The Week That Was In Sports

This was my first week in a while with no football. It is just how the schedule worked out. I had college football that was my bookend to last week. This week the bookend was volleyball. I also made my first trip to Mackey Arena for some basketball this week. Crossover season is always interesting. At times I really don’t know what I will be photographing the next week. It is kind of fun for me. I never like to do the same thing too much. That can get boring. This time of the year there are many choices of what to photograph so it is fun.

Sectional Champs!

This week started off at McCutcheon in a gym that I have photographed in for fourteen years now. I say that like I have photographed in there a lot. I would bet that in that fourteen years it is under a handful of times. When I saw that Harrison was playing for a title close to home I wanted to get out there to photograph this team. They are fun and they play with a lot of emotion. That makes for good photos and makes me look better than I am. That is always a fun thing. Clinching the title on a big run made for some great emotion at the end of the game. The players that were on the court are fairly young as well. Only one senior saw playing time for Harrison. You have to think that the future is bright there.

Setting The Scene

When you get to the playoffs things change for game coverage I always feel. I am still going for peak game action, but I also want to show some of the surroundings. When it is on the road that means a little bit more. Here getting the Mavericks logo in the background a couple of times does just that. I miss the days when the teams would switch sides. That let me show off a bit of the arena in the other direction as well.

Emotion!

Playoffs are all about emotion. This match had plenty of it. Two rivals playing for a championship will do that. Above are a few of my favorite photos showing a little emotion from last Saturday.

Up Above

McCutcheon has a second level that you could get to from one side of the arena. That let me get up over the net to capture some of that action. I always like these photos. The higher that you can get the more athletic you can make the athletes look.

Basketball In Mackey

Sunday was my first basketball in Mackey for this school year. My first two times in the arena will be for exhibition games, but it is still always good to get in and get some reps in. With the limited number of photographers that attended the game it also let me photograph Purdue for both halves. Being at the Purdue end of the court for the second half let me make the dunk photo above.

Trying Out The Ripple Filter

Exhibition games are for the players to work on things to get ready for the season. I look at it the same way. I was trying some filters pregame and even in game. I would never through a filter on my lens during a regular season game, but for an exhibition I can gamble a little more. The photo above was made with my Prism Lens FX Ripple filter. It is one that I haven’t messed with a lot yet, but it has some potential.

The Camera On The Ground

This was the first game in a while that I didn’t really get excited about any of the photos that I made with my camera at my feet. It usually gives me something during a game. I really am only looking for one great photo with it. Too many in a gallery would be overkill. For some reason it just didn’t work out for this game. This was probably the best image that I made with it. That is okay. This is just exhibition and it was good to just test everything out again.

The Battles

Last year I put an emphasis on trying to show more of the battles on the court. I didn’t think it would be too good at an exhibition game, but this is Purdue. This was the part of the game where I felt that I made the most photos that I liked. Above are a couple that I liked.

A Top 20 Battle In Holloway

It has been a while since I have been in Holloway. With a Friday night top 20 battle though you knew that I would have to be there to photograph it. The match lived up to the billing as it went five sets with the fifth being fairly tight as well. This year I have not photographed a ton of volleyball. That is just how things have lined up. It was nice to have a night where I could see a great matchup.

Adding Some Motion

I have always added motion to sports photos. Lately though I have been working on adding it in other areas of my photography away from sports. For a few points on each end last night I slowed the shutter way past what I would normally use to really blur the scene. They were not images for the wire, but more for me. This is something that I want to play with a little more as time goes on.

Just Okay

I walked away from the exhibition basketball game and the volleyball game last night thinking that my photos were just okay. They would make an okay gallery, but I never felt like I made that one photo that would lead off a post. I don’t know if I expect too much, or that I need to work on things. Just in case I will work on things. When you start sports photography you think that you will learn it all quickly. What you find out the longer that you do it though is that you are always learning. Always getting better. This coming week is a good week to get a little better.