- Hunter Dickinson in the middle of the crowd after Michigan’s victory vs #3 Purdue in 2021. -

My years in art school, decades ago, taught me two lessons:
- Grinding and hard work is the best way to achieve (not raw talent).
- Art is a process. Without reflection and preparation you won’t ever create something unique.

“Spray and pray” is a very common saying among photographers and especially sports photographers. I won’t lie, I sometimes spray and pray but it goes against the very essence of the art of photography.

For the Purdue game, I arrived almost two hours before tipoff. I had a feeling that something was going to be done in honor of Al Glick and I wanted to have time to photograph his chair. I had a vision, using my newly acquired strobes (very powerful flashes stashed in the rafters at Crisler) to give a very unique look to represent the idea of mourning and respect.

Buying the strobes has been a disaster so far. It cost me twice as much as anticipated and the results are “so-so.” Partly because I have to change my approach and there is a steep learning curve, but also because they are old, weak, and not really compatible with my gear…

I am still wondering if it would have been smarter to invest that money somewhere else a few weeks ago. To be fair, I mostly did it because I had hoped this would help me improve as a photographer. Perhaps I would be able to obtain one of those coveted “full time/staff photographer” roles - turning the page on two decades of freelance and uncertainty (especially after the last two years!). Truth is, I just want to become a better photographer.

After the photo of the tribute for Al Glick was finished, I went back to the photographer’s room to prepare my equipment for the game. In recent weeks, I have been feeling tired and I decided for this game to only use one camera and two lenses, keeping it light. (It is not unusual that I have four or five lenses and two or three cameras on me, just in case!)

- Flowers are left on Al Glick's chair before Michigan's game -

At that point, my widest option was 24mm and my longest 200mm, covering everything in between those two points.

The game started, and I struggled with the strobes, so I decided to turn them off, and use the standard way. Only a handful of photographers (the very best, to be fair!) are using strobes nowadays.

For the most part, photographers are very close and friendly with each other. We always help each other and usually share information. Toward the end of the first half, Dominick Sokotoff messaged me: “I heard (...) students will storm the court”.

This is a chance and a curse, because I just started to think:
Should I stay on the floor? Should I go high? Should I use a wide angle or a long lens? Would 24mm be wide enough?

This is a big gamble; there is no clear answer. Photographers tend to carry similar gear and stand in the same area. You can play it safe, getting the job done at the risk of producing a good, but average frame that others may capture.

I am constantly looking at others’ work. When the field storming happened during the OSU game a few weeks ago two images stood out:
- The very wide angle of the Big House taken from the top corner.
- The embrace between Juwan and Jim in the center of the field.

In both cases, the image has two focal points: Juwan and Jim, or the Big House and the crowd. Would the staff and players stay on the court or rush to the locker room? Would I be able to find the players in the middle of the storm? Will something “strong” happen that I would be able to capture? I thought that most of the other photographers would stay low because it is the safest choice.

Going wide and high would require me to leave the floor early, probably with 2 minutes left in the game. If nobody storms, I might miss out on some bench mob or simple team celebration. The risk is very high. I could also get stuck in the mass of people leaving the stadium, providing me with a very limited angle of the action.
Also, if only a few students storm the court, the photos would have the opposite effect.

By the time I decided to go for the wide and high, I was already under the basket near the Michigan bench photographing the second half. I was only carrying a 24mm and I absolutely needed my 16mm: go wide or go home.

I decided that I would use the strobes to over-expose the court, so the seating would be darker, making the crowd and the center court pop and giving a more dramatic effect.

The extra light, provided by the strobes, would make it possible to close my aperture, creating a longer depth of field (more elements in focus). But it would also transform any light source into a Flare Star making the upper part of the frame more interesting. (This is a pitfall of a wide angle: a lot of empty/dead space can happen).

The first time I used that technique at Crisler… was just before tip off for the tribute photo, so I was fairly sure of my calculations!

At that point, I made the decision that using strobes would be the best idea despite being not safe:
- Newer cameras will give you 8 to 30 frames per second; however using strobes you will be stuck with a few frames per minute!
- Using strobes at Crisler is the opposite of a cheat code, it lowers my expertise.

In conclusion: A difficult task, with a high potential reward. If I nailed it, it would produce something unique.

So I made a plan: I would come back, and wait above the Baldwin tunnel on top of section 110. From there I would walk back, stop in front of the club, and walk down to the court through section 101.

It should last five to eight minutes before the frenzy dies down, and would give me an opportunity for three to four images per stop.

When a timeout was called with about four minutes of playing time left, I rushed to the photographer’s room (on the opposite side of the court, of course). I dropped my seat, computer, and packed my camera with my wide angle.

My first two stops provided me with good pictures, but something was missing.
I had two elements: the crowd and Crisler Center, but something felt off.

As I walked down onto the court, I actually passed Hunter Dickinson getting ready for his postgame interview. At that moment, it clicked in my head: one of my favorite Detroit Street photographers, Andy Shields, always said a perfect image has three elements. It was so evident, I could clearly see the final image in my head.

I turned around as fast I could, looking to find the perfect spot. In all honesty, my heart was racing. It is, after all, a question of seconds before the moment, the decisive moment is gone.
I needed to be centered, and a little bit elevated, but also close enough, as a wide angle lens makes elements look smaller and far away. Unbelievably, I beat everyone else to that perfect spot (maybe using my elbow a little more than usual).

The photo y’all love is the first I took. Just in case, I hung onto my spot for a few seconds but the instant was gone. Hunter was now holding his face in his hand. When he finally cleared his face, the giant folded flags were going through the crowd creating a weird barrier in the center.
Truth is I did not need more frames, I knew I had captured the moment in the best way I could.
Now, I was just enjoying the scene.

The feedback has been incredible and overwhelming, from photographers to fans and friends.
A nice reward for a job well done. This is gratifying because there won’t be any payout, or fancy award for me, soon people will use and reuse the image without even knowing the sweat it came from.

Without my years photographing at Crisler (almost 100 games!), I would have probably not dared to go up and down.
Without the influence of some of the greatest photographers like Eric Bronson and Daryl Marshke, I would not have the technical knowledge.
Without the inspiration from Alisson Farrand and Katelyn Mulcahy, I would not have the idea.
Without the tip from Dominick, the other photographer, I would not have anticipated…

It is gear, it is experience, it is network, it is so much hard work.

For sure this one is going to stick in the Michigan fans' mind for a while, and it will soon join two other photographs I have done of Michigan Men’s Basketball on my office wall. Funny enough, none of the three are photos of an action… so much for being a sports photographer, I guess.

Now it is time to go back to work. Grinding, grinding, grinding.


Don't forget:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarcGregor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marcgregor.campredon/

If you'd like to support my photography business (Which has been hit hard in the past 2 years) and my personal projects, you can purchase prints on my website at: https://www.marc-gregor.com/Prints

- Moe Wagner celebrating Michigan’s victory vs Louisville during March Madness 2017. -




- Matthews facing Ward during the Semi final of the B1G tournament in 2018. -