[Photos] D.C. United v. Real Madrid @ FedEx Field

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On Sunday I braved the oppressive D.C. heat and headed out to FedEx Field to shoot the D.C. United and Real Madrid exhibition match. Real Madrid made headlines all summer by spending exorbitant amounts of money to bring in Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and many other big-time footballers in an effort to return to prominence. This was also a big game for D.C. United, a chance to prove that they can play with the best teams in the world. The final result, a 3-0 Real Madrid win, doesn't do United justice, as the locals played their more expensive counterparts to a standstill in the first half. Real scored twice in a two minute span in the second half and eventually both teams cleared their bench. But it was a thrill to shoot the last two Footballers of the Year in a stadium with 70,000+ people.

I rented a 100-400mm/f4-5.6 IS USM lens for the game, thinking that the zoom would give me a little more flexibility focal length wise. I had rented the 300mm/2.8 and 400mm/2.8 the last few weekends and quite frankly was not looking forward to lugging one of those around all day. So I went with the smaller lens and I was very happy with my results. I cropped some of these photos quite a bit since I wasn't able to blow out the background like I wanted due to the aperture I was forced to use, but overall it performed well and I would rent that lens again for a daytime event. I also used it to shoot Saturday's daytime action at the Legg Mason tennis tournament. I'll have those photos tomorrow.

More photos after the jump!

[Tearsheet] Paul McCartney @ FedEx Field

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Last weekend I got to experience one of the biggest thrills of my photography career when I was given the chance to shoot Sir Paul McCartney during his show at FedEx Field in Landover, MD. This was also my first-ever stadium shoot, and predictably, it was pretty tough.

We were forced to shoot from the soundboard, which, obviously, was a LONG WAY from the stage. I rented a 400mm/2.8 and needed every bit of length from it on my Canon 40D. We were given two songs to shoot and although Sir Paul didn't move from behind the mic stand very much, I was still pleased with my results.

The show was my also my first-ever trip to FedEx Field (where the Redskins play), although I will be back there this weekend for the D.C. United v. Real Madrd match and hopefully in September when U2 comes to town.

For legal reasons I cannot post any of my McCartney pictures here, so head over to DCist to see them all and to also read my concert review.

And follow me on Twitter if you want to know what I am shooting next!