Wembley

I would have posted this earlier except I have been a little addicted to watching the POYi judging, and boy has some of it has been depressing. I even have had this post up, pictures put in with captions, ready to type out how my day at Wembley went but I never did it. Right now the judges are having lunch so I will take advantage of it so here I go with my post. It's a bit lengthy but it was a really fun night. You can skip to the end for a one sentence summary if you would prefer.

Months before I left for London, I have been looking forward to this day. I knew Brazil will be playing England and I had to be near the match. I would have been extremely excited if I would have gotten credentialed for the game, it would have been the most exciting thing for me to shoot. But that day will have to wait.

I got to the Wembley Park tube station at about 5pm. I walked down Olympic Way towards the stadium, which was a very familiar sight after seeing so many photos from the Olympics. The crowd was pretty thin, as you can see in the first photo, and it was pretty difficult to find interesting personalities.

Once I got up to the stadium, everyone was crowding around a memorial statue of Robert Moore who is one of the best English footballers in history. The crowd started to pick up and made it very difficult to make a wide angle photo of the statue in front of the stadium. It was busy enough to prevent me from making the photo I wanted but not busy enough to turn it into another photo.

I heard some drums that were coming from the tube station so I headed back that way and got a good glimpse of how many people were coming in for the  match. The drums were from a group of Samba Dancers and they created a frenzy of photographers and fans coming up to take photos. There were a few video cameras that had LED lights and I tried to play around with them for some fun lighting. The one photo I included is when I attempted some slow shutter speeds as they passed me.

I went looking for a pub after the dancers got to the stadium and found one called First Class Sports Bar. They have all sorts of memorabilia of football history and lots of signed jerseys. The bar staff was extremely close to each other and their regulars, I might go back just for a story on them.

The highlight of the game was Joe Hart stopping Ronaldinho's penalty and follow up shot. I happened to be sitting right next to a Brazillian supporter and he was absolutely shocked. Later in the match when it was 2-1 and running to an end, the owner started having some fun with one of the regulars and pulled out a replica World Cup.

The evening ended with going to the bridge near the tube station to take photos of the crowd leaving, as recommended by someone at the pub. Luckily I met another student that goes to the London College of Communication and he let me use his tripod while I froze my fingers off to take some photos. I will be uploading a time lapse sometime this coming week of part of it. I just checked and 40 minutes will have elapsed during the time lapse, no wonder my hand was stuck thinking it was holding the camera.

I went to Wembley, found a statue, saw dancing women, Joe Hart saved England, silly bar owners, and lots of people left Wembley.

The sun sets 2 hours before England and Brazil play in an international friendly at Wembley Stadium in London on Wednesday 6 February 2013.

A statue of England's Robert Moore who is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time stands at Wembley Stadium in London on Wednesday 6 February 2013.

Spectators walk down Olympic Way to Wembley Stadium for the England vs Brazil international friendly in London on Wednesday 6 February 2013.

Brazilian Samba Dancers walk down Olympic Way on their way to Wembley Stadium before Brazil play England in an international friendly in London on Wednesday 6 February 2013.

A Brazillian supporter reacts after English goalkeeper Joe Hart stops Ronaldinho's penalty, at First Class Sports Bar in London on Wednesday 6 February 2013.

The owner of First Class Sports Bar holds up a replica World Cup trophy near the end of the match while at his bar near Wembley Stadium in London on Wednesday 6 February 2013.

Wembley stadium empties as people walk down Olympic Way on their way to the Wembley Park tube station after England's 2-1 win over Brazil in an international friendly in London on Wednesday 6 February 2013.