Chicago Bulls – “Perspectives”
The 6th Annual Awards
- Best Photography
ABOUT THIS ENTRY
In a space overflowing with content, where fans have seen hundreds of thousands of images, the Chicago Bulls in-house photography team aims to give fans a perspective of the Bulls from angles and perspectives they’ve never seen before.
How does this represent “Excellence in Engagement”?
The Bulls have one of the largest social media followings in American sports, with a global fanbase in the millions following the team and expecting first-class content. Our goal should always be to innovate and give them something they haven’t seen before – just scrolling through the Bulls feed, that ethos comes through clearly as our players are being featured in a way very few other organizations are attempting. It’s a risk to turn down the status quo – something that works, and has worked for decades – to try something new, but engaging fans in 2024 means showing them something new to break through the flood of content they are being served every day. That should be the goal of any good content team or photographer, and that’s what we hang our hat on throughout the season.
Objective
Basketball is intrinsically one of the most emotional and visually arresting sports on the planet. The players are easily seen and their emotion is easily captured, not masked by helmets or hats or uniforms. Some of the most iconic images in all of sports – Michael Jordan rising for his final shot against the Utah Jazz, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combining for an iconic alley-oop – come from the court. But the game is always seen from the same perspective – the camera is always placed on the baseline of the court, and the TV angle is always on the sideline. Our goal this season was to move away from the traditional baseline viewpoint and gives fans a different angle on our beautiful game – using our lenses, access and abilities to storytell through perspective.
Strategy & Execution
We wanted to storytell our players through still imagery by eschewing our traditional NBA angle floor spot – the baseline seat which puts you closest to the court, but is used by every team, wire service and media outlet that works with the NBA – and attempting to find new places to park our lens. Behind the team bench. In the rafters high above the arena. Even searching for that brief empty seat in the crowd when a fan gets up to go get food – there are endless opportunities to showcase new angles, and our photographers are always on the move, never stationary, hunting for that next shot.
Organizations
- Chicago Bulls
Links
Credits
Joe Pinchin
Director, Content
Chicago Bulls
Nikko Tan
Manager, Content
Chicago Bulls
Jimmy Mitchell
Manager, Content Design
Chicago Bulls
Celebrate in NYC
Join us for the 6th Annual Hashtag Sports Awards™ on the evening of June 6, 2024 as we celebrate finalists and reveal the winners of this year's awards live during the show.
