Through The Lens: Softball Edition

During the spring semester I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph and document the Texas A&M University- Commerce Lions softball team. This experience was amazing, the players, coaches and fans were all wonderful and made this season amazing. Here are some of my favorites with a description.

I love the ball and bat combo in this photo. Every game I go into the game with trying to shoot something different hoping to get some pretty rad images.

I like this photo due to Tyler Oppenheim (#5) is concentrated on what is going on instead of being in the circle with everyone else. She plays every game trying to work on fielding and to get better every time she is on the field.

The Composition in this photo is why I chose this photo. With the umpire, and the batter. You can see that Brittany Woolridge the pitcher is focused on trying to strike the batter down.

Baylea Higgs who is an amazing player to photograph due to the emotion she has while she plays. You will see that later on. This play was going to be a close call but she tried to reach home safely. The collision was interesting but unfortunately she got called out.

Leaders lead.

The three players above Higgs, Oppenheim and Cierra Nunez Head out to their positions before the game ready to play.

Post Dinger. It seems like there was a home run every game. Every time regardless of how many times they hit one, the players all went to home plate to congratulate the player who hit the home run.

Katie Dean gets ready for the pitch. She is extremely focused when playing and it makes for beautiful moments.

Again with the composition. Oppenheim looks for the ball as she decides to either go to second or stay at first.

Cherie Jackson- she was the vocal leader of the team. Pregame she always had a short speech to give and had passion when she gave the speech.

With sports you get the joy of victory and the tear of defeat.

Here Mariah Jameyson walks back to her position after having a meeting with the pitcher after the visiting team scores.

Jameyson who lead the conference in home runs hit one here. With as many home runs that were hit I was constantly trying to find new ways to shoot the celebration. This one by far was my favorite as she runs the 3rd base line to go to home as her team celebrates.

Coach May gives the players a pep talk after getting down early.

Said earlier you have the triumphs of victory and the agony of defeat. Here the Lions lost the first game to TWU, in the situation the players thought they were out, that was going to be their season but with some help from other teams in the conference they lived to see another day.

After Oppenheim makes a beautiful catch to save the Lions season and send them to the LSC conference tournament. The team dog piles her.

Higgs makes a phenomenal catch against Texas Women's University.

Through The Lens: Womens Basketball

Getting to photograph this team has given me a lot of experience and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Focused- I captured this image not really sure what she was doing but I know if I got the image it might be a great pre-game shot. When I capture basketball especially the same team; I always try to find something different to capture each time.

Coach didn't look to happy at this time, not really sure what was going on I don't really remember but I love capturing these images that express some type of emotion. It is what I love about photography.

When I chose to start shooting our basketball team, I wanted to try and get shots you don't really see in a sports illustrated or a slam. With a 40mm it was a definite challenge to capture the unusual but I just had to do it.

I love this photo for one reason; you can sense some type of high energy level from these two. A big play was made and they celebrated, I knew it was going to be a good shot once I saw it on my screen.

Again; trying to find something different to shoot in basketball can be challenging especially with a 40mm. People say gear doesn't matter but it does to an extent. This photo was just from a different perspective in the team huddle.

Double Team- Pregame two of the players said they wanted defensive shots, I said "You have to do it, if you want the shot..." Not taking shots or nothing. One of them captured above got told to pressure so I had to get that shot and it is something different.

Next Play- One of the players made a three and while the players are celebrating; Coach is making sure the players on the court are getting back on defense and doing their jobs right.

Emotion- It's what I love about sports photography; so many emotions going on in the gym. This player screaming always plays with emotion and I love it. Here is them doing their pre-game chant.

OTOP- The Lions motto this season, It means One Team One Pride. I like this photo due to everyone is coming in at once and you have one person pointing. It signifies the one team one pride motto. They all come together as one team all with having the same passion and pride for the game

Before shooting basketball, I didn't really know any of the players; I really only knew 2-3 of the players including Natalie pictured above. I didn't know anybody's pregame preparation, but I saw her praying and just thought it would be a good shot.

Jump Ball- I like this photo due to the fact that two of our players are going up and trying to get the rebound; even though one will be credited with it on the stats sheet; I thought it was cool how they are competitive within the team.

This game was crazy. It was Senior Day. They were playing Texas A&M Kingsville. No one really pulled away and no one really had a safe lead. This was captured toward the end of the game when the Lions made one of their final shots. These games are part of the reason I love photography. There is so much emotion; happiness, fear, anxious. Its why we love sports, a close game that can be won or loss on any error.

I like this shot because it shows that she is just shooting in her face. If she makes it the crowd goes wild; if she misses probably because she couldn't see. I'm not sure but it looked cool to me.

Lion Pride- Win or Lose the Lions go over to the student section right by the band and play our song. This is a tradition with all sports if the band is present. Win or Lose you respect the school and throw the L's up.

Locked in- These players are locked in on what coach is saying. Regardless if they like it or not they still pay attention to what he is saying regardless.

I love this picture because it shows the relationship the player and a coach has. With me being a student-athlete I have definitely learned that no matter what you have to trust your coach. Regardless of the situation.

Emotion again; a call was made that the players and coaches of the lions didn't agree with and she slapped the ball and yelled.

Here coach is arguing that call and trying to figure out the reasoning behind the call. A coach will always stand up for his players.

Thank You for taking the time to read this and explore what I saw this season with the TAMUC Women's Basketball Team. A big thanks to Josh as he gave me the opportunity to capture these moments and the coaches and players for trusting me to capture these moments