I love the beginning of a sports season. So much anticipation, and everyone is undefeated and is a Final Four contender. Tonight Auburn tips off the 2023-2024 season against AUM so I flipped back through some of my Auburn Basketball archives and came across this sequence from the Auburn vs Alabama game on January 17th 2009. Korvotney Barber slammed the ball in the way he use to do, and I suddenly remembered how fragile and brief life is. Auburn won that game 85-71.

I took 586 shots that night from my normal seats. I remember thinking the Alabama coach was on his way to other things, but it was a good night on The Plains. This sequence below makes me a little sad knowing Barber’s fate so many years later, but I love how much energy he had that night.

That’s one reason I love photography. I can remember that one night, on January 17th more than 13 years ago now, because I was there with my camera, capturing the energy. I doubt I would remember much of that night without the photos. It’s a struggle sometimes to take a camera and put in the effort to take the shots, but I’ve never looked back at an image or set of images and thought, “I wish I had just left my camera at home that night.”

I can’t wait to see what the Auburn Basketball team of 2023-2024 is going to do this year. Tonight they are headed for the Final Four, no doubt.