March Madness is upon us

I hadn’t shot a lot of NCAA basketball this years but once the Florida State excitement began to build I shot the Miami and Duke games. This photograph was from a camera mounted on the goal and fired by a remote from my seat on the hardwood.

FSU's Ian Miller (30) drives to the basket over the back of Duke's Andre Dawkins (20)

We’re talking about getting to the game 3+ hours early to balance on a 25 foot step latter with brackets and super clamps and Bogen magic arms to attach my Canon EOS 1D Mark lll on the goal and under the bottom of the glass backboard.  After mounting, I wait for approval, first from Florida State than the game officials.

I’ve mounted cameras throughout the catwalk to photograph Florida State’s games against the best of the best in ACC basketball and even the circus once.  Most were fired with radio remotes from my shooting position kneeling on the hardwood court side.  Of

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Between my commercial photography in Tallahassee, editorial work, personal projects for TallahasseeStock.com and media coverage, 2011 was my best year since the inception of MarkWallheiser.com.  Cover stories in both the Tallahassee Democrat’s Sunday magazine TLH and Tallahassee Magazine cover story and an unprecedented 16 pages of my work inside were definitely the cornerstone of my […]

2010 was a very good and creative year at Mark Wallheiser Photography.  The year kicked off with my coverage of the come-from-behind victory for Florida State coach Bobby Bowden in his final game at the Gator Bowl followed by Super Bowl 44 in south Florida. My 2010 coverage included shoots with President Obama and his […]

There’s nothing quite like Chasing the Tiger” for 4 days. “I’m getting ready to hit right over ya’ll” Tiger told us.  Nobody moved.  I’m sure somebody wanted to say, “go ahead, we’re crazy enough to keep laying here.” Security finally came and made us move over.  That was Tiger’s last hit before pulling out, withdrawing […]

While shooting Super Bowl XLIV in Miami on assignment for United Press International, I had the opportunity to pull the trigger of the new Canon EOS Mark IV.  The digital SLR is Canon’s newest flagship camera aimed at the professional photojournalist and sports photographers. The Game In the week leading up to the game, I […]

What a fitting ending to the Bowden era that I’ve covered for 28 years. Listening to: Natalie Merchant – Kind and Generous

David Hobby, internationally known over at his blog, The Strobist has called me out by dredging up some ugly memories from a Florida vs Florida State football game in the early 80s. David was a photo intern at the Tallahassee Democrat from the University of Florida.  While not as good as interns from Western Kentucky, […]

After following Hall of Fame coach Bowden up and down the football field from Tallahassee to Los Angeles for the past 28 years, I will miss his candor, humor, patience, wisdom and leadership in the heat of battle, on and off the football field.  I’m proud to have photographed the Bowden era for more than […]

FSU basketball coach Pat Kennedy cover shot prior to the basketball season

I shot Ronnye Nelson, a running back at Valdosta State, for the New York Times.