Confetti fell from the sky as Chandler Mixon decided that nobody else was keen to make. He didn’t keep on the sidelines. He didn’t select a protected angle.
Instead, he ran towards the stage to affix Deuce Vaughn, Holly Rowe, Brett Yormark and Chris Kliemen.
“I’m going to go on that stage and get the shot,” Mixon stated.
At that second, he was the one photographer who was capable of seize Kansas State lifting the Big 12 championship trophy into the air.
Mixon’s confidence is what makes him stand out as a photographer.
“I was born in Columbus, Georgia, and I spent most of my younger years there and also in Phenix City, Alabama, until 2010,” Mixon stated. “I wanted to be a storm chaser, I wanted to be a real estate agent, I wanted to be a YouTuber — none of those worked out.”
For some, this uncertainty could be alarming. However, he knew it was going to push him someplace particular.
After graduating highschool, Mixon moved to Panama City Beach, Fl., the place he attended surf competitions together with his digicam.
“I would look at the surf forecast like it was the weather,” Mixon stated. “If it was good waves, I’d go out and shoot.”
On a profitable day, he would get surfers, followers and native retailers to purchase his images. Mixon admits the best way he labored then wasn’t organized or polished, however it formed who he’s right now.
He made his means again to Manhattan in 2020, the place he enrolled at Okay-State. At the time, sports activities pictures wasn’t standard, and although alternatives have been restricted, Mixon didn’t cease advocating for himself.
“I was trying so hard to get an internship,” he stated. “[The photo team] just didn’t have spots.”
To get his foot within the door, Mixon emailed Andy Liebsch inquiring about jobs at Okay-State HDTV and was supplied a place as a cable puller and digicam operator. He labored his means as much as the inventive media division.
“I was just trying to do everything I could and just shoot as much as possible,” Mixon stated. “I would always bug the social media people, like, ‘Hey, when do you have a spot?’”
Mixon ultimately earned the photographer internship and have become the primary scholar photographer to journey with Okay-State Athletics.
His work grew to become extra than simply the game-winning shot; it was the feelings that really made the sport particular.
“I feel like my relationship with the players, you can kind of feel it in my photography,” he stated. “You just have to be where your feet are.”
Coworker Will Huster has gotten to know Mixon over his three years working at Okay-State Athletics.
“Instead of just keeping a picture because it’s Avery Johnson, he makes you really think about why you should keep the image,” Huster stated. “He asks you, ‘Did you keep it because it’s cool, or did you keep it because we can use it?’”