This video is horrible, but if you will watch it closely, you will see a guy in a black shirt get nailed. Broke his leg just below the knee, and seems to be in pretty good spirits (based on his facebook page) -- he is in the hospital at UTennesse and having surgery today, apparently.
He posted his "last shot" and it was pretty good. . .
My first thought was, "Dang, Patrick, get out of the way. The shot isn't *that* important."
Then, I watched a better clip of it, and fact was, I'm not sure he *could* get out of the way. The guy that hit the ball carrier came out of nowhere and changed the angle he was going. There were other guys on either side of the photog so all he could do was go backwards and that is difficult to do.
That said, I am a huge chicken and as soon as they start to the sideline where I am, I back up. (and I shoot mainly 13 yo and under!)
I was once shooting velodrome bicycle racing. A crash happened just in front of me and a flying bicycle hit me and my camera hard enough to shear the lens off the camera. Here's the lens and here's the last photo I took.
Patrick (the photog that got slammed) had surgery yesterday and apparently has a "frame" attached to the bone of his leg. When the swelling goes down, they will do more surgery with plates and screws.
He told my sister (or someone they know mutually) that normally, he just stops shooting and uses his hand to push himself away as they come at him, but these guys were coming so fast (and unexpectedly) he didn't have time to react and all he could think was, "Don't let the camera hit the ground."
