A comparison of 2 images that feature the similar scene of Vince Young celebrating a big play.

This past weekend I had the chance to photograph Vince Young’s annual celebrity basketball game here in Houston at Butler Sports Complex, a familiar spot for the native Houstonian.

Vince Young is well known in Houston as he drew a lot of attention as a high school prospect in the area, eventually playing college ball at the University of Texas. After a very successful career as a Longhorn, there was notable controversy during the 2006 NFL draft, when his hometown team, the Houston Texans passed him over for defensive end, Mario Williams. Young was picked 3rd overall by the Tennessee Titans where he plays today.

I have photographed several NFL games over the years, several during Vince’s career with the Titans, however one moment stands out above the rest.

It was December 10th, 2006 and Vince, a rookie at the time, was at the helm of the Titans squad against the Texans at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Texans kicker, Kris Brown, tied the game with a 46-yard field goal to force overtime. The Titans won the toss. I was positioned near the end zone with Vince facing me on the other end of the field. It was still early in the overtime period when Vince and the Titans were facing a 3rd-and-14. The Texans had hope. The crowd was on their feet, trying to will their team to the 4th-and-out that would never come. Seconds later I saw Vince running towards me, the ball safely tucked under one arm, his other outstretched in celebration. The 39-yard touchdown run instantly transferred the energy from the fans to the Titans bench and without a moment’s notice I was backed into a corner with a jubilant Vince Young and a stampede of excited Titans barreling towards me.

Vince Young celebrates with teammates following a game-winning touchdown run in 2006.

For those who are unfamiliar with photographing an NFL game, the protocol usually requires at least 2 cameras, 3 if it’s a possibility. The primary camera is outfitted with a long zoom lens with a focal length anywhere between the 300-600mm range. The second camera usually has on a 70-200mm lens which is nice for photographing plays as they come a little bit closer to your position. The third camera body is usually mounted with a wide angle lens. This third camera sits around the neck and is at the ready for fast action. The majority of NFL action images are captured while the play takes place a decent distance away, but the given the unpredictable nature of the game, the third camera is there for times when the play and subsequent action is charging towards your face.

As Vince celebrated his game-winning touchdown (which kept the Titans in the playoff hunt) I put my wide-angle outfitted camera up to my eye and snapped off images as the team rushed over to revel in the moment. In a matter of seconds more photographers, players and other persons joined the scrum, but those initial moments of jubilation were for the most part gone forever.

That game was about 3 and a half years ago and I have photographed Vince with the Titans since then, but that moment is one I will never forget.

Vince Young during a Monday Night Football game against the Texans in 2009

Fast forward to this past weekend.

Even though there were several big names in the mix, the event was for the most part low-key, which meant access was excellent. The game was held at an older local high school basketball arena, which was great for ambiance, but made it very difficult to photograph due to very dim lighting conditions. Among the players were; J.R. Smith of the Denver Nuggets, Mr. 720 (famous for his outrageous dunks), Former Longhorn and current offensive guard for the Houston Texas Kasey Studdard, Texans receiver Andre Johnson, former NBA star Nick Van Exel, rapper and entertainment mogul Master P and his son Lil Romeo. The motley crew of different players was fun to watch. Mr. 720 and J.R. Smith were definite front-runners talent-wise, but everyone brought something to the table. It was like watching a very casual all-star game, with very few stoppages in play, lots of fast-break dunks, and a plethora of no-look passes (some successful others not so much).

During the final minutes of the game, the score was close and the mood intensified. Both the crowd and the players seemed to perk up and for the first time pay attention to the time left and the score. There was a few minutes of give and take, but just like that game over 3 years prior, Vince found himself with the ball and and in a position to win the game for his team and win he did. Vince scored the winning points with a classic overhead slam dunk and what happened next was my deja vu moment.

Within seconds of the game-winning dunk I again found myself shoved against the wall next to a jubilant Vince with his teammates running towards us. Again, I lifted my camera and wide-angle lens to my eye and began shooting. The following image is one from the post-game fray. You can see Denver Nuggets guard, J.R. Smith in the background celebrating with the rest of the team.

