The Week That Was In Sports

This is that weird part of the year when sports start going away, and others are coming back. Tomorrow will be my first basketball game of the year. This week started and ended with Purdue football which is pretty crazy. In fact those two games were the only two that I photographed this week. It was nice to kind of have a sort of off week from sports photos so that I could concentrate on some other projects.

Purdue Wins Against Minnesota

Saturday night was a fun one under the lights. For what I do now it really doesn’t matter who wins. I always get to photograph the trophy, and the winning team. When the winning team is the home team the photos are usually better though. I camped in this spot waiting for one of the stars of the game to come through to celebrate with the fans. Here quarterback Ryan Browne has a fun moment with the Ross Ade Brigade.

Sunset And Tiller Tunnel

We just passed the anniversary of the passing of Joe Tiller. When I saw the sunset behind the sign I had to make a photo of it. The sunset was very muted and could have easily been lost, but here I made something that I liked from it.

Thinking Of Tyler

You can’t have the Hammer Down Cancer game and not think of Tyler Trent. He was a shooting star that we were able to see for a short time before he was gone. In that short time that we were able to know him he inspired nearly everyone that he came into contact with. He loved Purdue football. He travelled to see them play shortly before his death. He has to be upstairs having a blast looking down at the field and seeing his brother wearing Gold and Black. Maybe a little bit of that magic is why Purdue played so well Saturday night.

A Little Chip?

Growing up watching the Bulls I used to love hearing the stories of how Phil Jackson would get Michael Jordan going by giving him a chip to have on his shoulder for games. Some slight or little thing that would get MJ into a mode where he would dominate. Last year Minnesota picked another running back over Fame Ijeboi. I think he carried some of that with him on his way to 195 rushing yards on the night. He was punishing anyone who tried to tackle him. He was on a mission, and man was it fun to watch.

Quick Feet

Saturday against Minnesota Purdue quarterback Ryan Browne used his feet to get away from pressure, and sometimes to just go and get some yards. It was a dangerous weapon, and it helped some of Purdues biggest drives of the night. It is fun watching a mobile quarterback change the game. Hopefully there is more of this coming.

An Old Pair

I have not used my Sony A7RIV and Sony 12-24mm together in over five years. The camera fell off a tripod and broke leaving me to use another camera as a backup. With the 60mp beast back and better than ever I wanted to make a wide with it. I had this grand idea for a run out photo, but everything was timed very poorly The three main components of the photo all happened at different times that were not even close to each other. The smoke and flags took off and then about five seconds later the fireworks went off. The team waited a while before doing their part of the runout. None of it was together, and the photo did not turn out. I am writing this during the week so hopefully they get all of that ironed out before the game on Friday. I will pick a new place to make a photo that hopefully looks good.

A Weird Night

Overall I felt like I had a good game on Saturday. I made photos that I liked, and everyone seemed happy with them. For some reason though things just felt off. I never made THAT photo. There is always one photo from a game that I really like. That one never happened. It is a weird feeling. The photos were nice, but not great. The good news is that in less than a week I have another chance at the same time to make photos at the same stadium. Maybe then I can redeem myself a little.

Washington Wins At Purdue

This week I was hired by Washington to photograph them as they played at Ross Ade. I had already come up with my gameday plan before I got the call, but it was an easy yes. Ten years ago I photographed Washington at the women’s final four, and then in the NCAA baseball tournament. It was a cool set of gigs that led to my work with Xavier in a weird way. It was pretty cool to get to photograph for them again.

A Little Nod

My friend Chris set this job up for me so during warm ups I made one of his patented ball in air photos. With the rain coming down it looked pretty cool. This would never win me any awards, but it was a fun way to warm up.

Brotherly Love

After the game the Odom brothers embraced at mid field. I always like to find little sub stories like this for a game to make photos of. It is a small part of a larger story from the game.

Another Return

This was the first game back in Ross Ade Stadium for Washington coach Ryan Walters. Ryan led the Boilers for the time in between Brohm and Odom. The fans really let him have it, and they were louder than I have heard them chant at an opponent in a long time. For all that they yelled at him his team got the last laugh last night. I actually think that they used the abuse to fire them up more.

Making A Photo

I did not have a lot to send before the first touchdown that Washington scored. When you are photographing for a team you always want to give them some good stuff early. When that doesn’t happen doubt starts to creep in. I got lucky and captured the first touchdown from the catch to the celebration. It was all in front of me so I suddenly had a lot to send. That is always a good feeling to have that in your pocket, and I could just think about the game from that point on.