Photos of the week: 5.11.2026

For my last file ever (wild to deliberation my clip has travel to an end!), we’re counting down nan apical 10 photos of nan outpouring semester! Despite nan truth that my favourite kinds of photos are features, each but 2 of these turned retired to beryllium action shots. Here are nan photos of nan week!

Baseball and softball tin beryllium beautiful difficult to sprout sometimes because it’s not ever easy to foretell wherever nan adjacent play will happen. Some shots, for illustration this 1 of UIC’s Vidal Colon sliding into second, are much capable to beryllium anticipated though, and we tin get amended compositions. My favourite portion astir this photograph is that we tin spot nan shot still successful nan aerial while Eric Maisonet watches it get to his glove. The tag was precocious and Colon was safe, but this photograph of Margo’s is really cool to see!

For each outdoor sports, nan lighting business is nan first point I notice. I request to salary attraction to nan upwind and nan sun successful bid to compensate for nan ray successful position of my settings. In this lawsuit I knew nan sun was going down and was watching nan shadows connected nan section arsenic they moved truthful I could get photos of nan pitchers, batters, and infielders successful nan champion lighting earlier on. At nan aforesaid time, I bask precocious angles sometimes, and I knew I could usage nan ray to my advantage to get a photograph of Harrison and her protector moving together. The consequence is thing I find really bully to look at, and it has a cleanable inheritance to spell on pinch it!

Photos wherever some players are facing toward maine are ever bully to spot (again, faces!), and nan hostility of title is clear here. The measurement they loom complete nan hoop connected nan different extremity and capable nan framework does a batch to stress their size and make them look larger and much powerful, which is simply a nosy effect of position and proportionality successful position of their position connected nan tribunal and nan debased perspective I’m shooting astatine from nan floor. I’m besides drawn to nan ball, which Stone is dribbling betwixt his legs. The predisposition of nan lines connected nan shot is beautiful pleasing to maine and it’s a mini item that really brings nan afloat creation together and makes it emergence to nan apical 10!

I can’t opportunity it capable times: I love emotion love cleanable photos. Most of nan time, a crowd successful nan inheritance of a photograph tin heighten it and supply different shape of ocular interest, but location tin perfectly beryllium times wherever it’s distracting. Photos pinch cleanable backgrounds person truthful overmuch entreaty to me, particularly successful a mounting wherever you cognize there’s really a batch of group watching conscionable retired of frame. Being capable to find compositions for illustration this is simply a ace adjuvant accomplishment to beryllium moving connected successful position of your situational awareness. Beyond that, being capable to spot some of their faces, nan diagonal statement from Slaughter’s hairsbreadth and Craft’s arms, and nan shot being perfectly positioned straight supra them pinch nan lines connected nan shot lined up nan measurement they are is conscionable beautiful.

I genuinely really emotion photos for illustration these. The measurement nan pitcher’s limb is still successful nan air, nan bat is positioned successful a measurement that frames nan segment and helps lead our eyes astir nan composition, and nan shot is perfectly betwixt nan pitcher and batter makes it truthful overmuch stronger. It’s a awesome illustration of utilizing foreground liking arsenic a compositional method pinch nan batter retired of focus. This photograph besides does a bully occupation of pointing retired really we get imaginative successful our framing for what tin beryllium a somewhat boring repetitive action to show it successful a much visually absorbing way!

Compared to a batch of nan different photos here, this is simply a very unsocial one, and not conscionable for nan truth that it’s a characteristic photo. It’s not mundane that media gets entree to nan locker room aft nan game, truthful I was stoked for Dan. I’ve been successful respective situations wherever there’s a ton of cameras crowding astir a subordinate and we usually do our champion to debar getting nan others successful our frame. Here though, I’m very overmuch successful support of Dan’s determination to sprout wider to show nan different cameras successful framework because it gives further discourse to nan segment that we mightiness not needfully get otherwise, and to maine it emphasizes nan unit these players person connected them to execute and nan ways they can’t needfully debar attraction erstwhile things don’t spell nan measurement we want them to. It’s honestly benignant of difficult to look at, but that’s nan quality betwixt photography and photojournalism sometimes.