Vince Young celebrates after a game-winning slam dunk during his celebrity basketball game in Houston, Texas in 2010.

After the game Master P approached me and let me know that he had to let Vince win on his birthday. So, I guess Vince’s 27th birthday didn’t turn out too bad after all. As I edited the images from this past weekend’s events, I noticed one image from the scrum. I pulled the above image out and compared it with the image of Vince from that overtime game years back. The resemblance was interesting to say the least.

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What a weekend! Thursday I picked up my Astros season credential at Union Station (cant wait for the home opener) and headed then over to Reliant for my NCAA credentials. It was one post and one week or so ago that I was at Reliant and in that week the whole complex, mainly Reliant Stadium, was transformed from rodeo to march madness. The NCAA set up was excellent as far as facilities go. Good food, good accommodations and organized for us photographers, however the actual set-up of the raised floor and seating were kind of sketchy. Its a huge football stadium so transforming it to accommodate a basketball court is strange. It was a feat for sure and I commend those involved, however with the overall seats being so far away from the action and the team benches being off the court itself it just didn’t feel as intimate as it could have been at the Toyota Center. Regardless, my seat was awesome! I was about 5 feet to the right of one of the goals and about 5 more feet from the baseline, which made for some interesting captures. With the two Sweet Sixteen games on Friday and the Elite 8 regional championship on Sunday I was a bit nervous about my gear scenario. I had shot a limited amount of collegiate and pro basketball in the past so I wanted to make sure I was good to go as far as gear went and having a camera at CPS getting a shutter replaced did not help. When I arrived I met Mark Sutton from Nikon and he was so great to loan me a brand spankin new D3 (Nikon’s new full-frame wonder camera), a 14-24mm 2.8 N, a 70-200mm 2.8 VR and a 300mm 2.8VR. Everything was fresh out the plastic new and ready to roll. I shot the two games Friday without incident and Mark even gave me a battery charger so that I could use the gear for my shoots Saturday. I absolutely loved the camera. So many features that I wish I had on my N’s; retouching in camera, dual cf slots, bigger and more accurate screen and viewfinder, full frame, and the most important…the noise. You can crank that sucker to 3200 and the noise looks like my 800 ASA. The image above was taken with the D3 and the 14-24mm lens at Libby’s rollerskating birthday party at Funtime Skating Rink in Clear Lake City, Texas. Our friend Kevin was trying to catch a cupcake in his mouth and failed. Good fun.

Last night was my first time to shoot basketball. That sounds weird. I cannot believe that I had never shot basketball until last night. Although basketball is not one of my favorite sports, shooting it is pretty darn exciting. I was scheduled to shoot a prep football playoff and was elated to find out I was switching to an arena with lighting instead of a very dark high school football stadium. Since I don’t have much experience with arena strobes and my basketball shooting experience being where it was, I decided to head out to the base early, which proved to be a very good idea. It was the first game of the 2007 season for the US Air Force Academy Falcons and they faced off against the Big Green of Dartmouth. The venue was Clune Arena on the base of the Academy and as soon as I arrived I headed up to the catwalk to turn on the paper’s strobes. (4 Elichrom 1000r’s) After my initial (frightening) walk through, I checked the lines and much to my dismay found that the drop line to attach the pocket wizards to the strobes wasn’t working properly. After checking the lines and connections over and over I finally dropped into one of the strobes and managed to get half of the court’s lights operational. I would have to deal with that. Prior to the start of the game, the AFA photographer and I realized that we were crossing channels which was very odd since he was using a digital frequency and I was on analog. In the end, I was forced to shoot with the south-end lights on only leaving the back court completely black. It wasn’t an ideal situation, however it simplified some of the images. At some points, since the other photographer and I were sharing one of the strobes, if he had fired before me, I would only have one light operational as the shared strobe would be recycling. Needless to say there was a motley crue of images; some available light, some lit with one strobe, some lit with two. It was actually a lot more exciting than I would have thought, given the proximity to action. I did shoot from the catwalk for a bit, but with the sketchy lighting, it was better from the floor. I’m kind of bummed that I’m just now getting to shoot basketball, but I’m glad that its the NCAA. I hope to shoot a lot more soon.