2008 Woodie Awards
Mateen and Lois’ Excellent AdventureI, Mateen Sidiq, had the chance to go to the TSU home game and guess who they were playing: APSU. The idea came about when another photographer from The All State said she really wanted to go to the game, and I said I would drive if she couldn’t find anybody to take her. She was asking everybody and she couldn’t find anybody. Then she batted her eyes and gave me a smile, so I decided to take her and we’d go to the game together. So here I am, being a photographer driving another photographer to shoot a game. Well she did teach me everything about taking a perfect photo shot, so I guess I owe her something.As we got closer to Nashville I was nervous thinking about the slight chance I, too, would be on LP Field taking pictures. Well, I panicked so I wound up going to the box office and paid 15 dollars for an excellent game and amazing halftime show. Instead, I got some good shots from above.I loved taking the photos and thought I did a good job. But there was some point during the game where I didn’t care about taking pictures anymore. I put down the camera and started screaming for our Govs. I really wanted them to win, and I screamed so much I lost my voice. At the end of the game, I left disappointed. We lost by three, but our boys put up a good fight.After the game, Lois and I wound up taking pictures of Nashville’s nightlife. Being from Nashville, I took the role of tour guide and showed Lois a night she won’t ever forget. Who knew she would fall in love with Nashville and the architecture of all the bridges and buildings. She wound up taking an hour’s worth of pictures of the Gateway Bridge and the reflection it projected on the river.Then we took a break from all the photography stuff and grabbed a bite to eat near the end of the night. Lois treated me to cuisine and we went to P.F. Chang’s. By the way, the inside is very nice and the food was fantastic.Lois’s turn;Well I, Lois Jones, am the other photographer that Mateen is talking about. Yes, I got the sideline spot, but I have been at The All State longer and have been shooting sports for three seasons now. Mateen did the driving and I did the narration of what was happening on the way to LP Field. He didn’t scare me when he was driving so I have decided, in the future, I will go on another trip with him when we can.Going to the game was fun and LP Field is amazing-looking, especially from a player’s perspective. We didn’t win and that was depressing, but the halftime show by the TSU band was as great as ever. I ran into other photographers and camera people that I have been at other events with and it was good to see them, especially my friend Don who is a fabulous photographer.The game ended and Mateen and I met in the parking lot. A woman was trying to take pictures of the skyline and we started talking to her. Before long Mateen had her camera in his hand and was helping her and I was trying to get the shot she wanted with my camera also. We found the settings she needed and she got the shot.At the same time I started looking at LP Field and the lights. The patterns of the lights and stands and colors at night were beautiful. I took a bunch of pictures of the stadium and of the skyline. Mateen didn’t know I liked to take photos of architectural things and as we were pulling out of the stadium to go out to eat we saw the bridge. I don’t know Nashville and Mateen and his family are from there so he told me it was the “walking” bridge. I asked if we could stop and take some pictures and he said sure.The lighting at night was beautiful. The bridge reflected in the water along with the lights of the city. I took a bunch of shots of the bridge, its reflections and the sculpture that was there. I zoomed in on sections of the bridge and it was bright against the night and very geometric and linear. I loved the arches of the bridge reflected in the water and got a bunch of shots of that as well. After shooting for an hour I told Mateen I was craving P.F. Chang’s eggplant and would treat, so off we went to dinner.Everything at dinner was fabulous even to the tiny desserts we had. Mine was a tiramisu, yummy, and Mateen had the lemon drop. The glasses were like square shot glasses so I asked the waiter if we could take them because they would be our souvenir of the night. He smiled, and nodded.By the time we were done Starbucks was closed, but we both wanted coffee. Our waiter was great and he told us how to get to a place called Café Coco. We headed out and only got turned around twice but found our way to this very eclectic coffee house. I tease people how when I go someplace I run into someone I know. We both knew people that were there. It was an interesting place made up of small little rooms and a porch and had an even more interesting crowd. It was a kind of artsy crowd mixed in with couples and students so it was a fun blend of different types of people. We got our coffee, a nonfat latte for me and an espresso drink for Mateen, and headed home sipping our coffee in the car.Our adventure ended after midnight and we were both tired but happy. On the way home we decided that we wanted to go adventuring again.We make a good team, Mateen and I, and we have fun working and playing together. I am not sure what people think when they see two people with cameras around their necks taking pictures of all sorts of things smiling all the time. We have fun, and that’s really all that matters. We also found out that we have a blast hanging out together. Our personalities are similar so things that might have bothered some people didn’t bother us at all, like making a few wrong turns along the way.I have a feeling that this is not the last of the Mateen and Lois adventure series as we are already planning our next trip. Chattanooga anyone?
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Words from The All State staff members.
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