Every year at about this time media outlets reflect on the past year with a look at the top stories and happenings in their area. I will let you in on a little secret: part of the reason they do that is to fix the gap created by the slow news cycle during the holiday season. Also staffs are even more short handed than usual because everyone wants to take the holiday off.

Old habits are hard to break for this former newspaper man, so while there are a few days between sporting events please enjoy this collection of images that I created during the past year. Which by the way was the inaugural year of SD Sportscene.

Each image will include a little information on how the image came about or what it is that I like about the photograph. Consider it a small gift to you.

Happy Holidays!

Covering state tournaments, like the American Legion Class B baseball tournament in Groton last August, are always a chance to make great photographs. Simply put you get to watch the best athletes giving their all in an attempt to win a title. As long as you pay attention to the action, there are plenty of opportunities to make great photos.

The nature of wrestling makes it difficult to get both athletes faces in the same frame sometimes. But on occasion it works out that you can see not only faces but also an image with distinct lines and a graphic quality to it like this image from Northern State University wrestling last February. The dramatic lighting only adds to the moment.

Another classic in sports photography is the simple joy of victory. It was easy to see in this image from last March when the Aberdeen Roncalli girls won the Class A Championship and Elissa Hammrich got to cut her piece of the net.

While I really was not in the right position for this image of DeWaylon Ingram making a catch, it might have been better to be on the other end of the field with Ingram running toward me. As it turned out though this frame that includes more than just the players held more significance since this was the first ever touchdown to be scored at the new Dacotah Bank Stadium. The sunlight and the fans on the berm in the background, one of whom was signaling a touchdown, added to the moment in Northern State University history.

Most of the time I use longer lenses to get tight images of the action. But sometimes using a wide angle lens adds to the atmosphere and drama of the moment. Not to mention that sometimes taking in the whole picture gives more perspective on the game, like in this image from the third place game at the Class B boys basketball tournament.

Catching the peak action is what sports photography is all about and it doesn’t get much more peak than when the receiver and defender high point the ball on a football passing play. The clean black background created by the night helped make the action stand out that much more.

While this image isn’t really sports centric, it was an image I made at the Class B baseball tournament last August. This is a combination of being bored between innings and wanting to see just how well the macro component on my telephoto lens works. I’d say it does the job.

Sometimes the moment of avoiding the impact can be just as exciting or dramatic as the moment of impact might have been. This is the case in the soccer moment in October between Aberdeen Central’s Jayda Hammer and Brookings’ Brooklyn McGuire. Neither player was hurt and for what some may consider a non-play it has a dramatic flair.

I am not, nor have I ever been a runner. This image makes me tired just to look at it since you can see the sheer exhaustion on the runner’s faces. But it also makes my heart warm to think of how much these kids enjoy the sport and support one another as is evident in the embrace.

Again the wide-angle lens helps tell the story as the Dell Rapids St. Mary players celebrate a successful two-point conversion that won the game and the Potter County players walk away empty handed. When covering championship events much of the time the reaction tells way more than the action ever would. Just like the opening credits to ABC’s Wide World of Sports- The agony and the ecstasy of the moment.

To complete my look back on the year is this moment in nature as the Aberdeen Central boys cross country team cooled down under a canopy of fall foliage after the state meet in Sioux Falls back in October. A single still photo doesn’t really do justice to how pretty Yankton Trail Park was on that day. I only wished they had run along the creek during the meet so I could have made more images of the beautiful leaves.