Flashes Of Brilliance From Hockey Photographer

When Wayne Gretzky famously said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take," he was referencing shots ON the ice. Seattle pro photographer Caroline Anne believes the sentiment applies to shots OF the ice, too.

Their favorite phrase, "Everything's worth a shot," came from the first time they applied to shoot inside a professional photo pit, at a Pearl Jam show. To Caroline Anne's surprise, the answer was, yes.

When Kraken Community Iceplex opened, the New-England raised hockey fan took another shot. "I said, 'Here's my portfolio.' And they said, 'That's awesome, we're all for it, come on down.' I sent them my photos afterward, asked to go to another practice, and next thing you know I got approved to do all the practices."

Their editor at the Seattle Refined local TV show noticed, too. "It turned into, 'Hey, do you want to do a game?' The day I got that email I had to sit down on a bench, because I thought my knees were going to go out."

We asked Caroline Anne to share their favorite Kraken images.

Alex Wennberg, Justin Schultz, in "Green Night" sweaters

 "I love this photo because I noticed how much more relaxed the team was on the ice for warmups during this season. It's fun to see them interacting with each other and taking a moment to have a good time.

"I know hockey is stressful for the players. To see them having fun, it's much different than last season. During warmups, they seemed really focused, maybe a little stressed out."

Hockey Stick Or Magic Wand?

"Players like to juggle the puck off their sticks during warmups. I had been practicing this type of photo capture for a while. I remember trying to catch Morgan Geekie doing that at KCI. It almost came out, but I was like, 'Man, one day I'm going to nail that photo.'

"During warmups before the Bruins game in February, I was lucky to have Jared McCann practicing right in front of me for what seemed like 10 minutes. To me, this photo was perfect."

Jordan Eberle, Working Overtime

"I was able to capture Eb making the shot from the side. I managed to catch the whole thing. I was in a camera bay above, and I thought, I used to love photographing by the ice, but I found if I'm up above, I get all the goals."

"The second photo is the puck in the net, with the Kraken celebrating. I love how time is frozen and you can almost feel the anticipation of, 'Did it go in?' 'YES, it did!' It's hard, because you're really excited and you have to keep photographing."

Several other challenges complicate getting any hockey shot. "Fast movement, constant changes in direction, changes in lighting. And if you're down by the ice, you've got to work with a hole, a slider. So it's a sensory overload experience. I call it terrifyingly awesome.

"Sometimes you have to go home and watch the game replay and just be like, wow, how did I get that shot?"

Editor's Note: Caroline Anne, who prefers they/them pronouns, also runs an inclusive ice sports website, comeasyouarehockey.com. More about that tomorrow.