Basketball Season Is Here!

It is hard to believe that it is basketball season already. The weather outside is telling me that we are still a couple of months away, but the schedule says that it is here. It is always fun to be back in Mackey. After seeing it packed for volleyball for two straight weekends it honestly felt a little empty Tuesday night. I may have rose colored glasses on, but I think that this team can be good. They are fun to watch play. Come on out and support them and see some good basketball.

Trying Out The 300mm For Basketball

I had hoped that this new 300mm would be fun for basketball. I think that it probably doubled my take from the game. At times it can be tight, but when it worked it was awesome. It gets you right into the action. I really wondered when I bought the lens if I was doing the right thing. It was a lot of money, and a huge investment. It has been everything that I hoped it would be and more. As the season goes on and I start to get tired of making the same photo over and over it will help me change things up by gambling on a few plays.

Looking Ahead For The Season

This basketball season I am going to do things a little differently than I have in the past. Last year I burned myself out trying to cover too many games. This year I want to focus on more of what is bringing money into the business. It is a selfish way to do it, but the 300mm that I talked about above was not cheap. I think by covering less games for fun it will keep me fresher for those games that I am paid to be at. I always feel selfish when I do this, but at the end of the day it is a business and I have to do what is best for it.

The Little Things

Moments like the one above are what make me love making photos at these games. The 300mm lens let me get right in there to see the joy that these players were showing. Normally I sit on the opposite end of the court for these games. I cover Purdue in the first half, and the opponent in the second half. That helps me build more stock photos for the gallery. For a game like this one though I moved with Purdue. When I made this photo at the end of the game I had the thought that maybe I would change things up a little this season. I might at least get out of that routine from time to time to change things up.

Familiar Faces

The photo above I like for a couple of reasons. I love the action in it. You have three players all with a hand on the ball trying to get the rebound. The other reason that I like it is because it lets me talk about a couple of players in it. Mahri Petree is the sister of Lasha Petree who I photographed a couple of years ago at Purdue. She was one of those players that just made good photos. Here her sister is carrying on that legacy. Kendall Puryear is the other Purdue player in the photo. Her style reminded me a lot of Jeanae Terry. Terry had a style that I loved to photograph. In one game I saw a lot of that in Kendall. She kind of did it all.

Game One Of Many

This was the first game of many this season for me. By the time this post goes live I will have already photographed my second game of the season. I am always a little rusty to start the season off, but the first game is always the easiest because all of the photos are new. As the season goes on it becomes harder and harder to do something different.