Agony of Defeat

Sunday I photographed professional bowling for the first time in my career. Yes, you heard it right. I shot the 68th Lumber Liquidators U.S. Open in North Brunswick. All this was new to me. A small area was roped off for the photographers (there were three of us) and one ESPN camera. That's right: It was broadcast on ESPN.

The shooters and cameraman face the bowlers, slightly to one side, to shoot them bowling. Having never shot professional bowling before, I didn't know much about shooting it. So during the action I would move slightly, maybe by a few feet, to get a better view. That apparently irritated the bowling pros, because at one moment, as bowler Mika Koivuniemi was getting set, I moved again - prompting him to pause and walk over to a tournament organizer to complain. Meanwhile, the TV announcers were only about 8 feet from him in their booth, commenting to TV viewers about the disruption I caused. Not a good moment for me.

Back to live action. Mika Koivuniemi was bowling against Norm Duke for the U.S. Open Championship. Koivuniemi was only one frame away from sealing his win and upsetting Norm Duke, when he missed a strike. I jumped on my motor drive to capture his reaction. All he had to do was knock down the 10-pin for the spare and win the match, but he missed and collapsed to the floor as Norm Duke just sat there in disbelief. It was Duke's second title in four years.

I had a few nice shots of both of them bowling and also Norm Duke reacting to his trophy, but I felt the pictures that told the story were centered around Mika Koivuniemi and his mistake at the end. After it was all over, someone told me I just witnessed one of the closest U.S. Opens in history.

Not bad for my first PBA U.S Open, eh!