PHOTOS BY JOSH MCCOY

PHOTOS BY JOSH MCCOY Athletics Photographer, Marketing/Promotions, Ole Miss Rebels

Most of my favorite photos are special to me because of how I planned for them and how they make the people of this community feel.

I love the Egg Bowl pic because of how hard I worked to get it lined up. I knew if I could position myself correctly, the stadium lights would backlight the trophy, making it glow. It’s not easy maneuvering yourself through very excited guys twice your size.

The baseball dog pile photo also took quite an amount of maneuvering. That happens so quickly that you have to be in the right spot at the right time. I know that most of the jumping comes from the guys who get a running start, so I sprinted out to the opposite side of the pile, away from every other photographer, at an angle where the guys in the bullpen would be facing me. To make it work, I had to get there quicker than guys ten years younger than me who train every day. Ended up getting kicked in the face, but I got an image that represents history at Ole Miss.

Sam Kendricks’ jump photo in front of the American flag was just a case of being observant and planning. He’s an All-American, and I had the idea to shoot it this way the second I walked into the building and saw the layout. I took a risk with this shot, because to get it, I had to leave the normal shooting area and go to the other side of the facility. If something great had happened on this jump, and I hadn’t lined this one up correctly, I would’ve missed it. He jumped perfectly, and it worked.

The 2014 football promo shots are some of my favorites for the exact opposite reason. I didn’t come up with these ideas until about five minutes before the players showed up. It was all done on the fly, and I think that’s kind of cool.