The Week That Was In Sports

This was another short week for sports photography. I photographed basketball games on back to back nights and that was it. They were both fun games though. Part of the long term plan is to photograph less sports so this is kind of what I want to have more weeks like coming up. These were my first sports photos of 2026. Photos don’t change much just because the date does, but I think I always put a little extra importance on those first few games of the year. Below are a few stories that I liked from the week.

A Convincing Win

Tuesday nigh I went to West Side to see the girls basketball team take on Frankfort. It has been over ten years since I have regularly photographed in this gym. For a while I was here all of the time, but they have photographers now so I just show up to play around a little. It is always fun to see the familiar sightlines in the gym. It also makes it easy to line up photos. It is also kind of fun to put these photos up against the photos that I made years ago. I definitely learned a lot over time.

The Big Flag

One thing that I don’t remember or did not use years ago was this big flag. Now I try and make a photo with it every game that I enter the gym. I need to bring the 300 to a game to really have some fun.

Finding A Fun Form

From the second that I saw this shooting form I knew that this photo would be a good one. I waited for the right moment to make a photo of her warming up on the wing when I could get up close. It is kind of a fun photo that was a little different for me.

Fun With Flash

I got a new flash for Christmas. Santa must have known that I was missing having rear curtain sync so he brought me a new flash. I was determined to make photos with it. Thankfully Purdue came out shooting hot and I didn’t blind them in the dark tunnel.

Scrambling For A Plan

This season and last season I sat in the same spot on the opponent side of the court. When I got to the stadium on Wednesday I checked the seating chart out of habit. I realized that I did not have a floor spot. I am not going to lie. My first instinct was to just leave the stadium. My wire service does not like photos that I make standing up. No wire service does to be honest. It was kind of a gut punch to realize that you were not going to be able to deliver this week. I decided to just try and do anything to make photos. I didn’t have to worry about leaving a seat vacant because I didn’t have one. I moved around a little on the concourse until I realized that I was probably overstaying my welcome up there. It was a good chance to make some photos from up in the stands.

Just Make The Photo

For the second half I knelt behind photographers hoping that they wouldn’t block my shot. I purposely went to a spot where I had good access to the basket. Doing that I lost both corners and a lot of the court, but if a play came to the rim I wouldn’t lose that photo. That all worked out for me here on this dunk photo. If I had been standing I would not have seen the rim or the hands on the dunk. By kneeling I was able to make the photo. Photography is all about solving problems. I had a big one before the game started. I tried to find ways to make that much less of a problem.