I’m sure you’ve gotten sick of me talking about “moments” and features over the past few months – but that’s what sports is all about. Yeah, action photos are awesome and remind you of those big plays. Without features though, there’s no sense of environment that brings you back into those (here’s that word again…) moments. Feature photos are so important for helping to convey the emotions throughout the game, both positive and negative. Prepare yourself to read the word “moments” an excessive amount
of times, and keep reading to hear more about my personal opinions on feature photos at the end!
As a quick explanation: feature photos encompass anything that’s not straight action. This can include reaction and interaction photos of players, crowd or fan shots, scene-setters that show the environment, pre- and post-game content, and so much more. I’ve compiled some of my favorite feature-style photos from the past semester here for another top 10 countdown. Take a look below!
10.
Volleyball is a sport where I have a lot of opportunities to try different shots like this one. Each point, I know I can always get a photo of the serve and a photo of the team coming together in a huddle after the point is decided, like this one here. This photo specifically stands out to me because of the expressions on the players’ faces and how five of them are facing Marina Crownover, and by extension me, and cheering. A lot of the time they all group up and I can’t see their faces clearly, which makes this photo so much better. The result of the match wasn’t ideal, but I love seeing how the athletes support each other after each point.
9.
I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone that most of the photos included here were taken at football games, and one big reason for that is accessibility. I can confidently say that football is the only sport with a large, energized crowd where I have close to free reign to roam. I can get up close with fans and position myself in a lot of different places without much concern for people getting in my way or running out of room. In contrast, at gymnastics there are boxes I can stand, and at basketball there’s assigned squares to sit (and people will take your seat if it’s better than theirs and you’re not there). Different sports have different media access situations, but because of that accessibility I get with football, I tend to get more fan features there as opposed to other sports.
This photo specifically doesn’t really touch on that aspect of free reign (everyone gets to go on the field after the game to get photos like this) beyond the fact that there are so many photographers on the field trying to capture the same moment. My usual football routine doesn’t have me running onto the field to get photos like this, mostly because most of the games don’t involve a trophy, and I liked what I got from this game better than what I came back with from the kU game. The classic shiny trophy design is iconic and I liked being able to get the players all celebrating together. This photo was a bit difficult to make due to the amount of photographers in front of me paired with my shortcomings (pun intended, shoutout Dylan Heinrich) in the height department, but the composition of the photo despite that and the fact that it’s a trophy shot raises it to the top ten.
8.
Another thing I’ve brought up a few times is the impact of quiet moments in an otherwise action-packed environment. Sports videography is incredible and videographers get my full respect, but I think photos can sometimes do a better job in freezing those quiet moments in time and highlighting them well, like in this case. I’m always trying to stay aware of what’s happening on the court but also thinking about the different more artistic shots I can get of the action as well as features. I saw Mark Mitchell drenched in sweat and thought it exemplified just how hard these players work during the game in a more unique way than the normal stressed-looking action photo (which are also great). The drop on his chin hasn’t fallen yet which is a small detail I like, and his tongue is sticking out slightly just like he does when playing.
7.
Like I mentioned last week, I like to talk to the writers before I shoot to make sure we’re on the same page and see if they’re looking for anything from me in particular. I can’t remember if it was this game or another game, but I was asked to get photos of Coach Gates so we have options for Tiger Talk articles, so I kept an eye out for interactions with him. I always try to get photos of the players who speak in the press conference afterwards so we have some “stock” photos of them to use if we need it for the same purpose, but photos like this one where Gates is clearly displaying an emotion are better than just a boring photo of him standing there (which I probably wouldn’t even send over in the first place) in my opinion. Later on at the post-game press conference, Gates gave a shout out to the fans for showing up to support the team.
6.
It’s always important to be aware of your surroundings when shooting anything, but especially sports. This is both for safety reasons and in case something interesting is happening that you might want to get a photo of. Here, I was positioned in my normal spot behind the end zone when I noticed newly crowned homecoming king (and J-Schooler) Joey Yancey mimicking a snap with homecoming steering committee member Ethan Gonzalez for another person’s photo. It’s unique instances like this that really make me excited about certain photos, and remind me to always be on the lookout for what’s going on around me. In the words of Ferris Bueller: Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it!
5.
Another example of the importance of being aware of what’s happening around you is this photo of Coach Harper being ambushed by her team during a post-game interview. After the game, I walked around just watching the different things going on on the court and looking for interesting moments when I overheard the players conspiring about crashing the interview. I knew based on that to position myself in a way that I could see Harper’s reaction as the players came up behind her, and it was a great way to close out my coverage of an amazing game.
