AP photographer captures Haley Van Lith's last college game — and elements of her collegiate history
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Gerald Herbert has been a staff photographer for the Associated Press since 2002 in Washington, D.C., and New Orleans since 2010. He's covered everything from major sporting events to presidents to breaking news, including the massive 2010 BP oil spill and its last effects on the region.
Here's what Herbert had to say about making this extraordinary image.
Why this photo?
It was quite an honor to document Hailey Van Lith's very last college game. She is not only one of the most dynamic leaders I have seen on the court in my 40 years as a photojournalist, but this game and this photo had all the elements that speak to her collegiate history. She has been to the Elite Eight five times with three different schools, something no other NCAA athlete has accomplished. She has also been very open in discussing her mental struggles along the way.
At this moment, TCU and Van Lith had been playing a very close game against Texas, but it unraveled for them late in the fourth quarter. Regardless, her mastery and leadership on the court did not slow her down.
How I made this photo
On the technical side of this photo, typically, an AP photographer is sitting at one baseline position the whole game. You crane your neck, lean around referees and players without blocking your colleagues sitting next to you. You selectively anticipate the action as it is unfolding and blast away when you think you have an angle. But you learn to edit as you shoot - and not shoot junk – otherwise, you have so many frames it will slow your edit down to a crawl.
In this instance, I did not know how this split-second good action would unfold, but most often you are either blocked, out of focus or late. You don't know ahead of time, so you hammer on the shutter button when you think it's coming together to expand that moment into a larger number of useable frames, and you edit afterward to see what you have. Here, I pretty much knew I had a good frame but just not sure if it my timing was right or I was out of focus. After reviewing the images on the back of my camera, I knew I had a great frame somewhere in that sequence, the final select to be determined off court at my laptop and the opportunity for a more critical review.
The camera I used was a Sony A9 III, the lens was a Sony 70-200 f/2.8 zoom, the shutter was 2000/sec at ISO 5000, white balance was auto. We try to keep the shutter at 2000/sec minimum, aperture wide open, thus using the lowest ISO possible for quality, while keeping the shutter speed fast enough for sports. For people shooting their kids' sports, with less professional gear, going down to 1000/sec is an acceptable compromise to keep the ISO as low as possible. If indoors with poor light, try 500/sec. You will be disappointed with anything lower.
Why this photo works
To me, this image encapsulates her pushing through and knocking down the mental walls that surrounded her and emerging on top and in control. Even though the result was a loss, two steps away from the championship, for her it was a victory. Of note: her father texted her before the game. 'The sun is going to rise tomorrow no matter if you win or lose,' the message read. 'So go out there and have fun.' It sure looks like she did.
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