A few weeks ago I was laying on the couch watching Family Guy when a commercial came on advertising a college basketball doubleheader at the NFL stadium here in Phoenix. I despise basketball and think the sport should be banned but I instantly sent a email to my credential guy requesting a pass. Why you may ask? Because I envisioned an amazing wide angle shot of a tiny basketball court inside of the massive stadium. Continue reading to see how it all panned out.

The first game of the double header between Minnesota and Louisville was set for a noon tip off so I got there around 10:30 to scope out the set up and to place a remote camera. Since I am lazy I clamped the remote camera near the bottom of the hoop.

I used my 10.5-17mm on the remote D300. I went with that particular lens because I wanted the shot to be really wide to show off the stadium roof structure. The whole point of me doing this game was for feature shots to show the game was inside the NFL stadium and not the typical small arena that basketball is played in.

The game began with the tip off in front of the “crowd.”

Nikon D3, 80-200mm, 1250iso, f2.8, 1/1000th

In a courtside seat near me was boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

Nikon D3, 600mm, 1000iso, f4, 1/640th

I shot from the opposite side of the court from my remote in my best attempt to provide total coverage for the game. I had two bodies with me, one body had my 80-200 and the other one I had a wide lens and periodically would take it off to shoot with long glass ranging from a 400mm to a 600mm.

Here is how the remote camera with the fisheye looked as Minnesota Golden Gophers forward/center (45) Colton Iverson battled with Louisville Cardinals forward (24) Samardo Samuels for a rebound.

Nikon D300, 10.5-17mm, 1250iso, f3.5, 1/800th

And across court from the remote here is a wide shot with my handheld as Minnesota Golden Gophers center (11) Jonathan Williams grabs a rebound in the second half against the Louisville Cardinals.

Nikon D3, 14-24mm, 1000iso, f2.8, 1/1000th

The backgrounds were pretty crappy at this game with the sparse crowd plus the fact that the roof allowed ambient light in that made everything inside the stadium bright. At most basketball arenas most the light is on the court with the grandstands being substantially darker, not here! One way I tried to combat that was by laying down on the ground to have the players blocking the crappy backgrounds. It somewhat worked but not enough to make me happy. 

Minnesota Golden Gophers guard/forward (4) Travis Busch controls the ball against the Louisville Cardinals.

Nikon D3, 80-200mm, 1250iso, f2.8, 1/1000th

As I mentioned a second ago, the translucent roof allowed a considerable amount of ambient light into the stadium. That combined with the bright stadium lights most likely made this one of the best lit basketball games ever played. This wide angle shot shows the amount of light coming in from the roof.

Nikon D3, 14-24mm, 1000iso, f2.8, 1/1000th

During a time out I shot Louisville head coach Rick Pitino talking to his players. Instead of the standard clean shot of him I chose to use the players huddled around him to frame just a small visible portion of his face.

Nikon D3, 80-200mm, 1250iso, f2.8, 1/1000th

I also did a safer (ie. less artsy) version to appease the photo editors of the world but I liked my artsy version much better.

Nikon D3, 80-200mm, 1250iso, f2.8, 1/1000th

Minnesota Golden Gophers guard (0) Al Nolen had a great game and it became obvious that highly ranked Louisville was in trouble.

Nikon D3, 80-200mm, 1250iso, f2.8, 1/1000th

Louisville Cardinals forward Samardo Samuels reacts during the game as Minnesota pulled away.

Nikon D3, 80-200mm, 1250iso, f2.8, 1/800th

After that game ended I had about 20 minutes before the next game started. I hustled to the media room to transmit a few photos and then headed up to the upper deck of the stadium to shoot some overall shots during the second game. The second game was between BYU and Arizona State. I waited to shoot my overall for the second game because I figured since it was the home team the stadium would fill up a lot more. There were certainly more people for the second game too bad it was not near enough to make a difference for my wide shots.

Nikon D3, 14-24mm, 1000iso, f2.8, 1/800th

I made sure to move around while up there to find a few different angles.

Nikon D3, 14-24mm, 1250iso, f2.8, 1/2000th

Nikon D3, 14-24mm, 1250iso, f2.8, 1/1600th

Since I was already up there I decided to stay up there for the remainder of the first half to shoot some action shots. While shooting the below shot of Sun Devils guard James Harden driving to the court I noticed the bright highlights from the stadium lights on the court.

Nikon D3, 400mm, 1250iso, f2.8, 1/2000th

I decided to try something out and underexposed the hell outta the shot to have those highlights turn the players into silhouettes.

Nikon D3, 400mm, 400iso, f4, 1/2500th 

It made for a really unique look, almost looking like one of those old photos from the 60s or something. I spent a few minutes trying to produce a cool shot from up there. It was surprisingly hard to get a good shot because the shadows from players would blend in with the silhouettes of others making it look like a big black blob. I got a few I liked though.

Nikon D3, 400mm, 400iso, f4, 1/2500th

I moved about 100 yards towards the other hoop and shot with a wider lens to see how that looked. It ended up being my favorite shot from the day.

Nikon D3, 80-200mm, 250iso, f2.8, 1/1600th

During halftime I moved a few more images and then shot courtside for the remainder of the game.

Arizona State guard James Harden is projected to be a first round NBA draft pick next year so I made sure to shoot as much of him as I could for my archive.

Below, Harden battles BYU guard Lamont Morgan Jr as he drives towards the hoop.

Nikon D3, 80-200mm, 1600iso, f2.8, 1/1000th

Arizona State players sit on the bench during the second half.

Nikon D3, 80-200mm, 1600iso, f2.8, 1/1000th

In the closing seconds of the game Arizona State was ahead of BYU by one point. BYU had the ball and guard Charles Abouo took a shot right at the buzzer. The ball went into the basket for what appeared to be the game winner. Abouo went nuts in celebration.

Nikon D3, 80-200mm, 1600iso, f2.8, 1/1000th

Not so fast Charles……

The referees met together and did a video review (I didn’t know basketball had instant replay) and determined that the shot was released after the buzzer went off.

It must have been a very close call. Check out my photos.

In the first picture the ball is still in his hand and the red light that illuminated when the clock hits zero isn’t lit yet.

In the very next shot of my sequence (at 11 frames a second) the ball has been released and the red light is illuminated.

So even at 11 frames per second the photos are inconclusive since the moment in question occured between the two above frames.

BYU head coach Dave Rose is sad with the outcome of the game.

Nikon D3, 400mm, 1250iso, f2.8, 1/1000th

One ASU fan ran out onto the court to celebrate which lots of fans typically do after a big game. The only problem was no other fans ran out. He was quickly pounced on by a security guard. I have known people who did security who just LOVED when a fan would enter the field/court because they were basically allowed to take the person down.

Nikon D3, 14-24mm, 1600iso, f2.8, 1/1000th

Even while being held to the ground by the security guard the fan was still cheering and celebrating!

For some reason he stopped celebrating when a state police officer arrested him.

Nikon D3, 80-200mm, 1250iso, f2.8, 1/1000th

I went and found ASU star James Harden to shoot some reaction shots. What I didn’t expect was for him to look straight into the camera and duck his head right up to the lens and smile! Although its soft due to how close he got it certainly makes for a pretty funny photo.

Nikon D3, 14-24mm, 1600iso, f2.8, 1/1000th

What makes the photo even funnier is the photo that my buddy Jason Wise shot of him doing it!

Photo by Jason Wise

That wraps up my 8 hour day shooting a NCAA basketball double header.