During football season I made a blog post about photographing both pregame and post game.
Since then I have started a personal project where every game I try to focus on one athlete during the pregame and then the same athlete during the post game.
It makes for an interesting narrative device especially when the emotions are very different.
This was not the case for a recent basketball championship I photographed.
Ahead of time I was alerted by the writer that St. Paul was most likely going to win. During player introductions, I focused a great deal on St. Paul to add a new dimension to their jubilation in case they did in fact win.
Up 10-0 in the first few minutes, a one way game turned into a blow out.
Knowing the paper I was photographing for need celebration shots, I made sure to camp out for the last few minutes of the game right by St. Paul's bench and as soon as the clock hit zero I ran onto the court.
One of my favorite aspects of sports photography is the end of the game. Surprisingly as much as I photograph sports, I am by no means a sports junkie. In fact when I tell people that I make images of mostly sports they are surprised. All throughout my childhood I skateboarded and snowboarded but never saw the appeal of team sports. I loosely followed the Washington Redskins and in fact always wanted to be a news photographer.
Fortunately for me I am still able to make news images but by pure coincidence and the opportunities that presented themselves I ended up having a heavier focus on sports.
But I digress ... The emotion behind sports is really what attracts me. Not the big plays, or the great action, although those images can be just as beautiful. But instead it is the almost strange way that many athletes and fans get so heavily involved in a game. I like to approach sports as more of a look at the athletes themselves then the game as a whole.
So now that you know more information about me then many people would ever ask for, I hope to keep shooting this way.
Making images of similar players and pulling together a full narrative from just a short game.
Until next time, take care!