A dreaded assignment that became my favorite

Player 23 from both sides fight to control the ball.

Before this assignment the most experience I had with shooting sports photography was at my kid’s games when they were younger. When I took pictures at their games my focus was only on them and I wasn’t applying the technical aspects. So, when I saw that the assignment sheet said, “Cover the event like a photo story,” and then I saw the grade sheet and everything the photos would be graded on I was a little intimidated.

Coach David Clarke lectures his player.

       When I got to the game and started shooting I was a little nervous but then I found myself starting to have fun doing it. After I stopped over thinking it and relaxed I found it to be easier than I thought it would be. I followed the action up and down the court shooting from all sides. Once I found the correct exposure I got several shots and even played with doing some panning shots. When I tried to adjust the shutter speed to get some stop action shots I ran into issues; no matter how much I tried or what I adjusted I couldn’t seem to get the correct exposure.

Michael age 4 plays basketball after the game.

      To get a complete photo story I had to get coach and fan shots in addition to the game shots. The couch shots were challenging because he was either sitting there doing nothing or he was up and so animated that it was hard to get a shot of him that wasn’t blurred. For the fan shots I photographed one set during the game and the other after. During the game I shot Angela, Mychael and Amaree who are the wife and children of one of the refs. Angela says that they come to see him ref when they can but he refs to many games to be to able to come to them all. After the game I shot Allison, Ricky and Michael who are the daughter and grandchildren of Carol, the secretary for the Social and Behavioral Science. They were on the court playing after the game and Allison says they come to almost all of the games.

       This was the assignment that I had dreaded the most but it ended up being the assignment I enjoyed the most.

Mychael age 5 (left), Angela and Amaree age 3 watch the game. They are the wife and children of one of the refs.