicator of how the game would end much later, two photographers show different results as they review their digital images before the game. Cathy Arnfelt of Lake Elmore, Minn., photographed her son – a player on the Northwestern team – during pre-game warm-ups. Next to her, Michigan fan Archie Eggleton of Grand Rapids seems happier with the photos he took of his stepdaughter, a cheerleader for Northwestern.
Jason Yoder of Detroit tries to get his 21-month-old son Cass to pose for a front-row photo with the football field in the background. Yoder’s wife, LisaAnn Rocha, watches.
A fan stands and captures video as he pans the masses surrounding him in Michigan Stadium.
Juan Lopez of Spring Lake, Mich., records video of his walk down the famous tunnel entrance onto the playing field.
Mike Swope of Jackson watches the game through his camera’s viewfinder for a while in the third quarter.
The Skycam television camera, looking like a extraterrestrial droid, moves low back and forth over the field to give a bird’s eye view of the football action for the game broadcast. In the background, a fan celebrates a different type of “cam” – the Big House Cam – that has flashed his image on Michigan Stadium’s giant video screens.
Not all traditional cameras have been replaced by hand-held cell phone cameras just yet. Martin Vloet, a University of Michigan photographer, focuses on game action with a large telephoto lens supported by a monopod.
After the game a student film crew asked a cheerleader to document them after they had spent the game working on a new admissions video for the university.
Ben Cabrera lets out a whoop as the Michigan Marching Band – displayed behind him on Michigan Stadium’s video screen – finishes a song while he was taking video of the scene. Cabrera, a student at the University of South Florida, has Michigan relatives.
A fan in a maize-and-blue houndstooth hat records one last video snippet of the day as the Michigan Marching Band returns to Revelli Hall after the game.
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