Feb. 1, 2018
By Erin Locascio
Erin Locascio is a photography and graphic design intern for the University of Notre Dame. Throughout the year she will have a weekly post about her favorite five photos from the week’s events. This week Locascio is highlighting Notre Dame women’s tennis and fencing.
In each post Locascio will give background information on the photo and why she selected it.
Shout It Out Loud!
Fencing hosted the DeCicco Duels this past weekend at the Castellan Family Fencing Center. The Fighting Irish came out undefeated and were able to stay on top of the national rankings. Finnula Mageras celebrates a point won during her bout against Northwestern. The main reason this was chosen was because out of any of the photos of fencers celebrating, this was the only one where the screaming face could be seen clearly. Combine that with the fist pump and this makes for a great celebration photo that could not be passed up for this week’s five favorite photos.
Backhand Boss
This past weekend women’s tennis took down Eastern Illinois to continue their early-season success. Caroline Dunleavy took down her singles opponent in straight sets to help the Fighting Irish sweep the Panthers 7-0. The dominance she showed in her two 6-0 set wins are shown throughout the photos captured of her, but this was the best of them all. The way Dunleavy is completing her backhand motion while airborne makes her hair fly and adds to the intensity. The shot is completed with the ball in the frame while Dunleavy eyes her target. This was not an easy ball for Dunleavy to return and she did everything the right way to make sure she could keep the ball in play.
Tennis Tunnel Vision
Rachel Chong completes her serve in the match against Eastern Illinois. Usually a serve in tennis is the hardest action to catch because the racket is extended all the way up to hit the ball and doesn’t get captured well. However, because this was caught at the end of the motion, and I am positioned on the opposite side of the net, it was a lot easier to capture. Chong is still on one foot after going airborne to complete the serve and her eyes are locked on the ball which is still seen in the shot. To put it all together, the net in the shot lets us see what it looks like to be on the receiving end of a serve. .
En Garde
Amanda Sirico scores a point in a bout against Northwestern. This was easily my favorite action photo caught during the entire day of fencing. It was caught at the exact moment where the blade made contact with the Northwestern fencer. Sirico’s legs are completely lunged so she could score the point and even though the legs are not totally shown, it adds to the moment. Lastly, the ND monogram along with the last name shown on her back adds to the whole environment of the photo.
Got Your Back
Sometimes photos just capture an entire moment or environment more than the actual action of the sport and that is what this particular photo does. This being the first time shooting fencing, it was crucial to capture every moment in any possible way. That means moving around and changing angles to get different photos of similar movements. Doing that led to a great arena and fencing environment shot. Getting lower and shooting up at the athlete made the “University of Notre Dame” written above the stands a good focus point before looking at the fencer and then all of the teammates supporting him.
