CONGRATULATIONS to the man himself! Fred VanVleet just resigned with the Toronto Raptors of the NBA for a 4-year deal worth $85 million. It is crazy to think that a kid from Rockford won an NBA Championship and made over $100 million (if you count his previous deal) doing what he loves to do. What an accomplishment for FVV and we all know he so deserves it!
We had the opportunity to hang out with Fred on a couple occasions during some of his trips back home to Rockford, Illinois. Our first interaction with him was spent following him around for a couple hours as he visited kids at a local hospital. The man is as humble as they get. While we do not own the rights to the photographs from that day as it was a client assignment, we do have images from our second meeting.
The second time we got to photograph Fred was when he hosted one of his youth basketball camps in his hometown of Rockford. One of our favorite photos is seen above as Fred hugs a young boy to comfort his frustration after missing a shot. Fred spent the day with the kids and we were right there snapping away images, one after another. After all, it’s not every day we get to photograph an NBA Champion.
Each time we met Fred, he was up for a conversation and that says a lot about a person’s character. He doesn’t have to do any of this but he still does it. We would like to thank him for taking the time out of his busy schedule to talk to us and for everything he does for the local community.
Equipment used:
Camera: Canon Rebel T6i
Lens: Tamron 18-270mm
Lens: Canon 50mm f1.8
Monopod: Altura 62″ monopod
KB Digital 