2019-20 Photos of the Year: Austin Thomason
Michigan Athletics and Michigan Photography present the 2019-20 Photos of the Year! Starting July 21-24 and running through July 27-30, you will see what eight photographers from Michigan Photography deem to be their top images covering Michigan Athletics events in 2019-20, a year shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the words of the photographers, you'll read what can go into getting that perfect shot and just why they consider these to be the best of the best. Senior photographer Austin Thomason continues our Photos of the Year by sharing some of his best images from the past year. Enjoy!
SNOW SMALL FEAT
“In the week leading up to the Michigan State game, a foot of snow fell on the Ann Arbor campus. Crews worked night and day to clear the snow from Michigan Stadium. This is a dual exposure done in-camera. I first took a wide angle shot of the stadium at 14mm, then I switched to a 70-200 and used a 1/4 second shutter speed while zooming in on the Block M.”
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HAPPY HELPER
“Field hockey is a fast-moving sport and it's not always easy to get a shot of a goal. The celebration afterward is frequently the best way to show the mood and spirit of the players. Here, Tina D'Anjolell celebrates an assist with Meg Dowthwaite in the Wolverines' defeat of Michigan State.”
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CAUGHT IN MIDAIR
“Michigan swimming and diving hosted Michigan State in late January, winning, 181-83, as the Wolverine women capped off their third straight undefeated dual-meet season. During a break in the swimming, I went over to the diving well to photograph the action on the one-meter board. Divers don't get as high up in the air here, so I placed the camera low to position the diver above the full crowd.”
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AND THE WINNERS ARE …
“This was shot at the annual football awards, known as the Shemmys. Bo Schembechler had a big personality and I wanted to make the statuette reflect that, so I used a wide-angle lens and placed it as low as I could.”
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LIGHT BRIGHT
“The hype before a Michigan men's basketball game is intense. To capture this in the dim arena, lit mostly by cell phones, I opened the aperture up all the way to f/2.8 and pushed the ISO up to 3200. Even then, I had to push the RAW file a couple of stops in post processing to get this to an acceptable level.”
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HANDS IN
“Just before its Senior Night defeat of Indiana, the Michigan volleyball team huddles up outside the locker room for a pep talk. I love the feeling of anticipation and excitement just before a game.”
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MAKE SOME NOISE
“Swimming and diving is one of the louder sports to photograph at Michigan. The hard surfaces in Canham Natatorium bounce sound everywhere, so when the student-athletes cheer on their teammates, it is deafening.”
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