The Week (And A Little More) That Was In Sports

This little over a week was a fun week making sports photos. For the purposes of this post it started on a Friday night photographing high school football and that is how it ended. It was purposely a little slower to take a little break, but I still had three football games and two softball games. This coming week looks to be much busier.

A Little Fun

I had this bright idea to photograph the players coming onto the field with my 300. The idea was that I would focus on the paper that they would run through in the hopes of getting something tight as they did. Of course I saw this flag at the last minute and everything changed. I was a little too tight to get much of the flag, but I really like how this turned out.

Finding The Moments

This game was defined during a short span when West Side created a few turnovers. Those turnovers helped them distance themselves from their opponent. These types of photos do not always work out. You can have the players facing the wrong way, or worse yet a pile of players in between you and the ball. During this stretch I really lucked out and had moments where I could see the action and the ball floating away. Defense can at times be hard to photograph and make a good picture. I really had some luck going last Friday.

Fun On And Off The Field

I made this photo after the game was over. I had some inside information that one of the players was going to ask for a date to the homecoming dance in full uniform. It wouldn’t mean waiting too long so I walked over to where it should happen. It was a cool moment that ended a fun night. It is always fun seeing these types of moments.

Going Back In Time

The year 2000 was a pretty good one. One of the great parts of the year was watching Purdue football play. I remember late in the year going home after a game and figuring out what needed to happen to clinch a share of the Big Ten title. Beating Michigan and rushing the field was a great memory. I was on ABC after the game during the interview. The icing on top was beating IU to win the Big Ten title. The photo that Tom Campbell made that day of Drew Brees and Joe Tiller is still my all time favorite Purdue image. Last Saturday members of that 2000 team were back on campus, and I was like a little kid making photos of them. It was really cool to see a lot of faces again and relive those amazing days. It is really hard to believe that 25 years has gone by so fast.

A Cool Honor For Gary Danielson

Before I knew much about Purdue I knew who Gary Danielson was. It was a while after I was at Purdue before I realized that he was an alum. He has always been one of my favorite football announcers so it was really cool to get to photograph him Saturday. Here Drew Brees and Mark Herrmann present him with a framed #18 jersey. I missed some action to get ready to make this photo, but it was worth it.

I’m No Stranger To The Rain

The story of this game was the long delay before it would kick off. The rain that was not in the forecast earlier in the day came down hard for about three hours. The game was delayed, and I started to get antsy in the media room. I went out to the field in the hopes that the sun would come out for a second. On the way to my spot to make a rainbow photo I stopped to make this puddle photo. The sun almost came out but in the end I didn’t get that photo. I did get one though that kind of summed up the day.

Sunset Photos?

When Saturday started I didn’t think I would still be in the stadium at sunset. It would have taken an epically long game to get there. Of course the long rain delay meant that we would have a sunset during the game. During the second quarter I went up into the stands to catch some color in the clouds. I had planned to stay up there longer, but I really like how this photo turned out. The sunset seemed like it would fizzle due to clouds on the horizon so I went down on the field. Having this wide lens on me though enabled me to make the photos of Gary Danielson that I made. If I had not had this idea then I would never had made those photos. It was a really lucky stretch for me during the game.

Photographing From The Stands

Prior to 2013 all of my photos from games came from the stands. I used to have a sports blog where I put my uninformed opinions and made terrible predictions. I had a ton of fun doing it. That blog started in 2006, and laid the groundwork for what this blog would become. While I was up top waiting for the sunset I made a few photos that felt very familiar. My old seats were not far from where I was standing.

Being Behind The Play

For what I do now I don’t always have the luxury to stay behind the play. When I was part of a team I could hang back sometimes to make these types of photos. Now though I cheat more to the end zone because I am a one man band. I can’t miss the score so I need to hang back a bit. Here I was playing the odds that USC would score first so I hung back. I followed the quarterback and found the receiver just before the ball got there. I don’t think that I had the best game as far as my action photos go. I really do like this photo though. Hanging back and gambling a bit allowed me to make it.

Getting To The Stadium Early

I haven’t been to the stadium early enough to get the team walk since 2021. I was on the Purdue photo team at the time and it was part of my job. For what I do now there isn’t much of a call for these types of photos. One photo of coach is about all that I need during the year. I got to the stadium early Saturday to make this photo. Of course I had no idea that by doing that I would be there for much longer on the day. It was neat to see how the walk has evolved over the years. Not having the Boilermaker Special leading the walk made it much easier to make a photo of the coach.

Marcus!

I had just talked to some people at Purdue that said that they were probably going to have to evacuate the stadium. I was leaving the playing field before that happened when I saw Marcus Allen standing on the sidelines. As a kid Marcus was the guy in the NFL. He stayed the guy until somebody named Bo Jackson came along to take his place. I have seen a few NFL Hall of Famers on the sidelines at Purdue over the years. This one was a surprise though, and really cool.

Just Like Roy

Tuesday night my little one had a fall ball game. Earlier in the day I found out that Robert Redford died. Robert starred in one of my favorite movies ever The Natural. When I was a kid I was number 9 just like Roy Hobbs in the movie. Roy was a lefty, and I was a lefty. My little one is a lefty. Her jersey number is 9. In her two at bats on the night she hit a little league homer and a triple. A little bit of that #9 magic must have rubbed off.

Back At LaRocca

My first high school game when I moved here was at LaRocca Field. It was between West Side and Central Catholic. A couple of weeks later my first blog post was about a game from this same field. It is always nice to get back over here to make photos. It has been a while since I have done so.

Post Halftime Photos

Usually after the half I will find a quarterback to make photos of as the light is usually good. Here the angle was not going to work, but luckily for me the running back was warming up just off the field. I sat down on the track to get my angle right and waiting for the right moment. This might be my favorite photos from the night.

LaRocca Lighting

This has always been a challenging field to make photos at. The light is not the best, and what light there is does not cycle the same as the other lights. What you end up with is a white balancing nightmare. Here the player has two different colors of light hitting them as they run. I like the photo though so it still makes the gallery.

A Great Game

My first game at this field in 2011 was a great game that was decided by a pick 6. The game last night was another great game with as you could guess a pick 6 that was the difference. It is always fun to see two local teams slug it out.