Ben McKeown

I chuckle when I think about how lucky I have been sometimes. My first job - ever - was what I then considered my dream job. At the age of 17, I was miraculously hired by one of the best sports radio stations in the country, Raleigh’s 850 The Buzz, as a part-time producer. I was still in high school, and upon acquiring the job, I quickly became the envy of every staff member in my school’s Athletic Department.

I’ve loved sports forever. I’m an avid basketball player (although my 5′8″, 230 lb frame never lent itself to being selected for a basketball team in high school or college). I was, however, cut out to be a defensive lineman. I played football for Wakefield High school and now, years later, I still miss it. Recently, I’ve even taken up running as a hobby. (I’m planning on writing a much longer post on this very topic in the future.) Additionally, I’ve followed college and professional sports since I was a kid with vigor.

In the past couple of years, however, I’ve gotten away from working in the sports world. Before jumping full-time into photography, my radio career took me away from sports and into the music world. Despite my deep love for music (I play about 5 instruments and love to sing), music radio came with challenges and politics that I was not thrilled about tackling. One of the worst parts for me, I guess, was the fact that I’d moved away from the sports -media world.

So it makes me truly happy to say that starting last weekend, I’ve teamed up with Mike Flynn and the rest of the cool folks at the Appalachian State University Athletic Department. I’ve signed on to photograph the Mountaineer’s home football games and cover other various sporting events around campus. These images are from App’s home opener against Lenoir-Rhyne. The team followed up their stunning victory against Michigan by certifiably smashing Lenoir-Rhyne 48-7. Tomorrow, App hosts Northern Arizona at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone. The temperature around game time is supposed to be in the 60’s, which is incredibly exciting to me. It’ll really feel like football season. (Last weekend, it was nearly 90.) Sunday I’ll be hanging out at the women’s soccer game in Boone, hopefully grabbing some good images from that event.

All this being said, I’m absolutely not going to neglect other types of photography. I’m still working with the High Country Press on covering stories from around the mountains, and I’ve got plenty of portrait and wedding gigs scheduled for the future. I’ll keep you posted on everything. I’m going to try to update the blog on a more regular schedule. Every Monday is my goal. Stay tuned!

On this past Saturday, September 1st, my life became crazy.

It started when Appalachian State University stunned the Michigan Wolverines in their first football game of the season. Many are calling the Mountaineers’ win the biggest upset in sports history.
I was in Boone, home of App State. As soon as the game ended, my job started. I left the club where I watched the game and ran a mile to get my camera. I honestly hadn’t expected our home team to win, so unfortunately I was ill-prepared for photojournalism.
Once I got my camera, I shot all day. The students celebrated in grand fashion, tearing down a goalpost from the home stadium and carrying it over a mile up a mountain to the Chancellor’s house. I was with them the whole way.
Later that evening, the team arrived back home. 8,000 people had gathered at Kidd Brewer Stadium to greet them. Truly, nothing like this has ever occurred in this town. Unquestionably, it was amazing.
For me, stress of all kinds ensued. Good stress, bad stress, neutral stress… I felt it all. Over the course of the next two nights, I did not sleep. Without stopping, I worked on editing these images, knowing that I’d been witness to a truly historical moment. My efforts paid off greatly - Sports Illustrated used about 10 of my shots in a gallery on their website, two local papers published my photos (one on the front page), and one paper published an article I wrote about the event.

Excerpt from my article:
“At around 10:00 on Saturday night, thousands gathered in front of Kidd Brewer Stadium to welcome back the Mountaineers. Television crews, photographers, radio producers, and writers were among those in the crowd. National players such as ESPN and Sports Illustrated attended as well. A large number of police officers were present to keep open a lane for the team busses. As time passed, the crowd grew larger while its patience grew thinner. At one point, a chant of “where’s our team?” arose as anxious fans awaited the arrival of the players. Then at around 11:00 PM, escorted by police cars and fire trucks, busses carrying the team emerged on Stadium Drive. As they turned into the stadium parking lot, the crowd of thousands began to roar emphatically, storming the busses with outstretched arms. The crowd was so dense that it took players and coaches ten or more minutes to make their way from the bus to the fieldhouse. Along the way, Coach Jerry Moore and Corey Lynch were stopped by mobs of reporters and cameramen. Speaking at one point with an ESPN reporter, Lynch declared, “I’ve never seen anything like this before. Not here.” And accurately, Lynch’s assertion encapsulated the mood of the entire day for fans, students, and residents of Boone.”

You can read the full article here.

Ultimately, the past week has been unprecedented for me. My body shut down on Wednesday and I had to take the day off. Despite this, the whole brouhaha has reminded me how much I love my job. The opportunity to be an up-close part of such incredible events is one that many people do not have. I am thankful that my camera and me can share these exciting experiences. For now, reality has begun to set back in. App plays Lenoir-Rhyne tomorrow, pretty much the antithesis of the Michigan Wolverines, and I’m back to the grind, weddings, portraits, magazines, etc. Normal stuff. I’ll hit you up again soon with more stories. Hope you enjoy the rest of the images.