The Week That Was In Sports

I know that I say this every week, but this was another fun week of sports photography. I feel that for me I am operating at a level that I have never been to before. I feel good, and the photos are coming my way. That is always good. This week started and ended with football. That is good after having a week with no football the week before. It also saw the return of roller derby and the last fall ball game of the year for me.

Finally Getting The Hurdle Photo

For years I have always been in the wrong spot for the hurdles when they happen. For this one I had a good angle on it to make a photo. Earlier in the game I picked the wrong side of the field and missed the pylon dive that Purdue had. This kind of made up for that. Of course like any good photographer now I want a better hurdle photo.

Too Much Smoke

At one point during the runout it looked like there was too much smoke. I couldn’t see the athletes anymore. It kind of worked though when they came out of the smoke. I really like how this photo turned out. I was only going to sit in this spot once, but after this I might try it again.

A Lucky Find

Just before a Purdue kickoff I decided to try a key photo. The students were waiving their keys before the kick, and I wanted to make a photo of that. For what I do now these photos don’t really add to that, but they are fun to make. I found this key chain by sure luck amongst all of the keys in the air. I really like how this turned out.

The Cannon Trophy

The fun part about making photos for the wire is making photos of the trophy no matter what. In the old days I needed Purdue to win to get the trophy photo. Now it is guaranteed for me. I have at least one more trophy photo ahead of me this football season. I will admit that I get a little more excited when I see black and gold teams hoisting trophies. I think that those days are coming though.

Guessing Right

Late in the game Purdue was near me running a quick two minute offense. I already kind of had my gallery for the day so I decided to stay behind the play to get some photos of the receivers getting the catch. I quickly realized that Micheal Jackson was a favorite target on the quick pass so I focused on him. I got two straight catches doing this. This Purdue offense could be good to stay behind. I am risking missing the long touchdown, but maybe for one game it could be worth it.

A Complete Kit

It has been about five years since I have had a complete kit. I have always been missing at least one piece. This fall I have finally felt like I have the tools that I need to do the job. I am not compromising something to get the photo. Without worrying about that stuff you can worry about the photos. Maybe part of why I feel that I am on a roll lately is that my kit is finally complete. I can just do my job.

Back At Roller Derby

The Lafayette Roller Derby team is the first team that ever gave me a chance to make photos for them. I have been making photos for them in some capacity since 2012. It is hard to believe how long ago that was. The team is a lot different than back then, and the rules of course now are completely different. In 2012 it was more like pro wrestling with personalities coming out more. Now it is more of a businesslike approach by the team. Any time that I have an open date in the schedule though I will try and get out to the fairgrounds to photograph roller derby. They have one last home bout this year on November 1st.

If You Can Photograph Roller Derby…

Starting off with roller derby really set me up for success later in my photography. Roller derby is a fast sport in dark venues. You really have to learn to problem solve to make photos. Even with two lenses at f/2 I was under 1/1000th of a second with my shutter. It is a great training ground through to learn how to photograph events. I am glad that I have been able to do it, and that I can still get back every now and then.

The End Of Fall Ball

This week we had our last fall ball game of the year. Maybe it is the parent in me coming out, but I am so damn proud of my little one. From the start of this summer season she came so far. She has started to put in the work and that work has shown up on the field. My favorite photos every year are the photos that I make of my kids. As they move up it has been fun moving up with them. Photographing your kids is the most fun and hardest thing that you can do. You have to get the moments or you will hear about it. It will be late March or early April before I photograph them again.

Senior Night At Harrison

Last night I had a weird dilemma. I wanted to be in two places at the same time. The two schools close to my house both had football games going on. I really couldn’t make up my mind so I put a poll up on Twitter. For the longest time even that poll was tied. I really thought I was going to have to flip a coin. A late surge in voting sent me out to Harrison. It was senior night and if I had known that when I put up the poll I probably would have gone out there anyway. I have photographed some of these guys since they were playing freshman ball on Saturday morning. It is crazy how fast time flies. There were some of those boys that I thought just got done playing freshman ball walking on senior night. There were so many photographers making the head on photos of the families coming down for senior night that I decided to slide over and have some fun with the late day sun as they did the senior walk.

The Star Filter

I have had this in my bag to use indoors for a while now, but the only problem was that I was using a different bag. I kept going to grab it, but it wasn’t there. Knowing that the light would not be great soon after kick I made sure that I had it this week for some photos after the half. Usually the team comes out for a few minutes to warm up. Last nigh there was around a minute on the clock when they hit the sidelines. I didn’t have much time to use it, but I do like this photo. This is definitely something to play around with in the future.

Friday Night Lights

Every Friday night I want to make a photo like this. It doesn’t always happen, but I always want to give it a try. To pull back a bit and show the Friday night lights in all of their glory. The sky was kind of perfect for this photo this week so I made sure to work my way over to make the photo.

A Coin Toss Reflection

Lately I haven’t been part of the coin toss. As a wider photo it just doesn’t photograph well. With the visors that some of the Harrison players have on though I thought that I would try something. I wanted to capture the other team in the visor. It worked really well, and was one of my favorite photos of the night.

Making The Best Photo At The Time

I was not at this game to photograph Roncalli. Just after the Harrison run out the cheerleaders set up the Roncalli runout right next to it. I turned around and made this photo. Over the course of the game I made a few photos the same way. It was something cool happening right in front of me.

More Photos From The Week

This is the part of this post where I post a few bonus photos. I did not photograph as many events this week, but this portion is long again. I really need to give out a prize for making it all the way down.