The Week That Was In Sports

This was another fun week of making sports images. Right after Thanksgiving I feel that I should say how lucky I am to be doing this. Yesterday I photographed the #1 team in college basketball in the afternoon, and the #2 team in college football at night. I don’t always talk about it, but it is pretty cool what I get to do sometimes. The week started with the final day of the IU Health Hoops Classic. I covered three games on the final day including the championship game. Then on Sunday I covered the Purdue women in Mackey. That was a lot of basketball crammed into a few days, but it never felt old.

Trophies

I love a good trophy photo. On Saturday I had only planned to see the first quarter of the championship game. I don’t really know anyone on either team so it didn’t make sense to stay. When I saw them bring that big, shiny trophy to the scorers table though I decided to stay for a little longer. As a photographer you can never make too many trophy photos. I really like this one. They don’t always work out. This one did for the most part.

Lillie Graves

For the last few years I have heard a ton about Lillie Graves. She is one of the top 50 high schoolers in her class in the country. You can see it when she is on the court. This game just seems easy to her. It was cool to finally get to see her in person. It will be interesting to see where her career continues. She still has a season and a half of high school ball to play before that happens though.

A Tough Tournament

I really need to get to more high school girls basketball games this year. If this tournament was any indication they are really fun to photograph. Every game had a lot of tough play that made for good photos. This might be one of my favorite photos from a tie up. They don’t always occur in spots to make good photos, but this one did.

The Fifth Place Game

My first game of Saturday was the fifth place game between West Lafayette and Rensselaer. West Side has some talent on this team. When they get into their half court offense you can see that. They have a little trouble getting the ball up the floor into that offense at times though. If they can get a handle on that they will be fun to watch.

Tough Play Under The Basket

I may sound like a broken record at this point, but this tournament saw tough play all over the court. I love this photo from under the basketball as two rivals battle for the ball. Jeff and Harrison have a history against each other so I knew that I was in for a good one. I was not let down.

The Low Remote

I had my remote set up for the fist half of the Harrison game against Jeff. For the first quarter it was right next to me, and then for the second quarter I left it up against the back wall while I was roving. In fact you can see me in the photo above here. It is nice to know that you still have coverage under the basket when you are moving around. This will come in handy in the future.

For Old Glory

Earlier in the second half I saw the potential for this photo. I hoped that a player would attempt a shot from this area. of course once you start looking for a play in a certain spot it never happens. I got lucky late though with a ball right in front of the flag.

The Ghost Filter

I recently bought a version of the ghost filter that fits rights onto my lens. I have a large and bulky handheld version, but that gets pretty cumbersome. I almost need another hand to work it properly. For the Purdue game on Sunday I put the ghost filter on my 135mm lens to see what I could get. For the most part it was too slow to focus on the fast action. For plays like this one from the free throw line though it worked pretty well. This is something that will be fun to play around with in the future.

Three!

These photos are usually hard for me to get. When I am under the basket I get blocked by all kinds of things. For the second half on Sunday I sat out wide to try and get something different. When Taylor Feldman hit a three pointer I had a great view of her celebration. This was a big play at the time that might have iced the game for Purdue. I was glad to have a clear opportunity to make the photo.

Lana McCarthy

This year Lana McCarthy has really improved. I have really enjoyed making photos of her. She is still a force under the basket. She has also started to get better away from the basket. She made a couple of defensive plays on Sunday out on the wing that got my attention. She will be fun to watch mature during her career.

A Quick Couple Of Photos

Before I photographed basketball on Tuesday night I walked across the hall to see the Harrison pool. It is hard to believe that I had never been in there before. I will have to go back. The pool deck is the same height as the water allowing for some really fun low angle photos. Of course that also means that you will get very wet on the turn. I was soaked for the first half of the basketball game, but it was worth it for this photo.

Catching Half Of The JV Game

I only was able to catch half of the Harrison JV game, but I had fun during that half. Faces on the JV team eventually become faces on the varsity team. I remember many of the Harrison variety players from their JV days. It is always fun to see the development over the years.

Going Really Wide

Looking at the reflection on the court I had this idea for a wide photo. I wanted to show much of the gym as well as some of the reflection. I think it works a little here as a way to break up the gallery, but maybe I should have hooked up my pocket wizards to just have it always firing. A play at the basket might have worked even better. That is why you photograph all season though. You find little things to keep improving on. Kaizen.

