Patience and Super Bowl XLVI

I stood quietly leaning against a pillar and watched the shadow. It moved ever so slowly. How long? How much longer must I wait for it to finish scraping across the “I” of the XLVI? I must have been standing there for an hour. It felt like an hour. I looked at the time. Only five minutes. Groan.

I stared at the shadow. It stayed motionless. I blinked. It inched. Patience, I told myself. You came down to Super Bowl Village so you could get a photo of the giant XLVI. Don’t blow it because you lack patience.

I had seen photos of the giant XLVI and of the Indy cars that would only be on the circle through today and I knew I had to experience the Super Bowl hype. So here I am, with hundreds of others, taking photos, with hundreds of others.

But I came at the wrong time. I didn’t want a photo of Super Bowl XL! But that’s what I would get if I didn’t exert patience. Yes, I exert patience, because it’s hard!

Super Bowl 2012, Extra Large

While waiting for the perfect moment, I wandered around Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument hoping to get an interesting shot from behind. Not as many people crowded the area. I suppose because most people want photos and memories of XLVI and not IVLX. I had hoped for something interesting, but the energy was not as great behind the giant numerals.

Standing on Soldier's and Sailor's Monument Behind the XLVI

I wound my way back to the front. The sun had moved enough so that the numerals became XLV. But XLV is sooooo last year!

Super Bowl XLV is so last year!

While I waited, I went to the end of the Indy cars, hoping to get a decent shot. Nope. Besides for the hundreds of people crowding around the cars, I still had issues with light and shadow. I gave up on getting a decent Indy car photo, especially after hearing one photographer call out another one for getting in his way. Crowds can be that way sometimes. So I pushed through the hordes and went back to the XLVI.

Indy Cars

I parked myself against a pillar in the place I had staked out on my walk-about and willed the shadow to disappear so that I could get that one photo I had come downtown to get. Patience paid off. The sun shone straight down Meridian Street and onto the XLVI.

Finally!

In a few minutes, the shadows would start creeping up again as the sun crossed behind the buildings on the other side of the street. I knew I had a keeper with the above photo. It showed the numerals and I liked the angle, but I wanted more. I wanted something unique. I know the circle well enough to know there are unconventional perspectives. My favorite is finding reflections in windows. So, while everyone aimed their cameras towards the XLVI, I aimed mine at windows. I took a number of photos in this way, but this one is my absolute favorite.

Reflections on Super Bowl 2012

I know no one will call me up and say, “Hey, we want to use that photo on the cover on Indianapolis Monthly!” But that’s ok because I love it. I waited patiently for the light to be just right and I got the shot.

(Now I will shamelessly direct you to my Flickr Super Bowl 2012 photostream so you can see other photos I took. A number of them are reflection shots. I will be adding more to it because I fully intend to go back, hopefully on Monday. I also wrote about my experience at TURF: IDADA Art Pavilion, which is an art pavilion created especially for the Super Bowl.)