Alan Look (aka - Chimper) is the Best Look in Sports Action Photography. Stock photos include Nature, Autos, Industry, Travel and more.
Sports coverage includes Illini, Ridgeview Mustangs, Tri-Valley Vikings, El Paso - Gridley Titans, Lexington Minutemen, Normal Community Ironmen, Normal West Wildcats, University High Pioneers, Prairie Central Hawks, Heyworth Hornets, and other varsity sports in McLean County and the 309 Area Code. https://alanlookphotograhy.zenfoliosite.com
On September 15th, 2012 Jimmy Garoppolo visited Hancock Stadium at Illinois State University as the starting quarterback for the Eastern Illinois Panthers. Who knew that 8 years later he would become one of 2 starting quarterbacks in the NFL's SuperBowl. Jimmy of course is the 2nd starting Quarterback from Eastern to do well. Ten Years before, another named Tony Romo completed his senior year at Eastern. Tony went on to an NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys.
Freelance photographer Alan Look was fortunate to have captured both players in action. The image of Tony Romo was taken at Eastern during the Homecoming game in 2002 against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels. The image has been used by national media and in several books. The images of Jimmy Garoppolo were both used by Upper Deck as trading cards for his rookie season.
Once in a while I have a reason to dig through some old images. I always seem to find a couple of treasures.
I shot the Eastern Illinois Homecoming football game in 2002. Tony Romo was still pretty much an unknown. He was in his senior year at Eastern. They were playing the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, a rival from the same Ohio Valley Conference. Not only was it homecoming, but the two teams were tied for 1st place and this game was well into the season being played on October 12.
I was shooting for a small wire out from the east coast. I'm not sure I ever knew and I certainly don't remember if the images were being used by the media or a school, but there I was.
Well, 8 years later, Tony is very well known and in the NFL. One of the images in the gallery below has licensed several times - from books to ESPN, it seems to get some pretty good play. When an image becomes popular, it also starts to get used by people who don't want to pay. So photographers start doing things to find out where all it has surfaced. Yep, I found the image in a cropped state that had been used by a news organization on at least 4 blog sites.
Anyway, that got me looking for the rest of the take from that fun game. The Panthers won by one point at the very end of the game. The best of my takes (was one of the first I shot with a digital camera) are below.
