NCAA Championships Came Back in 2021

A selection of images from our staff photographers

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Each year, NCAA Photos (created, owned and operated by Clarkson Creative Photography) photographs every NCAA championship as the official photographers of the NCAA. As the collegiate school year begins, our staff photographers have been reflecting on the championships they covered during last school year. Below you will find photos, accompanied by some thoughts, chosen by Jamie Schwaberow, Justin Tafoya and C. Morgan Engel.

DI Women's Tennis

Orlando, Florida - Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos

Any time you have an opportunity to take advantage of great lighting, or in this case a great sunset, you have to try to capture it. Usually you don’t have much time to waste. You just never know when you’ll get another opportunity like it. In this situation, I just needed to determine which of the courts would work best to incorporate the sunset, some game action and some ambiance by including the stands in the background. Luckily, the tennis player in this photo, LuLu Sun of the Texas Longhorns, also clinched the national championship for Texas, which gave the photo even more relevance.

DI Men's Tennis

Orlando, Florida - Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos

DI Women's Beach Volleyball

Gulf Shores, Alabama - C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos

DIII Women's Golf

Lansing, Michigan - Justin Tafoya/NCAA Photos

Coming up with different and new ways to photograph trophy celebration is always a challenge. Years ago a friend and fellow photographer, Matt Marriott, started this jump celebration photo at golf championships and it just caught on. Giving student athletes the opportunity to do something different and fun to celebrate their achievements makes my job pretty fun too.

DI Men's Golf

Scottsdale, Arizona - Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos

DII Men's Tennis

Surprise, Arizona - C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos

DI Women's Gymnastics

Fort Worth, Texas - C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos

Catwalk remotes are always a great practice in problem solving. I didn’t know what to expect from the catwalks at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, TX. What I found was a pretty tall ceiling! This meant I was not going to make that tight frame I envisioned for the vault. Instead, I opted in using the leading lines of the colorful pads to compliment the athlete’s diagonal position. The negative space presented by the black floor was an added compliment.

DI Women's Golf

Scottsdale, Arizona - Justin Tafoya/NCAA Photos

DII Men’s Golf

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida - Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos

DI Women's Outdoor Track & Field

Eugene, Oregon - Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos

Some athletes are pure photography gifts sent from heaven. That is how I would describe Texas long jumper Tara Davis. Her energy and smile are infectious and she truly seems to have a great time while competing. Obviously, it doesn’t hurt that she is usually winning, which is exactly what she did with a 6.70 meter jump during the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field long jump championship held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

DI Women's Soccer

Cary, North Carolina - Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos

DI Women's Rowing

Sarasota, Florida - Justin Tafoya/NCAA Photos

DI Women's Golf

Scottsdale, Arizona - Justin Tafoya/NCAA Photos

I made this photo right after Ole Miss won the championship and happened to see them walking down the path toward me. I can’t say I planned this but I saw the team walking down the path celebrating and they happened to jump for me as they walked by. Luckily I had my wide lens ready with a flash to capture the moment. There are a lot of impromptu moments after a championship that you have to be ready for!

DI Men's Basketball

Indianapolis, Indiana - Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos

DI Women's Volleyball

Omaha, Nebraska - Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos

DI FCS Football

Frisco, Texas - C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos

Obstacles to make this image involved hours of absolute downpour, lightning and tornado delays, and changes in my usual workflow. Staying focused in the most stressful of environments is the difference in capturing great moments or missing them entirely. I can feel the power in this running back’s stride as he runs threw a tackle that left his opponent falling out of frame.

DI Men’s Soccer

Cary, North Carolina - Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos

DI Men's Baseball

Omaha, Nebraska - Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos

One of the greatest celebration photos of any championship is when they douse the coach with water/Powerade. Often teams don’t do it because they know their coach won’t like it or they simply don’t think to do it while they are jumping up and down hugging each other. The 2021 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team didn’t miss their opportunity here, as they soaked Head Coach Chris Lemonis after their first ever school NCAA national championship.

DII Women's Golf

Dearborn, Michigan - Justin Tafoya/NCAA Photos

DI Men's Outdoor Track & Field

Eugene, Oregon - Justin Tafoya/NCAA Photos

Going into the event JuVaugn Harrison of LSU was the favorite to win. In fact he didn’t even start his attempts until later in the competition when the bar was raised to a certain height, one of the perks of being an Olympian! He would go on to win the national championship with a clearance of 2.33m. The bar here isn’t quite at his final height but you can see how much higher he can jump here.

DIII Women's Rowing

Sarasota, Florida. (Photo by Justin Tafoya/NCAA Photos

DI Women's Softball

Oklahoma City - C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos

Photographing sports at an elevated position usually presents cleaner backgrounds. What I don’t expect to find is consistency in shapes , but circles are abundant in this frame. Softball is one of my favorite sports to photograph. And when you are photographing it at one of its top stages, it leaves you with an unforgettable experience.

DII Women's Tennis

Surprise, Arizona - C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos

DII Women's Softball

Denver, Colorado - C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos

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