When I heard about Jeff Jacobsen’s idea for his next sports photography project, I knew it would be a big hit.
It’s a massive project — the kind that will serve as a model for the photojournalism students I teach at the University of Kansas; a meticulous undertaking that will define Kansas sports in our imagination for decades; an inspired documentary project that will invite local journalists to tell compelling local stories — and a project that will demand full commitment from Jacobsen himself.
His idea? To visit every county in Kansas (all 105 counties) and photograph a sport in each one.
Knowing Jacobsen, this project is not a haphazard endeavor: He’s not going to just snap a few photos of a basketball game at the local park before driving off to the next county.
Instead, during his four years crisscrossing the state, he arrived at each sporting event early, stayed late and by the end got to know just about everyone there.
(Disclaimer: I have known Jacobsen as a friend and colleague for many years, so it is only natural for me to rave about him and his work.)
Jacobsen’s work He followed sports in Kansas and elsewhere for decades. Pick the best period of his work. Maybe it’s his early years at the Topeka Capital-Journal, where the paper’s dynamic photo staff won nearly every national award. Or maybe it’s his work at the Arizona Republic. Or maybe his best work was “Tribute to Crimson & Blue” The book is a collection of photographs from a 23-year career documenting University of Kansas sports.
But his latest work may surpass them all.
Jacobsen finishes the photography portion. “The heart and soul of Kansas sports.” They plan to visit eight counties next month: Wallace, Greeley, Scott, Gove, Ness, Clark, Kiowa and Barbour.
“You know, I’m 73 years old now,” Jacobsen said this week. “I knew that if it was the end of my career, I wanted a project that I could finish off feeling very proud of.”
During his first 97-county shoot, Jacobsen discovered all sorts of sports. 100 mile run Round trip from Ottawa to Eola Kickball fundraiser In my home town, Horseshoes Dozens of high school sporting events were held in Belleville.
of An incomplete image library It’s moving and monumental. As a photographer, I’m amazed by the logistics and personal commitment; I’m also astounded by the technical expertise and artistry. Pick your favorite sports metaphor — a grand slam, an MVP effort, a slam dunk — and this project will live up to your expectations.
Each gallery features dozens of photos, and taken together they capture the fun, friendship and community of sports in Kansas.
And, as you’ll see below, Kansas is a major character.
Jacobsen and I discussed the iconic photos taken during this project. We each nominated a few. Below, we share our thoughts and explain the photos and how they represent Kansas sports.
A few years ago, Jacobsen scouted high school football fields across the state hoping to capture a spectacular sunset. Chasing the light, he Playoff games It happened last November between Sebesa and Nemaha Central in Seneca.
The game started later than scheduled, meaning the timing didn’t work out for the sunset, but Jacobsen knew the pre-game ritual of team introductions would make for great photos regardless of the lighting.
“All of a sudden there was this smoke and I just sat there going, ‘Oh my God!'” Jacobsen said. “I was just freaking out, waiting for that moment, and then boom! They came out!”
The light Jacobsen found worked better for the photo than the golden hour of sunset. The glow of the stadium lights gave warm outlines to billowing purple clouds as Nemaha Central sprinted onto the field in celebration. The football team strode out of the misty darkness, past rows of kids hoping for high-fives.
At that moment, Jacobsen chose a wide-angle view of the field, which transformed the high school football field into a vast landscape. Cavalry Charge.
Jacobsen’s project began in 2020, when high schools struggled to find appropriate health precautions for everyday biology and math classes. Sports, of course, changed, too. The pandemic also disrupted the heartbeat of many communities: high school sports.
When Jacobsen competed in the Kansas High School Activities Association volleyball championships in October, the look and feel of the tournament was completely different. Jacobsen’s Gallery Photos from the event showed stadium seating empty to allow for social distancing, with coaches and players struggling to keep their masks from slipping off their noses and mouths as they cheered and competed.
“Back then, people weren’t sure what they could do in the state,” Jacobsen recalled.
Amid all those precautions and restrictions, Jacobsen expressed a rare sense of joy in a photo of Blue Valley West High School scoring the final point of the championship game.
