Shooting Hoops: Brooklyn Nets Photographer Adam Pantozzi

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Had I not arrived two hours prior to tip-off, I never would have seen what a jack-of-all-trades Brooklyn Nets photographer Adam Pantozzi is required to be. Pantozzi has been shooting for the Nets for almost ten years, and has moved with them from the Meadowlands, to Newark, and as of last year, to their new home at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues in Brooklyn. I went into the interview thinking I would be crunched under the basket, watching him photograph bruising rebounds and sweet three-pointers, but, as he quickly informed me, “shooting the game is usually my last priority.” 

All photographs by Adam Pantozzi

Pantozzi is responsible for shooting almost everything on and around the court. From national anthems to T-shirt cannons, free-throw shooting contests to courtside celebrities, Pantozzi has to catch it all. There is so much activity that at his pre-game meeting with the Nets marketing team, he is given a shot list of his nightly assignments, detailing the events and the times he needs to shoot them. All the while, he will keep his eye on the court and in the stands for unscripted moments that can serve the Nets' in-house marketing efforts.

While sports reporters prepped for the game over their laptops, Pantozzi and I found a few minutes to sit in the press lounge and talk about his gear choices. He shoots with two Nikon D700 DSLRs each with MB-D10 Battery Grips and sees no reason to switch as they are holding up great. (But he does look forward to the day when Nikon integrates Wi-Fi into a DSLR). His lens choices are straightforward: a Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED on one camera, and an AF-S  70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II on the other. In addition, he carries a Nikon AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF lens in a Think Tank lens pouch, and all this gear hangs from a Black Rapid Double Strap harness that “makes my life so much easier.” Pantozzi touts other miscellaneous  pieces of equipment, but none so important as the gaffer tape he carries on his belt.

After this brief chat, and still 90 minutes before tip-off, Pantozzi was off and running. I was put into service, carrying his light stand and gels up into the arena. While ex-Knick great Patrick Ewing coached an up-and-coming Charlotte Bobcat player at one end of the court, and a buffing machine passed over the other, Pantozzi set up a strobe and PocketWizard Multi Max to shoot a portrait of a Nets executive up in the stands. There was a bit of a wait, but he took it in stride, doing some test shots with me as stand-in. Pantozzi got the lighting dialed in, and when the exec showed up, the flashes began. He shot in RAW+ JPEG, knowing that he would need to work on the subject's face and the background in Photoshop. Everything went smoothly, despite an uncooperative shirt and tie on the executive. This brought up an issue that I feel plagues many of us: we’re so focused on getting lighting, exposure, and composition down that we overlook the details that are so important to the subjects. Fortunately, Adam has a keen eye, and a team publicist was on hand to make sure hair, wardrobe, and smiles were all in order.

Within minutes of breaking down the light, we were off into the interior of Barclays Center, going from gift shop to gift shop, as Pantozzi was assigned to shoot a new Nets souvenir pin that the organization was featuring. It took a few tries to find the shop that carried the pin, but once found, Pantozzi could check another task off his list.

The crowd was filling up the seats and we headed courtside to get ready for the bulk of the action. Pantozzi introduced me to the other shooters on site, including Nathaniel Butler, an NBA shooter responsible for most of the on-court action. Each of the photographers under the basket has a clearly designated spot, which no other photographer may occupy without permission. Photographers from the local newspapers and wire services were also stationed in these prime spots. Right before game time, a flurry of activity kept Pantozzi running. A dance troupe of young girls entertained the crowd, followed by the Brooklynettes and one of their dance routines. Finally, a full choir ambled onto the court to sing the national anthem. Pantozzi “sliced and diced” the court, getting wide shots as well as using his 70-200mm for details, especially close-ups of the choir members singing.

Afterwards, he told me that shooting the various performances of the Brooklynettes dancers is an important part of his job, but the darkened arena and moving spotlight make it very difficult to maintain proper exposure. He confided that he prefers to shoot in manual exposure mode and the consistency of the arena’s lighting makes that possible, but the spotlights used during dance routines and player introductions makes that part very difficult. For on-camera lighting, Adam uses the Nikon SB-800 Speedlight and a Quantum Turbo SC battery pack. As with his preference for manual exposure mode, he also uses only the central AF point on his DSLR, noting that somehow he “just doesn’t trust the other points.”

With the game underway, I found a spot on the floor near enough to see Pantozzi at work, keep an eye on the game, and yet be out of the courtside hustle and bustle. Pantozzi would stop by every once in awhile to check his nightly assignment sheet, which gave us moments to chat about his work. He told me that he often shoots in Tungsten mode to control the “orange-looking court” and usually just works with jpeg files, because the marketing team needs the images as soon as possible after the game. From our spot on the corner, he would use the 70-200mm lens to get shots of the game, and offered this tidbit: “A good basketball photo should frame the face, the expression of the player,” and often it is the player's own arms or those of defending players that act as this frame. He then rattled off few good examples, but with a time-out on the court, he was called to duty to capture the Brooklynettes in action with the debut of a new dance routine.

Time-outs and halftime were his busiest moments, and on this night there were on-court tumblers, sponsor names up on the scoreboard, an abbreviated youth league game, and an award presented to James “Fly” Williams, a legendary New York street ball player. During the second half, it was arranged that a man was going to propose to his girlfriend during the nightly “Kiss-Cam” time-out segment, and Pantozzi was ready to get the shot from the court. Fortunately, his timing was perfect, and his flash strong enough as he captured the moment of shocked delight on the woman’s face.

Asking Pantozzi some technical questions, he told me that for the game action he sets his camera at ISO 2000, f/2.8 at 1/800 of a second and always shoots with the image stabilization engaged. The maximum he will push ISO is 3200 before the noise becomes unacceptable. He also told me that at the game’s end he delivers his memory cards to the marketing department and lets them choose what they want before he picks out his personal keepers and reformats before the start of the next game. Most of Pantozzi’s work will find itself on the Nets website, used for press and sponsorship purposes, and sometimes sent to the subjects themselves. As I glanced through the game program, he pointed out several of his shots there, too. 

Photograph by John R. Harris

Adam Pantozzi in action

With the start of the second half and the Nets shooting at the far basket, Pantozzi settled into a spot at the other end of the court, and spent most of the half getting game action, while, of course, popping onto the court at each time-out, and scanning the crowd for human interest or celebrity sightings. He recently got a shot of President Clinton shaking hands with Nets players at just such a moment. He was the only photographer to get there fast enough before security moved them away. As a freelancer, Pantozzi will still shoot outside events for the Nets and other local teams, but being a Brooklyn resident himself, he’s most at home now, and he has free reign to shoot throughout the arena, with one notable exception, which is off limits to photographers: the team’s locker rooms. However, if the Nets manage to keep on a roll and extend their season late into the playoffs, perhaps that rule will be lifted, and Pantozzi will capture some champagne-soaked locker room celebrations. Brooklyn should be so lucky!

For more of Adam Pantozzi’s images please see www.adampantozzi.com.

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