On Saturday, Missouri hosted South Carolina in its first SEC matchup of the 2025 season. The Tigers won 29-20 and remained undefeated, improving to a 4-0 record. I present to you: photos of the week, Mayor’s
Cup edition.
In photojournalism, there’s an interesting balance between what you’d expect of journalism and the art that is photography as a medium. When you’re on assignment it’s important to get the shots you need to – in this case, action shots that stop motion – but ideally you also have a chance to get a bit creative with angles, framing, light, etc. My dad (@windycityphlights and @bigshoulderbirders) and peers of mine have encouraged me to try more slow shutter speed photos, so while the team was running drills before the game, I decided to play around with my settings a bit. I still need more practice with this technique, but I thought this one didn’t come out too bad.
Emotions make for great photos, and we see a lot of them when covering sporting events. This image was also made pre-game while Missouri linebackers coach Derek Nicholson was speaking to his players. I was able to see him fairly clearly despite him being in the middle of the circle of players, and his face was very expressive and intense. I also love the sweat on his face, which I think adds another layer of intensity to the moment.
Right before this play, I was standing along the sideline getting pictures of Coach Drinkwitz and the action as it progressed, and I made the decision to move to the end zone to try to stay ahead of the action in case the Tigers ended up scoring. Lo and behold, Norfleet makes this catch and lands on the ground right next to where I had just been positioned. I’m still happy I was able to get this shot, but I do wonder what I could have gotten if I’d just stayed where I was for this play.
For this photo taken towards the end of the first half, I was positioned along the Missouri sideline as I tried to feel out when would be the best time to head back to the media room to start uploading some photos. I just so happened to be in the right place to get a nice side view of Chris McClellan sacking LaNorris Sellers, which was awesome to see. I also love that Sellers has his arm out while he tries to avoid being sacked. I only wish McClellan’s arm wasn’t blocking Sellers’ face.
Just a few plays later, South Carolina had a turnover on downs so I decided to stick around to see if Mizzou had any big plays. Unfortunately, Beau Pribula’s pass was intercepted by South Carolina’s Gerald Kilgore. I did end up getting a great shot of Kilgore catching the ball while he was facing me, which is always a plus in the photojournalism world (we want to see faces, not the backs of heads!).
Everyone loves a good touchdown photo. Here, I really like that Ahmad Hardy’s foot is just barely in the end zone, and we can see the ball and Hardy clearly while still being able to see defenders behind him. I didn’t get good photos of the first touchdown because of where I was in relation to the play, so I was happy to have at least gotten this one.
At every football game, I try to go over to the student section for “Mr. Brightside.” I try to get up close and use my wide-angle lens to show a lot of the scene. It almost always results in cool crowd shots, though the photos can sometimes get repetitive if all they’re doing is cheering. This time though, Truman got up on top of the ledge and sprayed water into the crowd. I intentionally got low to the ground to be close but still show all of his body while the sky offered a cleaner background, and that’s right when the fireworks went off. It resulted in a really nice warm-toned photo with some cool moments happening in the frame. I’m really happy with the way this turned out, but I only wish I didn’t accidentally cut off his tail.
Lastly, we have the obligatory trophy picture. I kept going back and forth between the student section and the team gathering on the field because I didn’t want to miss the trophy being handed over or the players celebrating with the crowd. As soon as I saw players and photographers starting to crowd together, I ran back over to get the players lifting the trophy. I’m sadly not blessed in the height department, so I had to hold my camera up high and look at my screen to try to frame the photo properly (you’ll notice the camera in the bottom right corner is a result of my somewhat limited view). I chose this photo specifically from the series I got despite the lens in the corner because it was the best one with the players’ faces clear and I liked that Marquis Johnson was holding up an ‘L’ as he lifted the trophy.
Overall, a win is a win (game and photo-wise) and I was pretty satisfied with what I came back with from the first night game of the season. I’m definitely looking forward to more of those, especially if they do more cool things with the stadium lights.