I said it astatine nan time, but shots for illustration this 1 Dan took of Olivia Kelly doing a backmost handspring connected nan beam really make maine deliberation astir really awesome gymnasts are. Moreover, having nan small sliver of beam on nan bottommost gives discourse to wherever we are astatine nan title level, and shows america wherever she’s going. Being successful nan photojournalism and documentary programme and taking each 3 offered capstones decidedly gives maine an appreciation for some video and still photography work, but location are immoderate moments wherever I deliberation photograph is better. Some photos tin make it look for illustration a accomplishment is simply a fall, but photos for illustration this 1 wherever Kelly is stiff mid-air are truthful intelligibly amended successful a photograph format successful my opinion.

Everything I’ve ever said successful immoderate of these columns should beryllium considered to person an asterisk adjacent to it, because location are ever exceptions to nan “rules” I talk about. For example: normally, we would want to sprout a spot tighter than this. That being said, I deliberation successful this lawsuit for nan dunk it’s perfectly acceptable to spell wider, and I’d moreover beryllium good pinch it being truthful wide to show this full portion of nan tribunal successful frame. That’s too nan constituent though, because Margo took this awesome changeable during nan crippled against Vanderbilt (her hometown team, by nan way) and it’s no. 3 connected our list! Another point that stands retired to maine astir this photograph is that nan crowd is simply a spot much successful attraction than usual, and because of that we tin spot nan beginnings of their reactions. That paired pinch Pierce’s concentrated look is great!

This is decidedly 1 of my favourite hoops photos I’ve gotten for a number of reasons, pinch nan sprawl of Dowell’s and Verhulst’s limbs mixed pinch their expressions and lines of show being nan biggest. I played astir pinch a fewer different crops but decided to time off it a spot wider because I liked being capable to spot Dowell’s feet lifting up disconnected nan ground. Above all: we tin spot some of their faces!

I mentioned in 1 of my February columns that judging for Pictures of nan Year International, nan oldest photojournalism title successful nan world that’s hosted by nan Reynolds Journalism Institute astatine nan J-School, had conscionable wrapped up. In April, immoderate of nan grant winners came to Columbia for a reception to beryllium honored for their work, and galore of them offered portfolio reviews. Based connected their feedback and further feedback from my professor, Jackie Bell, this photograph made it into my portfolio and is connected my website! (Side note: my website does exist, I conscionable haven’t bought my domain yet. Check my Instagram bio successful a fewer weeks and possibly it’ll beryllium there…)

I’d opportunity it’s beautiful fitting for nan title of my no. 1 favourite photograph of nan semester to beryllium to a characteristic photo. And what a crippled this was! This crippled against Oklahoma featured not one, but TWO buzzer beaters from Trent Pierce and Mark Mitchell, respectively, and nan power was perfectly electric! I retrieve moving crossed nan tribunal instantly aft nan changeable that won nan crippled trying to drawback up to nan players to screen their reactions. It was 1 of nan astir breathtaking games I’d ever been to, fto unsocial covered, and this photograph of Mitchell smiling during his question and reply is conscionable nan cherry connected top.

And location we person it – my clip astatine Rock M has officially travel to a close. Thank you to Karen for recruiting maine and taking maine on, to nan colleagues I’ve worked alongside complete nan past year, and to Margo and Dan for contributing their clip to nan photograph department. An other typical convey you goes to each you readers who came backmost week aft week to perceive maine nerd retired astir photojournalism and spot nan activity we produced. Your support intends truthful overmuch and I’ve appreciated your changeless beingness much than you realize!

I’ve still sewage different twelvemonth astatine Mizzou, but since I’m taking connected a position arsenic adjunct head of photography astatine nan Columbia Missourian I’ve had to make nan determination to measurement distant from Rock M aft my twelvemonth connected staff. If you want to enactment successful nan cognize connected what I’m up to and nan activity I’m doing, travel maine connected Instagram (@henderson.visuals), and besides make judge you travel Dan (@danmurphmedia) and Margo (@margoj_photography) while you’re astatine it! Don’t beryllium a alien and M-I-Z!