While I took a little trip down to the bootheel for a Missourian story this week, Margo was on a roll covering Mizzou sports! On Wednesday, she covered softball’s 7-0 win over SIUE, then again on Friday as baseball fell to Arkansas 6-0, and again on Saturday for volleyball’s Mizzou Tournament. Keep reading to see the awesome shots she came back with!
We’re kicking things off with this awesome frame of Abby Carr sliding into home! Any slides are cool, but especially slides into home. I do really like
that Carr and the SIUE catcher are both in similar positions with their legs bent, and the detail of the dirt flying up a bit is just chef’s kiss. Unfortunately she was called out, but it’s still a really great shot!
This is another home run celebration shot which reminds me of the one Dan got a few weeks ago! Where his was vibrant and colorful from the bright pink jerseys they wore, Margo’s frame is more muted with the gray but still evokes the same feelings. I also like how she went tighter here to show the moment in a way as intimate as possible considering how far away we are from them, but still shows the other players in the background to further emphasize the team aspect.
Similar to last week, this is another photo from between innings that’s visually appealing to me. I love the way Saniya Hill’s eyes are trained on the ball and she’s crouched with her glove positioned ready to make the catch. My mindset when it comes to photos like these is that even though it’s not during the actual game, we can still make cool frames in those not as busy moments. Although the context detracts a little bit from the meaning, it still makes for a beautiful photo.
While I normally would prefer to see the most peak-action part of this play, I do love that Cameron Benson is signaling to the umpire that he thinks he’s safe here. The fact that his face is visible makes this so much better, and without that I don’t think I would have picked it to be featured in this week’s column. It really just goes to show how much faces and the little details matter to making a good picture!
When I was scrolling through the library of uploaded images on the website to pull photos for this week’s column, I was totally not expecting to see this shot and I was super impressed! It immediately stood out to me for the uniqueness of Kam Durnin being in the air to make the catch. Margo explained to me that she had originally set up to get a shot of a play at first, but had to adjust her camera to get this shot instead, which makes it all the better. Her speed and ability to react in the moment is just awesome and it’s such an important skill to have for those unpredictable moments in sports coverage (and honestly any kind of coverage).
This picture from the Mizzou Tournament is a great example of a solid volleyball shot. We can see Paige Felder’s face as she tips the ball over the net, and we also get the context of the opposing players trying to block. While I think a lot of the time we’d prefer to be shooting from ground level, the Hearnes Center rules of photographers shooting from the stands provides an interesting angle that still lets us get a good view of the plays and results in some pretty nice frames despite the limitations.
For our last photo, we’ve got this shot of Claire Morrissey. I love her facial expression here – it reads to me as someone who’s calm under pressure and like this is an effortless play on her part. I really like that it’s shot wide enough that we can see her full body too, because the context of her legs being bent in the way they are and seeing that no one else around her to make this play also elevates the photo.
We’re only a few weeks away from concluding this column on my end, which is wild to think about! Be sure to come back to hear the rest of my thoughts as we wrap up the year!
