Keep it Moving
It was the morning of March 28, 2018.
Camera flashes. Dribbles. Laughter. Empty Stands.
I had gotten to Atlanta just a few days before. I was there with Devin and George, capturing content for the McDonald’s All American Game, essentially an All-Star game for the best high school basketball players in the country. March 28 was game day. We had been working hard during the days prior. Building relationships, taking pictures, and going to all the events that we were able to. Up to this point, I thought that my pictures were coming out fire. As I’m writing this now, I’m beginning to see how far I’ve come from thinking those pictures were dope. I digress.
That morning, the athletes were getting ready for their photoshoot. George and I left the hotel and went over to the arena. Come to think of it, I’m not sure that we were even supposed to be in there to be honest. We talked to a bunch of security guards and somehow made our way in. As we got there, nobody was on the court yet. After a few minutes passed, the players started coming in, as did the photographers. I started to notice that it was really only the McDonald’s actual photographer. I thought the whole time that there was going to be a ton of media and that it may be hard to get my shots. I saw this as an opportunity and capitalized on it. With no media there, I was able to just walk around the court and take whatever pictures I wanted. For one thing, it was dope to be able to just wander in an NBA arena. Second, these weren’t just regular hoopers I was taking pictures of. They were the elite and honestly, we’re going to see those guys in the league in the next couple years. If there were any shots that I REALLY loved from the entire week, these were the ones. I had the portraits, group photos, and shots of the guys messing around and honestly just having fun. A lot of times, people forget that these guys are still just kids, even if they are incredibly talented. Still kids chasing their dreams and having fun with it. I was really able to capture those moments and I was hyped to get these pictures to them. This was my first time taking pictures of next level players and these shots were the best that I had taken all week just because of how genuine they were. They weren’t trying to impress any scouts or anything at that particular moment. Like I said, just kids having a good time while doing what they love.
Crash.
George and I got back to the hotel and started dumping all of our footage and pictures onto our computers and hard drives.
I went to look back at my computer after just waiting for the files to upload. Nothing. None of my files showed up. I checked the camera and it displayed a message along the lines of “Your pictures aren’t here anymore fam.” I put the card into George’s computer. Same thing. Nothing showed up. I put the cards through data recovery software and waited a couple hours to see if there was anything left. Nothing. Just one picture actually. The rest? Gone.
The only picture from that batch. The corrupt file looks dope to me honestly.
I sat outside the hotel room for awhile. If there were any pictures that I had that nobody else did during that whole week, it was those pictures. Genuine moments. That afternoon, some of the players even asked me for those pictures. I had to tell them that I didn’t have them.
To be honest, I just care way too much about what I do, and that’s not a bad thing. I’ve always held myself to a higher standard and when it all happened, I was actually pretty angry. I wasn’t sure if I did something wrong or if it was just a little stroke of bad luck. I still don’t know. I still think that those pictures are some of my favorite that I have ever taken, and I haven’t even seen any of them. Sometimes you just know.
I couldn’t just sit there and be all sad/mad/whatever though. Shit happens. I’m starting more and more to realize this every day. Sometimes you just have to roll with whatever life decides to give you and control what you can. That night, I still got to shoot the actual McDonald’s All American Game. Can’t complain about that. I was still in Atlanta because I somewhat know how to take pictures. Can’t complain about that either. As upset as I was in that moment, I learned a lot from it. Things aren’t always going to go the way we want or expect them to, but that’s fine. You just have to look to the brighter side of things and just keep it moving.
To Live and Prosper
- Jsquared