My Ten Favorite Photos From The 2021-2022 Purdue Women’s Basketball Season

This was an interesting year for me as far as basketball photography went. I made photos at the first Purdue exhibition and then did not make it back until after the new year. It took making photos for the opponent to get me back into Mackey. I really think that Purdue has the right coach in place, and that big things are ahead. It was very cool to make some photos of that first year. Here are my favorite ten from this past season.

10. For some reason I had an all-access pass so before her first game on the court as head coach I made this photo of Katie walking towards the court. The first steps towards a new era of Purdue basketball.

9. Jayla Smith is a freshman that has a lot of upside. She can create her own shot which is a great thing. Here she finishes a fast break. She is one of those players that it seems like the photos just come naturally for.

8. Abby Ellis was a transfer that made an immediate impact. You can see her passion for the game by the way that she plays. She wants to win, and she will put her body on the line to do just that. It seems like every game I came away with one photo of her doing just that. Here I was wide as she made an acrobatic shot.

7. One player that came on as the season went on was Rickie Woltman. By senior night I was hoping that they could feed her the ball. She came into that game and immediately started scoring. This step back jumper was a nice tool that really photographed well.

6. In 2020 before everything shut down I had a list that I was making of photos that I wanted to make pregame. Little ideas that I thought would make the galleries a little different each game. Of course we all know what happened then so my list just sat there for a while. With no galleries to make photos for any more I went through the list for myself. Here was one of those ideas as the team took the court. Slow shutter panning with a flash to highlight the player. I think that this is the beginning of this idea, and that more can be done here. This is something that I hope to revisit with whatever team I am working with next winter.

5. Jeanae Terry is a fun player to photograph. She has a personality that is made for the camera. As the season went on I would find her when things were going well because she was doing something interesting. Here though I like this quiet moment during pregame.

4. I have always enjoyed photographing the pink game. The jerseys just pop much more than any other. From a purely photographic standpoint I wish that we would wear these jerseys all of the time. They really do photograph very well. Senior Brooke Moore also made plays that photographed well. This was one of my favorite photographs of her from her last season as a Boiler.

3. On senior day I had some fun with the flag during the National Anthem. The flag is always a great backdrop, and I was on a kick of putting it in the background of my photos at the time.

2. Senior day was an emotional game. Even players like Cassidy Hardin were showing emotion that I don’t remember seeing before. I thought that I was happy to make a good photo of Cass shooting the three, but the reaction was even better.

1. I am cheating here on the last one. Here you have two seniors having fun moments on each end of the season. The first photo is of Nyagoa Gony during the intros of the exhibition game. The photo below is of senior Ajah Stallings during her speech on senior day. Both of these smiles made for great photos when I used to cover the team, and it was great to have a chance to photograph both of them enjoying this game one last time.

So there are my favorite ten photos from this past season. It was a weird in that for the first time in nearly a decade I did not make photos for the team. What I did find though was some fun moments that reminded me of the basketball I used to see from my seat. I only made it to a handful of games, but I enjoyed myself each time that I did.

Edit: Of course after I wrote this the team played another home game in the WNIT which they won. I had a blast at the game, and it was a perfect way to cap off my basketball season during this victory lap. Here are a few bonus favorites from the game.