My Favorite Photos From The 2024 Big Ten Swimming And Diving Championships

I have been really lucky in my sports photography career to get to cover this event a handful of times now. It has gotten to the point where I am fairly comfortable with the format and knowing where I have to be when I need to be there. I started off covering it for Purdue, and then the Big Ten. The last two times that the tournament has been here I have covered it for Minnesota. I am really thankful to Brad for believing in me, and letting me have some fun for a few days covering the Gophers.

We will start with a photo for fun. Before the final session started I went up top to photograph the team huddle for Minnesota. I thought an overhead view of it could have been cool. Before that thought I made this photo during the National Anthem. I have worked a few of these now, and every time I try and make an overall to show the pool all decked out.

This might be my favorite action photo of the week. I made it on the final night. I was next to the pool with my camera just above the water level. I was there to get the swimmer before she was even with me, but I stayed on her and made this photo as she came up even with me. I was really shooting from the hip, but it worked out. It was a different butterfly photo for me and that means a lot.

During the week I would make my stock photos of the athletes during the prelims. Instead of making the same photos at night I would pull back a little and make my photos a little wider to show more of a sense of place. This is one of my favorite sense of place photos.

I was in this spot to make a photo from a bit lower as the swimmer dove into the water to start the race. I started wondering if this might work. This is another of the times when going a bit wider lets me show more of the Big Ten signage. The athletes have had an entire season to make wide photos for them. This was more about showing the history of where they were. I really like how this photo turned out.

The longer swimming events give you a chance to try some things. I have a button set up on my cameras for slow shutter photos. Here I could make a photo at 1/15th of a second and quickly be back at regular settings if something happened. I really like how you can see the violent nature of stroke by the way that the water flows around the swimmer.

I really had some fun making photos of the golden decals that the team had. They were another cool way to date the photos a bit. The decals were for the weekend so in the future when the athlete sees themselves with the tattoo on them they will know when and where the photos were made.

I really like the way that these photos turned out. You have Vivi working on here routine with the signage for the tournament in the background. After medaling she had some fun on the podium in the second photo.

On the final day of the week Vivi had an amazing night on the platform. She nailed her final dive, and it looked like she might have won the gold medal. With only one diver to go it would take a big dive to knock her off the top spot on the podium. That dive happened and Vivi ended up in second by 0.40. It was an unbelievable turn of events. Vivi was amazing though and took it in stride. After her time on the podium her teammates came over to support her. The photo above is of that moment.

During the week I had some fun making podium photos. These athletes work hard all year for this moment so they are really enjoying themselves up on the podium. Here are a few of my favorites from the week.

When Megan won the 400 IM she went from the podium right to the Big Ten Network area. I was trying to find a fun angle of this moment, and I found it here. I made my safe photo first, and then had some fun. I really like how this turned out.

Sometimes you make a photo as you are walking. Here I was moving over to the Minnesota team when IU was taking a celebratory selfie. I pulled my wide up and made this image as I walked by. I really like how it turned out for an accidental photo.

This week would not have been what it was without my friend Mark. My long 400 is not working right now, and my 300mm lens is still on the way. Mark let me use his 400mm lens for the week allowing me to make photos like this one. The 400 lets you get right in on the action. You are close to the athletes, but they are mostly in the water. You need something long to get tight on the action. Without Mark I would not have been able to do that this past week. Go and check out his work here.

Diving gives you some options to have fun with. I would photograph prelims during the day so that I could have some fun and try things during the night session. This wider shot tells a bit more of the story. I really like how this turned out.

If you can’t tell I had a blast this past week. In 2021 the women’s championships were the first event that I covered up close after the pandemic. I had spent a season in the stands, and it was great to be back in the middle of the action again. Below are a few bonus photos from the week.