Smiles of CU Athletics

Artist Statement

For my midterm photo project, I decided to focus on the smiles of CU Athletics. I would consider myself primarily a sports and music photographer at the moment, both of which are obviously live events. I have loved shooting sports specifically because of the competitiveness that comes with it and, as a result, the extreme raw emotion. While I shoot sports, I try to look for this raw emotion because I feel it results in stronger and more powerful images than if I were to just shoot that action of some play. When shooting throughout the course of a football or basketball season, you are there to capture all of the highs and lows that these student-athletes, coaches, and fans experience. I feel like oftentimes, student-athletes are held to an unrealistic standard in the way that they carry themselves or deal with adversity. Fans can forget that, ultimately, these athletes are young adults, and being held under a microscope in this way can be a lot of pressure. It is for this reason that I feel this project has some substance to it. With this midterm project, I was hoping to capture the good side of this vulnerable emotional experience for these student-athletes. These photos all capture the pure joy and raw emotion, which I am hoping will help to humanize these athletes and make fans remember that ultimately these are 20 year old kids. My favorite photos from this series are the first photo of Travis Hunter, Tristan Da Silva hugging his coach, and Luke O'Brien (number 0) jumping in the air after a big win. Since the midterm, I have played around with the presentation as well as the selection of the images. I have been smiling the whole time while doing this project, and I hope these photos can have the same effect on the viewer.