adidas asw 2023
Recently, I had the opportunity to collaborate with Adidas for All Star Weekend 2023 in Salt Lake City. They approached me with a unique project: to capture some of the most iconic basketball courts in the city and highlight a few that were particularly meaningful to the NBA superstar Donovan Mitchell.
Over the course of two days, I traveled around the city, exploring seven different courts across Harlem and Brooklyn. Some of the most iconic ones included the historic Crack is Wack Court (painted by Keith Haring), the famous Holcombe Rucker Park, Raymond Bush Playground at Dyckman Park, and the iconic Cage court.
As a fan of basketball and the culture that surrounds it, I love projects like this as they come very natural to me. For me, basketball courts represent not only a place to play and compete, but also a reflection of the communities and people that gather around them. From the unique architecture of each court to the vibrant shit-talking energy of the players, every aspect of these courts fascinates and inspires me. (I think thats why shooting abandoned basketball courts are my favorite, too).
At the event itself, only two of the courts were featured, but both had a deep personal connection to Donovan Mitchell. One of them, the Crack is Wack Court, was actually the site of Donovan's very first dunk on a 10ft hoop. The second court, Holcombe Rucker Park, was where Donovan played during his high school years. It was an incredible honor to be a part of such a meaningful project.
During the event, Donovan was gracious enough to sign all four of my prints. It was an incredibly humbling experience, and I felt honored to be a part of this event in some small way. I ended up keeping one of the signed prints for myself, a reminder of the fun project and the impact I can have with photography.
I often find myself sent on assignments to capture something on behalf of a client. While these projects can be exciting and challenging in their own way, there's always something special about working on a project that's entirely my own. No client, no agency, no one looking over my shoulder on set. It's just me and my camera, and that sense of freedom is everything to me while creating.
For this particular project, I used the Canon R5 as my camera, and also brought along my DJI Mavic drone to capture some stunning aerial shots of each location. As with most of my projects, I took advantage of any opportunity to fly my drone and get unique perspectives of the courts. Take a look at some of the images I captured during this exciting project. Edited in Adobe Lightroom Classic.