4.
As the third quarter ends and I’m in the middle of switching sides of the field, I always make sure to stop by the student section for “Mr. Brightside.” I try to get different photos every time because it happens in every game, but it depends on what I notice when I’m there. I’ve mentioned it so many times before, but in terms of photojournalism ethics, you cannot pose people in photos or use photos where people are posing for you (see points 2 and 5 in the National Press Photographers Association Code of Ethics, and I encourage you to look over the rest if you’re interested!).
It’s also preferred to see peoples’ faces unless privacy and safety is a concern, which can be difficult when getting photos like this. Several times when trying to get photos like this, people will notice the camera and look directly down the lens and smile or sing at me, not realizing that immediately makes these photos unusable. In situations like that, I might keep taking pictures or pretend to, then give a thumbs up before looking like I’m moving on so they stop looking at me before trying again. Sometimes I get lucky though and get some good frames before I’m spotted, like was the case here. What makes this photo even better and helps the case for making it no. 4 is that this was taken during the kU game and fans were singing even more passionately than usual.
3.
I have a routine for football coverage that I generally stick to: pregame environment, action, features when I switch sides at the quarter and during cool crowd moments, upload photos at halftime, more action, student section during “Mr. Brightside,” more action, post-game features, upload the rest (get ice cream from the press box, walk home). After shooting multiple games, you learn to anticipate repetitive events like when certain songs are played or what players do before and after the game, which makes getting these feature photos a bit easier.
The players run up to celebrate with the student section after wins and as much as I wanted to hurry back to the media room to cool down, I didn’t want to miss any interactions with the few remaining fans that braved temperatures that reached almost 100 degrees (according to reporting by ABC 17, Coach Drinkwitz said the turf reached 176 degrees). I stuck around and was able to make this shot of Zion Young playing rock, paper, scissors with Avery Adams, President of “The Zou,” the official student section of Mizzou Athletics. Three players actually played with Adams so I was able to take time with my framing, get different angles, and choose the best one that was the cleanest to represent the moment.
2.
At no. 2, we have another photo from “Mr. Brightside!” I love night games so much because the lighting can make for some really unique compositions, as is the case here. This photo also demonstrates that same idea from earlier of anticipating repetitive actions but still making unique frames out of those moments. I saw Truman getting on top of the wall and moved over to get pictures of that. I chose to shoot low to separate Truman from the crowd, and the photo I made was only made better when he began spraying the crowd with water, which looked really beautiful in the lighting against the darkness of the sky. And then the fireworks went off: chef’s kiss. I do get a little sad every time I think about how I could’ve made this photo even better if I had just adjusted my framing ever so slightly so as to not cut off Truman’s tail, but considering the light, the angle, the water spray pattern, and the crowd, it was still strong enough to make the top three. I also happened to get a similar photo later in the season where Truman was facing me but ended up liking this first version better.
1.
And for my no. 1 feature photo of the semester: goalpost runout, version 2.0. I attempted this shot for the first time at the homecoming game at the suggestion of my friend Carys (@caryss.media) and got some nice colorful frames of the team running out before the game in the daylight, but my friend Sam’s knee was visible in the corner. I positioned myself a bit better this second time and got an even better shot in the night where we can see the fireworks going off in the background, adding more visual interest. This was definitely the coolest but scariest photo I got this semester, because I knew it would be awesome but I kept thinking of the potential consequences if I accidentally tripped a player or got my equipment smashed (forget about personal injury, what about my career or players’ careers?!). Maybe this fear was valid though considering MUPD officers saying I’m in the “danger zone” and players running past me yelling about not being able to see through the smoke… All was well and clearly the unique angle was worth it if it made the top spot on my list!
I promised to elaborate a bit on my opinions about features, so here that is. When I first came into college, I had a pretty one-track mindset of wanting to do sports photojournalism. I’ve always loved the emotion of sports and the chills-inducing moments. The thrills of victory and the agony of defeat. I’m getting a bit sappy and philosophical now so I’ll stop, but I’m sure you all feel the exact same way and that’s part of the reason you love sports so much. Features allow me to highlight those emotions, draw you into those games, and truly enhance your experience. At least, my hope is that it comes across that way to you all. I’ve since broadened my perspective to enjoy other kinds of photojournalism like traditional news coverage, but sports coverage will probably always have my heart.
After reading this, I hope you have a new appreciation for features if you didn’t already, and get a better understanding of why I do what I do and why I include so many feature photos in Photos of the Week. Come back next week for a lighthearted edition of some awkward moments from the semester (and a reminder that I don’t always take the most beautiful photos of athletes)!
