The Week In Sports Photography

This was a week where I wasn’t exactly sure what was in store when I wrote last week’s post. As the week went on I realized that it would be busier than I thought that it would be. I ended up photographing three events. I also got my first non basketball event in as well with some tennis for Xavier. This has been a weird year that has seen me pretty much just doing basketball at Purdue so far. It is hard to believe that it is already February and I haven’t been to a single high school basketball game this year. It was a fun week though with some cool stories to talk about.

Changing Things Up

For the women’s game on Thursday I moved out to the end and used my 135mm lens. At some point during basketball season you start to feel like you are in the same spot making the same photos. I love my spot for the men’s games. I wouldn’t trade it for any spot on the court. With that being said it is nice to move around and try something new. For the rest of the women’s games this year I hope to keep moving around and trying different things. I was having fun making different images, and I was very excited to see what I had made at the half. Being out there away from the TV camera though I did get blocked a lot. That is the gamble that you take when you move out there.

Grab It!

For some reason these loose ball photos never happen right in front of me. Thursday night though I had one happen right in front of me, and I was able to make a couple photos that I liked from it.

Sitting On The Photo

Early on in the game I realized that Nebraska had one bench player who was really into the game. She was cheering and yelling at her team every chance that she got. During one trip down the court I just put my camera on her and let her do all the work. It was one of my favorite emotion photos from the game.

Dance Party

I know what the Nebraska coach is really doing in this photo, but I like to think that maybe I am wrong that that she is having a dance party during the game. No matter what was going on Reagan Bass still nailed the three. It was part of a big run for Purdue during the game.

Hey That’s Not A Basketball!

Friday afternoon I was in the Schwartz Tennis Center photographing the Xavier tennis team. It is my first non basketball sporting event of the year. It was fun to get out and photograph something a little different than I have been. Tennis is a good sport to photograph because you get many chances to make a good photo. With a little patience you can have a good gallery.

A Close Call

One of my first photos of the day was the one above. It was during warm ups, and the ball came right at me. The player immediately said that they were sorry, but I said not to worry about it. I knew that it would be one of my favorite photos of the day. It is rare that you get this kind of a chance to make this photo so I was glad that I was able to make it.

Slowing Things Down

At the end of my time at the match I had already made the images that I came to make. I was up top, and I decided to try some slow shutter speeds. I had already found a couple of the players that kept their head pretty still when they hit the ball. That is key at 1/15th of a second. It is a fun way to show just how fast this game can be.

Find The Flag

During the National Anthem I decided to try a photo with the flag in the background. At some point down the road I think that I can do something even better with my 300mm lens. Here though I made a photo that I liked even before the match had started. It is always good to have some photos in the bag before things get going.

Freeze The Ball

I really don’t know what I am doing when it comes to tennis photography. Unless I get a tournament I only photograph a match or two each year. I just try and find things that look good to me, and make a photo of that. This might be one of my favorite photos to make. You have everything in the frame, and you can see the concentration on the players face just before they hit the ball.

High School Dave Would Be Thrilled

When I was in high school my favorite player was Calbert Cheaney. In fact I still think that he is the best college basketball player to have ever played the game. I bumped into him in the tunnel prior to the game and had a little star struck moment. I don’t get those often. It was really cool to see him again. During the game he stood up to point something out to the team, and I took advantage of that moment to make an action shot of him. It is not of him rattling a rim, but it will do. Every now and then doing this job I get to do something really cool. Last night was another one of those moments.

Bring Out Your Remotes

A big game like the IU game is a good one to have the remote on the floor in front of me. You have the crowd all in black with the team wearing black too. It makes for interesting photos. I took my remote setup to the women’s game on Thursday to make sure everything was working properly. I used it in the first half, but anytime anything interesting happened at the rim the ref was in the way. I knew that my odds would improve Friday as my seat was better. I set up the remote hoping for one photo that I like from it. I don’t ever ask for much from it. It is to help build the story, and I never rely on it. Last night I ended up with a few that I liked from it. I may start running this setup for more games.

Outside The Stadium

In a former life I worked with athletics on big games like last night. I would go out and find photos showing the gameday experience. For what I do now those story telling photos just don’t sell and my agency doesn’t really like them. I was at the stadium early though so I went out and tried to make something different. It was really raining when I was out there so I didn’t stay long, but I had some ideas to try as the season goes on. It always feels good to get some photos in before the game starts.

The Game Winner

This hook shot was the difference in the game last night. I really struggled with how to cover the moment when Purdue had the ball down one with just under thirty seconds left in the game. Purdue could have held for the final shot, and I tried to decide if I wanted to cover that moment a little wider or tight with the 300. I settled on the 300 knowing that I could get the game action of that final play tight, but I also was in a good spot to get the emotion of the moment no matter how the play went. In the future for these big moments it would be nice to have my 50mm lens at my feet with a remote to get that slightly wider picture, and then be triggering it with my other camera with the 300mm on it. As a one man band it is the only way to make sure that I cover all of my bases for a moment like this.

A Hard Fought Game

The game last night had everything that you want in it for a rivalry game. It was a battle to the final seconds. It is nice to beat your rival by a ton, but that is not so much fun for photographers. A tight game where every basket matters just leads to better photos.

Reflecting On The Night

For most of pregame I was having fun making reflection photos. I started outside in the rain and then continued inside the stadium. Here I grabbed a spot out of the way where I could make this photo with a reflection of the players walking towards the court. I really like the idea, and with some tweaking I think that it could be really good.

Keep Looking Around

Here is where I start to sound like an old man. During a timeout now you see everyone looking at their cameras and tagging/sending photos. I think that in our need to get photos out so fast that we miss a lot of things happening on the court and around the court. I am guilty of this just as much as anyone. One of these games I will not tag my images and just keep my head on a swivel for the entire game. I like the idea of constantly trying to find a photo to make. Here I heard the students letting the refs have it so I made this photo before tagging my images.

This went from a week where I didn’t know what to expect to a very fun week with the last couple of days being packed with fun sporting events to cover. This week seems to be the opposite of last week. Right now I know that I have a basketball game tomorrow, and then the week is still up in the air.