Homegrown Lacrosse

A familar face to Homegrown Lacrosse players, parents and alumni, Adam Crane is "the man" when it comes to photography. 

Through Adam's lens, he shoots more than just the action on the field. His photos capture the heart, character, determination and commrodery that is inherit in lacrosse. Adam's photos embody the essense of Homegrown Lacrosse. 

While its difficult to turn the lens on Adam, we thought you might enjoy getting to know our "unofficial" staff photographer and board member a little bit better.

It was my dad who got me interested in photography. He was a great photographer...well, great person, actually...being a good photographer just came with the package.  He always encouraged me to be creative and look at things a little differently.  I try to do that with some of my photos.

My goal as a photographer is to tell a story.  I am a somewhat of a frugal photographer since I do like to tell a story with my photos (or group of photos), so rather than take 100 shots, I'd rather just take 10 really good ones.  I get a lot out of where I am and the people I'm with, so I like to try and have that come through in my photos. 

What I enjoy the most about photography are the experiences.  I love where photography can take me.  Whether it is to Moorhead for Hockey Day in Minnesota, or Hawaii for the Hawaii Lacrosse Tournament or the 2008 Republican National Convention.  I just love to be able to experience these events and try and take some interesting photos.

Hard to narrow down to one photo, but so far the best photography experience I had was shooting the 2008 RNC at the Xcel.  Through my full-time job, I was able to get access as a regular photojournalist to cover the night former governor Sarah Palin spoke.  

It was an incredible chance to be arm and arm with other photojournalists covering such a huge event.  The Reuters photographers were super talented and very nice.  I have one shot of Palin blowing a kiss to her family that I particularly like.  It was hard to get because photographers are always jostling for position but I was able to get in the right spot and grab the shot.  The fact that I saw very similar shots the next day across the country made me feel even better. 

Any big, exciting event would be cool.  The more pressure the better, in some respects.  Can I get the game-winning goal for the D1 Lax championship?  If not, can I get a shot that tells an even better story?

Look at Inside Lacrosse's cover shot after Duke won...it wasn't the game winner, but it was Quinzani celebrating-- that's a great shot that tells a story.  And as crazy as it sounds, I'd love to cover some unrest or civil uprising.  The events in Egypt were so amazing to witness, I think covering them would be just as amazing...but that might be a little too dangerous for me. 

(Adam took one of his favorite lacrosse photos at the 2009 Hawaiian Invitational. This photos landed a full page in the January 2010 Inside Lacrosse Magazine.)

I played lacrosse in high school and a little in college before I quickly realized I was a little too brittle. I watched my brothers play and loved the sport. There were no youth teams where I grew up so I would just bring the sticks to school and convince kids to toss the rock (although I’m sure we never called it a rock.)

Today, I'm involved as a coach for Eagan High School and also with the Minnesota Yeti summer team. I love it! I can honestly say that I love coaching more than I love shooting lacrosse. But, if for some reason, I stopped coaching, I'd be out there shooting the next day.

From a photography standpoint,I like the power and athleticism it takes to play lacrosse. The skill and speed that players move with make it such an exciting sport. So, it is a challenge to try and capture that excitement.

It is also a sport that is tough to tell a story through photos. If a player is shooting, do I want the shot or the save/goal? That's a challenge. While I think it would be fun to shoot some football, I just don't see the challenge in it as much since the guy with the ball is usually the one you want to photograph.

(Adam took one of his favorate lacrosse photos at the 2010 Homegrown Lacrosse Champions of Summer event. For him this one has it all from a lacrosse and photography standpoint - lots of color and action.)

Um, more lacrosse and photography?  Actually, I'm a big hockey fan as well, so I shoot a lot of hockey.  Apart from that, I'm a big history buff so I like reading about American History. 

What's next for me? I definitely want to keep growing my photography.  There will be plenty of HG events to shoot so there are always new challenges out there.  As long as lacrosse keeps growing in Minnesota and I get to keep on shooting everything else should work out just fine. 

Whoa, whoa...it was only a half-marathon..and that was tough enough! I ran 13.1 miles and was not running a foot more without some rest. My wife and I participated as part of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. Whitney has Crohn's so I was running in support of her and to raise funds and awareness.

Again, all about the experience for me, so getting to run down The Strip in Las Vegas was just awesome. I grabbed a few photos and had an awesome time overall. Beat my goal time as well!