This was my third straight year to cover the Big 12 Media Days for USA Today Sports. This year, the Big 12 had the event at the Omni Dallas Hotel and they really had a great presentation and flow to the press conferences and events. It was also great to see that each school brought their mascots and cheerleaders which made the environment a lot more fun.
The days always started out with the normal coaches press conferences. I usually try to find a couple of interesting angles with the coaches speaking, laughing, using their hands, or generally looking my way. Nothing too creative when covering press conferences, but it’s the main part of what newspapers and websites will publish.
The players then came into the big room where they answered questions for two hours…
When I had some downtime, I tried to make sure to get shots of all the cheerleaders, mascots, and details around as those shots seem to get picked up by lots of outlets these days. Even Texas coach Mack Brown played along! Here are a few…
OK, I have to admit that one of my favorite mascots ever is the Mountaineer from West Virginia! Besides being the only one that can speak, he is a really cool guy that was quite the big hit with the media! Here are a few portraits I took of him…
As you guys know, I absolutely LOVE taking portraits when I can. These events usually do not lend themselves to that as portraits usually require a long setup and some time with your subjects to get everything right. Well, since I shoot LOTS of weddings, I have gotten used to finding good light and shooting things super fast! This comes in handy when I have to shoot portraits in about 20 seconds or so lol! I photographed a few of the coaches as well as Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby and literally had a few seconds with each one since their schedules were insanely busy.
I want to give a big shoutout to all the SID’s and team staffs who helped me get the shots I needed! These guys are all first class in my book! With that said, I think these shots came out VERY well! (Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy, Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops, TCU head coach Gary Patterson, Texas head coach Mack Brown, Iowa State head coach Paul Rhoads, and Baylor head coach Art Briles).
I even took a few group shots since these always seem to be popular with outlets…
Some details including the Coaches’ Trophy and Baylor’s super cool new Golden Helmet!
And lastly some of the media outlets that ran my photos…