Working The Flag In

For the last few games at Harrison I have been having fun working the flag into my photos. It is a little game that I like to play to keep myself more into the game. I have been trying to position myself to get game action with the flag, but sometimes you settle for it being a cool part of the background.

Peak Action

When you are photographing sports you always want to get the peak action. You don’t always get that exact moment, but it is what you strive for. Here is a pretty cool example of when things work out. You have the ball just leaving the hand of the shooter. The defender is also just making contact for the foul. It is a split second in time that I was lucky enough to capture here.

The Intros

I went to this game with the initial thought of trying something new during the lights out intros. As we were getting to that point in the night I saw that nobody was up with the lights so I realized that I wouldn’t be trying my idea that night. That is okay. It is a long season, and I will have plenty of chances to play around with the cool Harrison intros.

Having Some Fun

During the pregame I was having some fun with a halo filter for my 50-150. It added a little bit of excitement during pregame and got me out on the court. It was fun trying something new. I can’t file images made with the filter, but it gives me a fun challenge. I used a black Friday code to order myself one for future games.

Wide And Tight

I had a floor remote for the first half of the game yesterday. It allowed me to get a wide angled view of the action while still getting my normal tight action photos. You can see an example of what I got above. I will admit that I set the remote up hoping for a break away dunk. I didn’t get it today, but it is a long season. I will eventually get one. I like how the remote gives me options to break up my gallery.

An Amazing Day

I really am lucky to get to do what I do for a living. Think about yesterday. I was able to photograph the #1 team in college basketball at noon, and the #2 team in college football at night. It was a long day for sure. I got to Mackey at 9 in the morning and I left Ross Ade Stadium around midnight. It was a long day, but it was also the kind of day that I love. I was able to photograph a little history on a Black Friday.

History!

Last night was a historic game in many ways. It was the 100th time that both teams have played for the bucket. Purdue had a pretty cool logo that they designed for the game to commemorate that fact. It was also the coldest game in Ross Ade Stadium history. When I read that fact I really didn’t believe it at first. It was cold out, but I don’t think it was that cold out. I guess Purdue has been lucky over the years with their November schedule. This game was also the most lopsided loss to IU at home in the bucket era. The good news is that the team was so bad last year that it wasn’t the most lopsided loss in bucket game history.

Photographing In Ross Ade Stadium

As I was going out to climb up top to make a wide photo I was talking to another photographer who asked me where I would go. I explained my idea, but then pointed out a spot that would be perfect for the night. The more I talked about this other spot the more that I realized that it was where I should have been. I had the perfect lens for it. I brought my 12-24mm lens out of retirement to photograph the bucket. I knew I would be in some scrums so I wanted my widest lens. It works great from this spot. I have been coming to Ross Ade for thirty years now. I have come to really love this place over the years. This is the thirteenth year that I have been lucky enough to make photos on the field. I try to never forget how lucky that I am to do that. Even in a game that was not the best for the home team I wanted to show how great this place is.

A Little Art During The Game

Over the last couple of years I have really enjoyed watching Justin Vining does his thing on Instagram. He attends big games and does a live painting of the event. When I see that he is somewhere I know that it is a big deal. During pregame I spotted him in the south end zone and went up to finally meet him. Sometimes people can call what I do art. I push a button. Justin was out there in the cold making some real art. I kept checking on him during the game. Here the action was on the south side of the field so I ran up during a timeout to set up to make this photo. It was really great to finally see this process in person.

The Last Football Game

This was my last football game of 2025. Every year when football season ends it never feels like I photographed enough. This year it seems even worse. I never saw a local team in the playoffs. My high school season feels like it ended very early. I tried to soak up as much of the gameday experience as I could. It will be a while before we get it again.

Another Trophy!

I started this post off with a trophy, and I will end with a trophy. The old oaken bucket might just be my favorite trophy to photograph. It has a history behind it. In fact this was the 100th time that the teams have played for it. Somehow as IU was carrying it around it appeared to be mostly I’s on the chain. Purdue has won about 66% of the bucket games so they must have found a creative way to hold it. I ran a lot to make my bucket photos last night, but it was worth it.

More Photos From The Week

This is another long add on to the end of my sports post. Grab some turkey day leftovers and settle in. If you make is to the bottom of the list I will let you have the good end of the wishbone.