On Saturday, the Tigers took on Alabama in a top-15 matchup, and SEC Nation returned to Columbia for the second time this season. The Crimson Tide ultimately came out on top and the Tigers moved to 5-1, earning their first loss. Here are the photos of the week!
I originally wanted to take photos at SEC Nation’s set before the game, but I learned last time they were here that to do so would require a new credential that I wasn’t able to get on the list for. I also accidentally overslept until 8:15.
Media entry begins at 8 a.m., three hours prior to kickoff, so I quickly got ready, grabbed my bag and walked a mile and a half to the stadium. I saw the table set up in the northwest corner of the field and figured this was probably my best shot at getting any photos of it. I had to shoot between multiple cameras and lightstands, but I really liked this framing and the way Rutledge has her hand outstretched while speaking to Harper and facing my direction.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I try to get different angles of repetitive actions so my photos don’t become too repetitive. This week, I tried an angle of the runout that was inspired by a photo my friend Lily Mantel (@mantel.jpg), who currently works as a staff photographer with the Missourian, got at the Homecoming game. She definitely took a better picture than I did, considering the smoke blew over my shot a bit more than I would have liked, but I still like what I came back with. (Editor’s note: I love it)
This first touchdown was unfortunately on the opposite end of the end zone from where I was, but I did get an okay shot of Brett Norfleet’s celebration spike. I do also love that you can see a lot of the MANY photographers who were there to shoot such a big game. While I do normally get annoyed when referees or other camerapeople get in my shot, I think the man running towards Norfleet while holding a TV camera really embodies what it’s like to be someone holding a camera at a sports event trying to get the shots you need. You can also see Lily (mentioned with the previous photo) standing just to the right of the cameraman!
It’s not often that you get lucky enough with your positioning to get both the quarterback and the receiver being thrown to in the same photo. What I love about this shot is that not only can you see both clearly, but Beau Pribula is slightly off the ground, the ball has just barely left his hand and we can see Alabama linebacker Noah Carter running to try to sack Pribula, which adds more visual interest.
At this game, rally towels were distributed to fans. I don’t think I’ve seen this before at any other games of ours, so I knew I wanted to get a photo of it. This was taken just after “Mr. Brightside” when “I Wanna Rock” by Twisted Sister is played. Every time the word “rock” is echoed in the lyrics, the student section yells the word and pumps their fists or pompoms (or rally towels, in this case). Using a wide aperture allows for a really beautiful blur effect due to the shallow depth of field, but I intentionally set my aperture as tight as possible (f/22, for any photo nerds reading this) so everyone would be in focus and you could see just how many people there were doing the same motion.
I usually stick to positioning myself behind the end zones to get the players running towards me, and avoid trying to follow the action down the sideline, unless I have to, in case I miss a big play. I also don’t normally shoot when the play is all the way on the other side of the field from me. Mostly because the other team has the ball, but also because I usually use my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, which doesn’t reach that far down the field without becoming more of a wide shot like this one. As the players started lining up for the field goal attempt, I found that I actually liked the composition, so I lined up my view to get this. You could say this was a lucky shot too, because this ended up being a missed field goal by Alabama.
Another small series: woohoo! This comes from Donovan Olugbode’s catch before his touchdown in the fourth quarter. Olugbode was tackled and flipped over DaShawn Jones’ back before getting up and celebrating. This play was immediately followed by his touchdown, which brought the score to 27-24, Alabama.
We’ll end on a fun one! Here we have Rock M writer Dylan Heinrich working the camera for Mizzou Broadcast Operations and singing along to “All the Small Things” by blink-182 during the karaoke cam. I was lucky enough to be sitting in the north end zone near his station for the second quarter when this happened. If you know Dylan, you know he loves Hawaiian shirts and pop punk music. When this came on, I had a feeling he’d be singing the words while working, and sure enough he was.
The next two installments of photos of the week will be a bit untraditional since I’m unavailable to cover any more events until Nov. 1. Instead, I’ll be doing an “outtakes” version with photos that almost made the cut and why I didn’t choose them next week, while Rock M lead editor Karen Steger will be doing a version with photos taken by photographers who are covering for me the following week! Be sure to keep an eye out for coverage by Corinna Utterback (@corinnarose_photography) and Margo Jenkins (@margoj_photography) over the next few weeks, and I’ll see you soon!
