Missouri State Bears vs Indiana State Sycamores Men’s Basketball Action
In late November I was in contact with MSU in Springfield about the possibility of taking photos of the SDSU football game or a Men’s Basketball game. The timing didn’t work out for the university for me to take photos of the SDSU football game and the school said they could fit me in early December. I had bought a new Sony 50mm f/1.2 GM lens that I thought would be perfect for under the hoop shots and really wanted to try it out for sports photography. After trading a few emails I was penciled in for a basketball game on December 7th against Indiana State.
I arrived at the stadium in the visiting entrance and walked through the bowels of the arena, which was pretty neat. I walk out from the visitors tunnel onto the floor when it was just Indiana State shooting around. I immediately take out my camera and start to dial in my settings as this lighting is much better then the NAIA schools I had shot in the past. Once I get dialed in, I head upstairs to get a bite to eat and watch shoot around.
As the game nears I take my seat on the floor and get ready for game time. The anthem starts and I make my way over to the sideline and take a couple of shots of a MSU player from down on the floor getting a look up at him and he looks like a giant in the photo. The anthem ends and I head over the home team side and take some photos of the starters announcements. Im standing about 6 feet in front of the pyro which was amazingly hot when I was shooting, but it gave some cool lighting on the players as they are announced. After the last of the starting 5 was announced and I get some photos, I immediately turn around to head back to my spot on the floor and almost walk into the pyro shooting off its last dose of fire….That would have been a pretty bad accident and stopped the game pretty quick.
As my 40 year old body, sits crisscross applesauce on the floor, I realize how badly I needed to bring a cushion or stadium seat. Long story short, I wanted to die after 90 minutes of sitting this way. Photography is hard…
The game starts and its the team photographer for the Sycamores and myself, alone, under the visiting teams hoop for the first half. I get to chatting with him, a fellow Sony shooter and a heck of a nice guy. Chatting about camera gear and settings and what it’s like being a team photographer. It was really great to chat. Too bad I’m socially illiterate and never through to ask him his name. Nice guy and I would have like to see his photos and share some of mine. Great White Buffalo…
It was a tight first half and I realized that I would be in for a good finish. It’s hard to watch the action on the other end. Between the culling of images and chatting with my new, unnamed friend, I really didn’t watch the other end of the action. Half time comes around and I get up to stretch and sit in the padded court side seats. Unbeknownst to me, the 9 photographers for MSU made their way over to my side and just took the seat that I had been on. Move your feet lose your seat rules were definitely in affect at Great Southern Arena. Lesson Learned.
As I the second half starts, I am examining all of the camera gear the other court side photographers have. A lot of 70-200mm lenses and a couple of 24-70mm lenses. Nikon and Canon gear only club. I feel left out as a Sony shooter with my piddly A1 with a 50mm GM lens. I did bring the 70-200mm GMii and kept it in the bag. I really liked the shots from the 50mm and didn’t see the need to swap out. It’s also nice to have a different look from everyone else. About mid way through the half a fellow Sony shooter shows up and sits down with his Tamron 35-150mm lens. There are times I miss having that in my bag, but I sold that for the 70-200mm GMii lens specifically for sports, so I cant get to broke up about it.
I feel like I was getting some good action shots under the hoop. I was a little surprised at how in focus the 6’ area around my subject was in focus. Shooting at f/1.2 in my head had everything blurred out. I was far enough away from my subject where my depth of field distance comes into play. And adjusted my expectations. Just a FYI, at 20’ from my shot, the depth of field is 4’ wide. The game was coming down to the wire. MSU was down 2 with 90 seconds left. ISU hits a big 3 and MSU answered immediately. It’s a 3 point game under a minute. Down the final seconds, MSU had two shots at hitting the game tying 3 and missed both. They gave it a really solid effort but came up just a little short.
I grab my camera bag and try to beat ISU down the tunnel and beat the crowd to the parking lot to get out of there. I get into the tunnel and ISU comes storming down, cheering and shouting. I really should have kept my camera gear out to capture it. I will know better for the next time. Although I shouldn’t root for the home team to lose so I hope I never get that chance again… I also tried so hard to beat them out of the building, I left my Camera Body Cap on the floor. Good thing I had a spare!
Watching the game it made me miss the old days of Texas Tech basketball and having those season tickets. Something I might need to look into now that we actually have a stable home and live in one spot. Says the guy who basically travels for a living and writing this sentence in a hotel room in Downtown Indianapolis.
I make it up and out of the stadium, reflecting on some of the shots I got. I felt that I did a pretty good job. You guys can be the judges. I edited and submitted my photos to MSU and prepped for my Sunday flights to Indy to write this blog on the plane. I’d really like to get a pass for a women’s game in the next few weeks. All in all, I really enjoyed my first NCAA event. Grateful for Rick for giving me a press pass. I got home an immediately went into Laurens gym and rolled my back on a foam roller. Sucks getting old.
Until next time…
Gear Used:
Sony a1
Sony 50mm f/1.2 GM
