Capture Memphis' Sports Editor's Choice

Memphis' Commercial Appeal newspaper sponsors a contest each year for local photographers. I have entered about a dozen shots, one of which was selected to be published in their coffee table book. I'm not sure which one it was, but I think it is my dog Shooter retrieving a dummy at the dog park lake at Shelby Farms.

I got a email notice on a Friday that the Fall Football contest was closing entries by Saturday. I submitted a shot I took at the CBHS vs Germantown game and it was selected Editor's Choice. It came in 3rd in the people's choice with less than 24 hrs for people to vote.

Here is the Shot.

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The Most Mysterious Man in Basketball - World Wide Wes

A few years ago while shooting the NCAA South Regional in Houston, I took some shots of the celebration after Memphis won. One of my shots included CDR hugging a man and crying. I later found out that the man he was hugging was William Wesley - World Wide Wes. I printed a 5x7 and took it to the next tournament game to give to him. I showed it to one of the local news broadcasters and he said "I don't really know who he is, but he knows everyone." He mentioned he saw Wes take out his phone and get Michael Jordan on the line. Wes really liked the photo and was moved when he saw it.

This past week for some reason, who knows why, Wes was at the C-USA tournament (I'm quite sure there is a reason he was not at the SEC tournament with Coach Cal). After saying hi, I thought it would be awesome to get a shot with him. Here we are in Tulsa.

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Wes can now put David Minkin on the list of people he's connected with.

2008 GQ Article on Wes

New York Times Article on Wes

Double Loss @ C-USA Tournament

As the photographer for The Daily Helmsman and The University of Memphis I recently traveled to Tulsa for the C-USA Tournament. Unfortunately, the Tigers lost in a heart breaking one point loss in the first round. We're proud of our team and especially proud of Coach Pastner for his extraordinary efforts this season.

This was not the only loss for me during the tournament. I lost a camera and lens. The Mark III cost $5000 and the 15mm f/2.8 lens is $650.  I'm sending the equipment to Canon, but don't have high hopes they can be repaired. I do have insurance, but had a claim a year and half ago - alot to have to deal with...

As we were making an unbelievable comeback, Houston's #31 Adam Brown attempted blocking a Willie Kemp layup. As you can see in the photos, he missed the block, but did not miss trashing my remote camera and lens.

For some unusual shots, I mount a camera on a metal plate and use pocket wizards to remotely trigger the camera. I usually use an old Canon 20D camera with a 15mm fisheye lens for these shots. Being a member of CPS (Canon Professional Services) I can evaluate any equipment for a 2 week period. I chose to try the new Mark IV for the tournament. Having this camera to shoot the regular fore court shots with the 24-70mm lens, I replaced the old 20D with one of my Mark IIIs.

The photos below show the last seconds for the camera and lens thanks to Brown.

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The last photo for this camera & Lens...

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the aftermath... (notice the exposed circuit board on the lens)

ESPN.com Photo Shoot

In May this year The SID (Sports Information Director) for the University of Memphis recommended ESPN.com to contact me for photos of our new Basketball Coach - Josh Pastner. ESPN.com sent Dana O'Nell to Memphis for two days to interview Coach Pastner. They asked me to accompany her and take photos for the web publication. What an honor.

We met early at WMC Channel 5 for a morning television interview. This was his first TV interview since taking the position as head coach at Memphis. We had breakfast together and spent the rest of the morning in Coach Pastner's office. Coach interviewed a few people for trainers and was constantly on the phone with recruits and potential assistant coaches. Later in the evening we went to Coach's first meet and greet with the U of M Alumni Association at the Hyatt.

This was a fantastic opportunity and allowed me to see the real Coach Pastner. As a person, you can't find anyone more honest and dedicated.

Rather than trying to describe the interview, read Dana's story. She does a great job presenting Coach Pastner.

On a side note, they liked my photos so much at ESPN that they included a slideshow within the article.

Enjoy and let me know what you think

(Click Here) Coach Pastner Interview - ESPN Photos by David C. Minkin

Action Photography ~ My Pup Shooter

Although I specialize in action sports photography, I was reluctant to start this blog with a photo of my lab puppy - Shooter Ace. Does this photo qualify as a action sports photo? Although it isn't Elliot Williams doing a reverse dunk or little Johnny hitting a home run, I surely believe it does.

Shooter is at Webb Footed Kennels in Jonesboro, Ark. This is the equivalent to the Harvard of retriever training. Chris Akin, the owner, is the best of the best in training labs. He won the World Championship with his dog Boomer.

Shooter's training is quite involved and is there for four months. I miss him and his companionship. He slept in my bed every night and now lives in a unheated metal building and sleeps in a plastic 55 gallon drum.

Back to the photo. I shoot a Canon Mark III which takes 10 frames a second - the only camera to have as a sports photographer. It was rather cold outside and we didn't want to keep him in the water too long, so I did not have much time to get the exact shot I wanted. I did take alot of others though. This photo is actually a compilation of 4 photos. I think it turned out pretty good.

Let me know what you think.

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Shooter at Webb Footed Kennels in Jonesboro, Ark. He's 7 month old and doing fantastic in training

Here are the 4 photos that were used to make the final image. Photoshop is an amazing program.

The Main Photo

This photo was used for his snout

This one for his tail

and this one for his hind legs