I know I said this week would be completely focusing on track, but I changed my mind… I wanted to take a chance to highlight the two other fantastic regular contributors to Rock M coverage: freshmen phenoms
Margo Jenkins (@margoj_photography) and Dan Murphy (@danmurphmedia)! Enjoy some photos from all three of us this week from track and field’s Missouri Invitational, gymnastics’ historic win over Florida, and women’s basketball against Georgia!
When I got to Friday’s meet at the Hearnes indoor track, I was told I had to stand a certain distance from the net around the throwers for safety. I quickly realized that the distance was throwing off my autofocus and had to switch to manual focus where I adjusted it by hand to try to get the throwers to be sharp. It was pretty difficult to keep them in focus using manual because their movements would bring them in and out of focus, but I was able to come away with a few photos I liked, including this one of Delilah Pippen.
You may have noticed that we regularly use courtesy photos from Mizzou Athletics (or other outlets like Getty or Imagn) when we’re unable to send someone to a game or need some sort of stock photo for preview coverage. In this instance, Dan was actually shooting for Mizzou Athletics and his photos were used for Sophie Silvers’ article recapping the invitational with permission. I love the low angle here that makes Dillon Leacock look super powerful, and the choice to make this a vertical helps highlight him better than it would as a horizontal.
This shot by Margo is super impressive! I talked a bit last week about how difficult it is to get the perfect photos of a vault, not only because you only get one chance but because it can be hard to keep them in focus once they make it on the horse while also framing it properly. That being said, much like the next photo I love, this one seems to have been taken at just the perfect moment: Kennedy’s hands have just barely touched the horse and she’s still propelling herself into her Yurchenko Full (special shoutout to Karen for helping me with terminology!).
I will admit: I’m super jealous of Margo for having gotten this photo! I’ve been wanting to get a photo of a gymnast mid-air on the bars from an angle like this for a while. The way Margo was able to get Hannah in focus and get the exact moment before she makes contact with the bar, on top of the fact that we can still see Horton’s face and the concentration on her expression is so awesome.
I know I included a photo of mine of this moment last week, but I really love Margo’s angle of this. In a perfect world where I’m able to shoot simultaneously (or if I had the ability to rig cameras and remote triggers), I would have liked to have gotten three specific angles of this moment at once: the one I got from the side, this one Margo got from behind the gymnasts where we can see the crowd, and one from in the crowd where we can see the gymnasts. With those last two compositions in particular the foreground interest provided by the gymnasts and fans, respectively, allows us to have some nice layering while still showing the connection between the two groups. I’d be excited to see someone get that third angle sometime! (editor’s note: there are still two home meets remaining so there’s hope yet!)
This photo of Dan’s drew me in because of the obvious physical stress in both athletes’ bodies. I love photos where opposing basketball players are pressed together fighting for control and I feel like it really emphasizes the determination they have in that moment. If you look closely, you’ll see Shannon Dowell is gripping Georgia guard Trinity Turner’s jersey as she drives to the basket, a small detail I appreciate. (Editor’s note: WOW, their quads are insane!)
We’ll close with this super clean shot from Sunday’s women’s basketball game from Dan! I’ve been told for a while that it’s better to use photos where the ball is as close to the person shooting it as possible to emphasize that connection and make it clearer where the ball is coming from, but I actually don’t mind the gap here. My favorite part of this photo, though, is the really beautiful line created by Grace Slaughter’s hair and Georgia forward Zhen Craft’s arms. That, on top of the clear visual separation from the background, is really appealing to me.
See you next week for more from the men’s basketball game against Texas! Don’t forget to support your favorite Rock M photojournalists by following us on Instagram: @margoj_photography, @danmurphmedia, and yours truly, @henderson.visuals!
