Sports | Alex Farris Photo Blog

A study break amidst four tests this week means I have just enough time to update the blog for the first time in almost a month. Six assignments are smashed into one here, and given the work load required for animal biology, organic chemistry, physics, and general chemistry lab so far, expect these amalgams to be the norm, at least until I finish my pre-med coursework.

I'm not sure when (if?) the Ball State student performance at the Columbia Club Cabaret will be posted online, but the other five assignments have accompanying galleries: the City Moto auction benefiting an animal clinic, Carmel High School's 55-54 victory over Hamilton Southeastern in boys' basketball, the Love Sux anti-Valentine's Day event at Howl at the Moon, and Trey Anastasio Band's performance at the Egyptian Room. I've gotten lots of work this month, and now I finally have time to share it. Enjoy!

Garrison Brown, 2, and Jinai Lewis listen to a reading of the short story "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters" during the annual Sankofa Black Heritage Festival at the Indiana State Museum, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014. Sankofa, meaning "reach back and fetch it," is a celebration of West African culture.

Soon after my biology test on Friday, Mike Fender texted me wondering if I was up for shooting an IU men's basketball game for the Star.

I replied, "AM I? Of course!"

For a while, the primary content on this blog was IU men's basketball. I was one of the beat photographers for the Indiana Daily Student, and during that time, I had grown quite accustomed to Tom Crean's pacing, Martha the Cleaning Lady, and the dedication of student fans, even though the team was not yet good. I also grew accustomed to the fellow photographers on the baseline: Chris Howell of the Bloomington Herald-Times, the Associated Press guys, Mike Dickbernd of IU Athletics and his intern (Peter Stevenson at the time), and whoever came down that night from The Indianapolis Star (usually Matt Kryger, source of endless jokes and well-placed distractions). I was a little sad when the season ended, but as I was used to endings in my senior year, I didn't make a big thing of it when I shot my last game at Assembly Hall. It helped that IU finished last in the conference that season.

I've been back to Bloomington multiple times since then, and once I was even on the floor of Assembly Hall, but when I got that text, I was so excited to go back. I stepped onto the floor, all the memories came rushing back, and I HAD to share it on Instagram. It just felt right. The Martha the Cleaning Lady video played, Tom Crean paced down the sideline, hiking his pants up all the time, and even some of the same photographers were there.

The only big differences were these: IU was a good team again, the IDS photographer (Caitlin O'Hara) and IU athletics intern (Steph Langan) were younger than me, and I had grown up to be, effectively, Matt Kryger, the guy the Star sent down for the night. All of that made the experience even better, and I hope I get another chance to go back home.

The full 19-photo gallery appears here, but fair warning: The crops are weird. The Star just moved to a new website layout, and I think they have a bit of work still to do with their photo galleries. I definitely did not crop photo 5 that way, and it showed up full-frame in the paper this morning.

Hoosier players watch the pre-game highlight reel before their game against the University of North Florida at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013.

On Saturday, my dad and I drove to Terre Haute to watch the IHSAA Cross Country State Finals. I went to cover them for the Star, but my dad was going there anyway, and as an added bonus, my law-school-attending brother Kennywas already planning to drive in from St. Louis. So, that was a cool visit. And after years of taking pictures of him and his/my teammates for free, he was really happy that this time, I was getting paid.

Here's the full 26-photo gallery for the Star. I also got two photos in the dead-tree edition yesterday.

Jackson Bertoli of Terre Haute South reacts to winning the boys' race of the 33rd IHSAA Cross Country State Finals in Terre Haute, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2013.