The faces and body language tell the tale, and today Jacobsen focuses on the players wearing the numbers 2 and 12. Tears welled up in his eyes as he spoke about the images this week.
“The joy, the explosion of joy in that moment was the greatest I’ve ever seen,” Jacobsen said. “It may not be the best photograph I’ve ever taken, but it is the most joyous. … The sheer explosion of joy in that moment is something I’ll never forget.”
What is the hidden element that heightens the emotional intensity of this photo? It’s the red of the players’ uniforms. Photographers know very well that red attracts the viewer’s attention (hence why traffic lights and stop signs are red), while cooler colors distract. In this moment of intensity, the saturated red heightens the emotional intensity.
In our conversation this week, Jacobsen reflected on what the project has taught him, not just about Kansas and its sports, but about himself. When I asked him what that meant, he told me, His photo gallery From an event for Paralympic athletes in Stilwell.
At the event, athletes played Boccia using equipment including ramps and headgear, competing against other Paralympic athletes while moving a ball in hopes of getting it closest to a target ball.
“Especially when you’re away from a big city, I’m overwhelmed by the interest and appreciation people have just for me being there,” Jacobsen said. “People are so open-minded and seem so happy.”
The best photo from the event shows Olga Barth shooting the ball (also red!) down the slope, and Jacobsen points out that Barth’s sharp, intent eyes are the key to the photo.
“The eyes and the focus and the effort was impressive to me,” Jacobsen said. “To me, that’s what made it so sweet.”
When I coach young photographers, I convince and implore them to find a camera angle that shows the subject’s eyes. Not just a profile, but the whole eye. This is something that most amateurs are nervous about. If you stand in front of your subject with your camera to get that angle, you’ll end up seeing yourself in the picture. It can make you feel self-conscious.
A veteran, Jacobsen understands the trade-off: In exchange for a moment of self-consciousness, simply standing still and within eye contact can help tell someone’s story more fully and movingly.
During my conversation with Jacobsen, I recommended one photograph that most specifically evokes Kansas.
Jacobsen’s First posted gallery For this project, he visited the world-famous Lawrence Glass Velodrome, an outdoor bike track built for speed. Came back A month later, I watched an hour-long race in which cyclists competed to see how many laps they could complete in 60 minutes.
In my favorite image in the gallery, Jacobsen brings together many important elements. In photojournalism, this is called “layering” – harmoniously composing foreground, midground and background to tell a story without making the photo posed.
A cyclist in the foreground pops out clearly from the prairie, hay bales in the midground remind me I’m in Kansas, and a chef’s kiss background gives the shot a stunning gradient from blue to red to orange.
Jacobsen’s image does all this while shouting out its location: “Kansas.”
“This is a unique environment. To me, this is Kansas,” Jacobsen said. “Only in Kansas can you say, ‘Let’s build a grass velodrome and put a bunch of different races on it.'”
When Dodge City High School’s football team won the state championship in 2020, Jacobsen stood a few feet away while the team and coach hoisted the trophy.
The specific date on the calendar is one Jacobsen remembers: Nov. 7, 2020. That was the day most major news outlets reported that President Joe Biden had won the presidential election over former President Donald Trump.
Jacobsen saw a connection in the fact that a predominantly Hispanic team from southwest Kansas won in the midst of a divisive political season with the president debating immigration.
“My goal with this project is to not turn anyone away, whether they’re black or Hispanic or if they have different needs,” Jacobsen said. “I didn’t want to turn anyone away with this project.”
After seeing Jacobsen’s photos, Dodge City’s coaches asked him to travel across state lines to show them at a team event in his hometown, but with COVID-19 infection rates at the time in 2020, traveling wasn’t safe.
In the coming months, Jacobsen plans to display the completed project in a multimedia presentation that will tour around the state, just as Jacobsen has done.
As Kansans gather to see Jacobsen’s completed projects, they will have a similar effect to the sporting events Jacobsen has visited to take photos: Like the high school football games that draw hundreds of locals to the stands, these photos will unite the community through sports.
Eric Thomas teaches visual journalism and photojournalism in the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Ka, through the opinion column,nsas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people affected by public policy and those excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own comment. here.
