"Demonte Harper #22 of the Morehead State Eagles shoots the game winning three point shot with 5.5 seconds left on the clock against the Louisville Cardinals during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 17, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. The Morehead State Eagles defeated the Louisville Cardinals by a score of 62-61."
"Peyton Siva #3 of the Louisville Cardinals handles the ball against Ty Proffitt #13 of the Morehead State Eagles and Lamont Austin #10 during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 17, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."
"Terrance Hill #11 of the Morehead State Eagles goes to the hoop against Mike Marra #33 of the Louisville Cardinals during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 17, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."
"Terrence Jennings #23 of the Louisville Cardinals dunks the ball late in the against the Morehead State Eagles during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 17, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."
"Mike Marra #33 of the Louisville Cardinals fights for control of the ball against Lamont Austin #10 and Sam Goodman #34 of the Morehead State Eagles during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 17, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."
"Terrance Hill #11 of the Morehead State Eagles reacts after hitting a three pointer in the second half against the Louisville Cardinals during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 17, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."
"Lance Goulbourne #5 of the Vanderbilt Commodores drives the ball against Justin Harper #32 of the Richmond Spiders during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 17, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."
"Darrius Garrett #1 of the Richmond Spiders reacts after a play against the Vanderbilt Commodores during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 17, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."
"Kevin Anderson #14 of the Richmond Spiders scores a basket late in the second half against Festus Ezeli #3 of the Vanderbilt Commodores during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 17, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."
"Marquise Carter #2 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs fights for the ball against Paris Horne #23 of the St. John's Red Storm during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 17, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."
"Mike Hart #30 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs blocks the shot of Malik Boothe #3 of the St. John's Red Storm during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 17, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."
"Jamar Diggs #5 of the Wofford Terriers defends against Jimmer Fredette #32 of the Brigham Young Cougars during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 17, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."
"(Left) Jimmer Fredette #32 of the Brigham Young Cougars and Brad Loesing #35 of the Wofford Terriers react after a collision during the second round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 17, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. (Right) Noah Hartsock #34 of the Brigham Young Cougars goes to the hoops against Noah Dahlman #42 of the Wofford Terriers."
"Kenneth Faried #35 of the Morehead State Eagles dunks the ball against Justin Harper #32 and Darien Brothers #3 of the Richmond Spiders during the third round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 19, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."
"(Left) Kenneth Faried #35 of the Morehead State Eagles goes up to contest the shot of Cedrick Lindsay #2 of the Richmond Spiders during the third round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 19, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. (Right) Sam Goodman #34 of the Morehead State Eagles reacts after a play."
"Kelly Olynyk #13 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs blocks the shot of Jimmer Fredette #32 of the Brigham Young Cougars during the third round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 19, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."
"Robert Sacre #00 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs dunks the ball over Kyle Collinsworth #31 of the Brigham Young Cougars during the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 19, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."
"Jimmer Fredette #32 of the Brigham Young Cougars celebrates after a play against the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the third round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 19, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."
"Jimmer Fredette #32 of the Brigham Young Cougars runs off of the court after defeating the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the third round of the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Pepsi Center on March 19, 2011 in Denver, Colorado."
Who doesn't love March madness?
In the two days of the second/third rounds last week at the Pepsi Center I shot six games and captured more than 6,500 images between 4-5 cameras. Thank god Getty sent in an editor.
Even though it was just the early rounds of the tournament, the schedule meant that it was one of the biggest and more pressure packed events that I've ever photographed. Out of the more than 24 photographers/editors that Getty used used to cover the opening rounds at eight different sites, I was only one of four freelancers on the list. There was no questioning that I had to produce.
Thankfully I had both a team and technology on my side. I shot alongside Denver Getty staffer Doug Pensinger and editor Michael Heiman flew in from New York to round out our team. To speed up the workflow, on Wednesday Doug and myself ran more than 700 feet of Cat 5 Ethernet cable from each of our shooting positions on the floor back to the media workroom. This allowed us to use adapters on our Canon 1D Mark IV camera bodies that sent pictures in real time back to Michael's computers in the workroom.
Essentially an image could be captured, edited, captioned, toned and uploaded to the clients around the world in under a minute. Such was probably the case with the game winning shot by Morehead State over Louisville (first image above) as my image was the first on the wire and got some great play online by Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports, among others.
I also set up two remote cameras on the opposite end of my shooting position. One was under the press table on the side of the court, perpendicular with the basket and another was in the corner of the stands. Both cameras were triggered wirelessly using a trigger button that I fired from my seat. This often gave me two angles of the same play/moment in time as apparent in the third image from the bottom above. They also gave me a view of players faces because their backs were to me from where I was shooting.
Working an event this big was definitely a learning experience but, for the most part, went off without a hitch. In addition to Doug and Michael, I have to thank my buddy John Leyba from the Denver Post and Sports Illustrated's Robert Beck & Jeff Bottari for keeping the mood light and the never ending supply of candy flowing. Hopefully I'll get to experience the pressure and thrill again next year when the women's Final Four comes to Denver.
-JCE
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