The Week That Was In Sports

This was a busy and hot week making sports photos. The fall sports season is here, but the fall weather is not. I always talk about how you can’t think about the weather when making photos. You want to be focused on what is in front of you and not how you feel. This week that was a little hard. It was a good week to make sports photos though.

Four Volleyball Games In Two Days

The sports week started off with four games in two days in Mackey. It is always good to be back in Mackey, but the weather made it tough. The staff that runs the building does a great job keeping the building as cool as it can be, but without air conditioning it can get hot in there. Going up top for photos can get pretty hot. I tried to keep a water bottle on me, and also take editing breaks in the air conditioned media room. It was a fun two days of photos with four good teams going head to head.

The Details

Early on in the tournament I wanted to make more detail photos. I used to do this stuff for the gallery, but now it feels more like it is to break up my Instagram post. I loved these nails, and I wanted to make the photo with them in it. I also love the Purdue ball up against the Indiana jersey. This photo would never go to the wire, but it is one for me.

Getting The Timing Back

I felt like the first match of the challenge in Mackey I was a little slow. My timing just was not there. By the end of the four matches I started feeling like I was right back in it. I always say that volleyball is the hardest sport that I photograph. It is super fast and the ball can go anywhere at times. Being there when it does takes skill and luck. The positions aren’t always the best to make photos as well. It felt good to finally feel like I am up to speed on volleyball. I have to keep that timing as the season goes on.

A Historic Night

The second game of the Big Ten/SEC challenge was historic. Dave Shondell become the winningest coach in Purdue history. He passed Gene Keady for that title. He really has done something special at Purdue, and it was cool to see his team rally around him at the end of the match.

Packed Mackey

Tuesday night was also fun because Mackey was packed. It was a hot night, and everyone who showed up knew what they were in for. It would be hot, but it would also be a good match. I was editing the game one photos in the media room when I heard the roar from the fans pregame. I knew that we were in for a special night. This was the second year in a row that Purdue took down the defending national champions in Mackey. This was a great atmosphere to make photos in.

Pete Is Always Watching

I was looking for ways to photograph the other side of the court when I realized that if things worked out for me that I could make a photo like this. It took a few tries of getting unlucky with the athlete going up into the net before I made this photo. I really like it for something new. As the games go on you are always looking for something new and fresh. Just making the same photos over and over can get boring. Here I lucked into something pretty cool.

Some Local Flavor

Emma Segal is from just down the road in Brookston. It is always great to see local kids come back and play against Purdue. Emma would be a sub for serving so it always felt like I was in the wrong place to make a photo. For this serve I ran down the crowded sideline to get directly to the side of her knowing that it would look good.

For Kenna

There were a few ways that the teams honored Kenna Wollard this week. The public still does not know what is going on, but the ribbons and well wishes give you some clues. No matter what you can tell that she is loved, and she has a large amount of people pulling for her. These are the moments on the blog where words just don’t come easy for me. When the time comes and we know what it going on hopefully there are ways that as a Purdue community that we can help out.

Forced Into A Corner

For the IU postgame I purposely didn’t take my wide out to the court. I wanted to force myself to do something different. I feel like I always make photos in these situations the same way. Only have a 50-150 made me think a little differently. I like this composition that I came up with.

Going Up Top

For the second day I went up top and photographed down a little more. With less people in the arena this cleaned up my backgrounds pretty well. I love photos like this where you can see the players eyes. It is rare to get a clean background with no players in it, but here things worked out for a photo that I really liked.

A Fun Team

Purdue is a fun team to photograph. The team looks like it is full of kids with great attitudes. The smiles and joy always seems to be there. In the past I have seen teams that I follow excel when they are just having fun. They have fun, but they are also very talented. Here Dave seems to be as impressed as me that Taylor got to this ball.

Friday Night Lights On A Thursday

Because Purdue was playing on Friday the West Side team moved their game to Thursday night. I went basically to go through a run through for the next night. With the games starting at the same time the light would be changing at the same times. Of course the big press box at Ross Ade changes some of that, but I would have an idea of what to expect. It is always good to get out and make some photos the night before the first college game. The game change allowed me to do just that. It was a good game with two teams going toe to toe.

Putting Myself In A Corner Again

For most of the game I just took one camera and one lens around with me. My goal was to put myself in a corner. I was forcing some creativity by limiting myself. It is a fun way to make yourself get out of a rut. I have been photographing at this field since 2011. I feel like I make the same photos over and over. By making myself do something different it helps me branch out a little bit. The team has photographers so I can play around a little.

Great Light

The great thing about high school football in the early fall is that you have the chance for some great light. With several cameras on the field I took about a quarter to just play around with the light. I started with photos looking right into the sun, and then I took a shorter lens to play around with the sunset that was happening around the field. That little burst of creativity was amazing and gave me some of my favorite photos from the night.

Familiar Faces

You can tell a lot about a program by looking at the sidelines. Year after year the coaching staff keeps growing with former players coming back to help out. It is fun to photograph the players on the field. It is even more fun to see them have success after they leave the school. When they are in a position to come back and help that is awesome.

In Sycamore Blue Again

Ten years ago I started working with Indiana State. It was a very cool partnership that allowed me to grow as a photographer. I learned so much in the time that I worked with them. I went on the road with football and basketball and learned a lot of the tricks that I still use today. It is always nice when a road game for the team is ten minutes from my house. I owe them a ton so it is always amazing to work with them again.

A Little Late Luck

There was a point in the fourth quarter when I started to question my gallery. Was it good enough? At the point I started to doubt myself Indiana State only had a hundred and some yards of total offense. Then a couple of touchdowns in front of me gave me a couple of photos that I really liked.

More Familiar Faces

I apparently have been doing this too long because everywhere that I look I am seeing familiar faces. During warmups I saw a familiar face in Brady Wilson. His dad was the defensive coordinator at Indiana State when I used to travel with the team. DJ Griffith is the younger brother of Jonas Griffith who starred at Indiana State at linebacker before heading to the NFL.