Oh man, where do I even start?
Maybe I'll just follow the timeline of events and go from there. I've just reviewed my final draft - I did not follow the timeline at all. Oops. February was a busy month between NDSU and traveling to Las Vegas for the largest chiropractic event in the world. I photographed seven basketball games, six at the collegiate level and one high school, a two-day track meet for a couple colleges, a wrestling match between NDSU and #7 Mizzou, a Giving Hearts Day Chili Feed, and a few other events scattered in. Each event had something different to offer despite there being so many basketball games. We had tributes to some of the greatest athletes to ever wear a Bison jersey on the basketball court - both men and women being honored - and NDSU wrestling alumni were highlighted as well.
I documented two senior days, one for the Bison and another for the Kindred Vikings girls basketball team. Don't worry, Boden, I'll mention you in the March recap. Respect. Heaven Hamling was the lone senior athlete being celebrated on February 29 before their home finale resulting in an NDSU dub against the University of South Dakota Coyotes. Two Kindred athletes (one being an NDSU golf commit) and a statistician were honored on February 13. Not only did I document the pre-game ceremonies, I also designed the posters that were gifted from their team and coaches. I'll include one in the gallery below. Please, don't critique me too harshly unless you feel like teaching, haha.
The event that's been a yearly photographic-highlight since 2019 was the chiropractic convention held in Las Vegas, Nevada with some big-time keynote speakers and a really special guest that no one expected. On the main stage I photographed David Goggins, Simon Sinek, Ryan Holiday, Nita Farahany, and more. I photographed a number of familiar faces including staff, speakers, and attendees from all across the country, even the staff from my favorite chiropractic office in Minot, North Dakota, my hometown, were there. Shoutout to Pearson Chiropractic! No large convention would be complete without a big, fancy party, right? By this point you've already guessed who the special guest was because of the lead photo or by visiting my social media accounts. Yup! Gene Simmons from KISS! It was really cool to see people go crazy to see him and the amount of selfies he took was amazing. I photographed him with the University President, several VIPs, and we had a step-and-repeat area so attendees could have a nice professional photo with him.
I almost forgot to mention, when I was done photographing the meet and greet portion of David Goggins' appearance, he came over to me and told me it was the best photography in that setting he's ever had. We rolled through 8-9 photos a minute, which other photographers will know is LIGHTNING FAST. For him to say that, you know, someone who does meet and greets regularly, that's a really big compliment. I told him I'm going to use one of my images of him with that caption in the testimonial section of my website and he said "GO FOR IT!" Okay, I will. Thanks, Goggins!
All said, February 2024 was a really fun month. March is usually my slowest month of the year and it has been anything but that. I might not pick up my camera as much this month but behind the scenes on the business front has been BUSY! Senior photo session requests have been flowing in and this week alone I've added four large conventions to the 2024 calendar. If you're still thinking of having Zachary Lucy Photography document your event, touch base sooner rather than later.
Enjoy some of my photos from the past month.
All the best,
Z.
