All in the Details
I’ve always been a perfectionist. I pore over little details for hours. My mouth puckers, and I furrow my brow. I lose sleep over those perfect details — I am a great sleeper.
As a sports photographer, perfectionism can be both a blessing and a curse, but mostly, it’s been a gift.
As an NCAA Photo intern, I covered the NCAA DI Wrestling Championship. I knew I wanted a remote camera angle from above. Weeks ahead of the event, I was already thinking through everything: the color of the mats, their layout each day, which ones would feature the NCAA logo, the catwalk accessibility at Wells Fargo Center, and the focal length I’d need. I made the right connections, secured access to the catwalk, hardwired my camera to the internet, and got ready to send images directly to my editor. I did everything in my control. Still, some things are never up to you. You just hope the action unfolds in the right spot, the colors work together, and nothing—like a stray TV camera—ruins the frame. When the composition, light, exposure, and timing all align, it feels like magic.
There are also things about being a sports photographer that can surely drive you crazy as a perfectionist. A referee walks into the shot, someone in a neon shirt clutters your background, your horizon is slightly off, and there’s the constant unpredictability of travel.
In March, I covered championships in Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and San Antonio. Booking hotels, flights, rental cars, Ubers, trains—all while hauling camera gear—becomes its own sport. During my travel from Atlanta to San Antonio to cover the Final Four, weather delays rerouted my flight through Austin. A simple trip turned into two Ubers, one flight, a Greyhound, and a walk that turned into a workout.
Throughout the day, I loaded my kit into overhead bins, under buses, and into cars. I didn’t think twice about the walk, clipping in the hip belt on my StreetWalker HardDrive (now Walker Pro 30L) and navigating the streets of downtown San Antonio with my Airport International roller bag. The chaos didn’t break me. If anything, it was a reminder that no amount of prep can stop real life from barging in.
Some sports are logistically easier to cover. Sports like basketball, football, and soccer are tightly scheduled. The game clocks tell you exactly when and where things will happen. But other sports require more finesse and planning. At the NCAA DI Outdoor Track and Field Championships, I was photographing multiple events: the final pole vaulters, the high jumpers at the new bar height, and placing a remote in the discus cage before competition.
It’s a lot to track, which is why I rely on detailed schedules and lists. I tuck them conveniently in my ThinkTank Credential Holder and refer to them all day long. They keep me grounded when the action is unpredictable. My prep work is the cornerstone of how I cover sports like track, gymnastics, and golf.
Still, some of the best moments happen when the plan gets tossed out.
In February, I was covering a regular-season lacrosse game at the University of Denver. The forecast mentioned a chance of light rain, so I packed my ThinkTank Emergency Rain Covers — just in case.
During warmups, the field was completely green and dry. Then the game started, and big wet snowflakes began to fall. The scene was a complete snow globe, and ThinkTank had me covered.
I’ve come to realize I’m not the only sports photographer obsessed with the details. In media rooms across the country, photographers swap stories about background clutter, horizon lines, and the referee who blocked the perfect frame. We’re a detailed-obsessed bunch. Thankfully, ThinkTank is too. Through the busiest airports, the smallest planes, in remote destinations, on hectic assignments, in rain or shine, it is always nice to know that my ThinkTank gear has my back.