We’re back this week with another edition of Photos of the Week! On Thursday, women’s basketball took a thrilling 68-67 victory over California as part of the ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge. Men’s basketball fell
to kansas 80-60 in a Border Showdown rematch in Kansas City.
Before tipoff on Thursday, head coach Kellie Harper was recognized for earning her 400th career win the week prior with an 85-70 win over Northwestern at the Fort Myers Tip-Off. Athletic director Laird Veatch met Harper at half-court to hand over a decorated basketball commemorating the achievement. I had heard about Harper’s milestone but I didn’t know anything was planned to honor her until I got there, so I’m glad I was able to capture such an important moment.
As explosive, energetic and exciting as sports are, I absolutely love the quieter times. This photo is a good example of something between energetic and quiet, as we see the contrast in both players’ body language. Missouri’s Abbey Schreacke seems to be more in control of the ball, taking her time to look for open teammates, while a Cal defender stands with her arms out ready to defend. The tension here is palpable and it really appeals to me.
The game winner! Shannon Dowell’s crucial layup put the Tigers up by one with one second remaining and sealed the win for Missouri. Beyond that context, I don’t think this photo is all that exciting, and I may not have chosen it, especially since both Dowell and Sheppard are facing away from me. That being said, I do like the shapes created by their arms, and the context truly does make it rise to being included in my mind.
After a hard-fought battle against Cal, a little celebration was well-deserved. I was walking around taking in the scenes after the win when I noticed Harper doing an interview. I initially went over to get some photos of the interview before I overheard some of the players conspiring to rush up behind her like they did here and made sure to position myself for that. I wish I was standing a bit more over to the right and that the person’s head at the bottom of the frame wasn’t in my way, but I still loved the moment itself.
You’re probably wondering why I’ve decided to select a photo of the kansas bench, but this is probably one of my favorite basketball shots I’ve taken so far this season. Here, I love how head coach Bill Self is speaking to his players and they all appear to be listening so intently. I chose this picture specifically because the three players pictured have their eyes clearly in view and trained on Self, Self is gesturing while speaking (as opposed to just standing there talking, which would be boring) and the lighting is beautiful. The bright white of their shirts contrasting with the crowd falling into the shadows behind them almost makes it seem like I added a bit of vignetting to the photo, but I swear I toned it just as photojournalistically as the rest!
This photo is a bit more of a dramatic version of the photo from the last edition where T.O. Barrett and South Dakota’s Jesse McIntosh scramble for the ball. Here, instead of just involving two players and getting a cleaner shot where we can see their faces and we see the beginning of the dive for the ball, this is a messier, more crowded shot of a similar moment. I feel like this is one of the best photos I have from the Border Showdown that shows just how intense this game is.
I think it’s fair to say this game didn’t go as well for the Tigers as a lot of people had hoped. Coach Gates had several objections for the officials during the game, including this moment in the second half. I chose this photo specifically over the several other ones of Gates interacting with referees because he’s looking at the players while speaking with this referee and the referee is facing towards me. After this photo, the two faced each other to talk but I felt that those photos weren’t as strong as this one in terms of communicating the frustration.
For this last photo, I’m not sure how “photojournalistic” it could be considered, but I still liked it enough to include it here. I decided to try to bring back the slow shutter speed technique I attempted back in September with football to see what I could get. I lowered my shutter speed to 1/10 of a second and tracked T.O. Barrett as he drove to the basket. I was hoping to get a photo that looked more like blurred colors, but somewhat unintentionally came back with this photo that showed his movements but his jersey and parts of his upper body were a bit clearer than I anticipated. While it wasn’t my original thought, I thought it was still pretty cool.
Watch out for photos of gymnastics alongside more men’s basketball coverage in next week’s Photos of the Week!
