My Favorite Basketball Photos of 2014

Like most of these top ten lists this may not be my best ten photos, but they are the ones that I like for one reason or another. Narrowing down an entire years worth of photos into a ten picture post is not an easy thing to do. When it involves both men’s and women’s athletics it makes it even harder to do. I think that I have shot my last basketball game of the year. Unless something comes up last minute I have a little time off for the holidays. With that in mind basketball is my last sport that I will feature individually on this blog. After Christmas I will start my countdown of my other photos that I like so that I can take a little time off of blogging as well. About a week of scheduled posts lets me get away for a while, and then come back refreshed and ready to post. I am behind on my book and gear reviews so I will have to get some of those going in the new year. I have some great books that I just need to sit down and write about. That is all in the future. For now here are my ten favorite basketball images of the season.

10. The first photo on the countdown comes from my first road trip with Purdue. I have seen them play in the past on the road, but this was the first time that I did it in an official capacity. I had the Canon 17-40mm f/4 lens that I rented from LensRentals.com with me so I set up a remote camera with it. I had the entire baseline to myself so I chose a location that I normally don’t get to shoot from. At Mackey we can’t sit on the enplane because of the scoreboard. So for the second half of the game in Champaign I did just that. It was a unique angle that was made even cooler with this low angle.

9. This is not an action shot, but one that I loved from the year. This year I am sharing studio space with a few other photographers. I have really started to love the lighting aspect of photography, and I had my nephew in for a session one night. We tried a few standard ideas, and then shifted to some more advanced techniques. This shot was in between. I loved the blown out look of the background, and how he popped off of it. In the coming year I have some ideas that I want to try so I am sure that they will end up on this blog.

8. Coming in at number eight is this photo of the Chattanooga men’s team at Hinkle Fieldhouse. I shot two games in two nights for Chattanooga in this historic field house. It really is a beautiful old stadium. The new lighting that was installed really is dramatic, and at times can make it appear as if you were shooting with a black background.

7. Coming in at #7 on the countdown is this shot of the opening tip between Notre Dame and Chattanooga at Purcell Pavilion. At one time I was a season ticket holder at Notre Dame for the women’s team so it was pretty cool to shoot a game there. I was on assignment for Chattanooga so I went a little high for the opening tip to make this photo with the clover on the court. I like to give a little place in my photos when a team travels a long distance to play a game. This photo is one that tells a lot, and my detail shots later can build off of this.

6. This photo makes the list for a couple of reasons. The first is that it was the first test for my 7D Mark II at a basketball game. I only stayed for the first half, but I was very happy with the images that I was getting with the camera. I started messing around shooting pretty wide open to see how good the autofocus system was. This shot of Purdue guard Jon Octeus proved to me just how good the tracking system was on the camera. You can see the sweat on his face. Jon was one of the new players on the team so the shot was much cooler to me. The 7D is now part of my basketball gear for the foreseeable future. It really is a great little camera for the price.

5. This photo comes in at number five for a couple of reasons. The first is because it was kind of a bucket list item for me. When I started off in photography I had no idea what I was doing. My photos from the ARC the home of the Valparaiso Crusaders were very yellow and always underexposed. Last spring I went and photographed one of their postseason games from the baseline. To minimize the blocking referees I put a remote camera on the floor next to the pole. I then sat a few feet away from the camera. In the first half I sat on the edge of the court, and for the second half I sat on the foul line. By having two cameras firing from two different spots I can make sure that I have the moment. This wide angle view rarely works. The action has to be near it, and everyone in the frame has to be involved or it does not work as much. Here I think that it gives a great sense of place, and it is a cool shot for sure. This can get overdone though, and you only need one or two from each event unless a lot of amazing things happen.

4. Emotion. That is what it is all about. It seems as if everyone on the baseline is making the same action images at the same time. If you look at the galleries after a game you will see that they are very similar. The only real difference in the shots is the perspective of the photographers. I think that the difference comes in the quick moments after a play. Here I was very lucky because of my location on the baseline to make this photo. The jube as I call it on the faces of the Purdue players is great. The look of disappointment on the Penn State player in the background just completes the photo. In case you don’t know I love the moments away from the action. The rest of this countdown is filled with those moments.

3. I love huddle photos. If you have followed this countdown you have probably noticed that. I just love the little moments just before the game that show the players having fun. The action shots are great, but after a while they all start to look the same. I loved the way that the Purdue players passed around KK Houser just after introductions. She always seemed to have fun with it so it was a fun thing to shoot. 

2. I covered Oklahoma State and Purdue in the NCAA tournament here in Mackey Arena last spring. I wanted a shot of the players with something identifying the court in the photo. As the players started getting pumped up after introductions I knew that I had my shot. I made this image that I really like. You have a lot of things that seem to play well together to get the final result. This was my first time working for another school. Of course that is what I have been forced to do now so it was a good experience.

1. Senior day is never easy. The hard part of following or covering college athletics is that in reality you only have a short time with each athlete. Every year we say goodbye to seniors that it just seems like were wide eyed recruits just coming in. I tried to cover senior day a little different for the Purdue women’s team this past year. I did not get in anyone’s shot, but I also tried to not be in the pack shooting. For some things you have to be, but when I could break away I did. I love this shot of KK Houser saluting the crowd. This was an easier senior day than most though as the crowd knew that they would see the players again in the NCAA Tournament that was held in Mackey.