PORTLAND, Ore. — Anyone can take a picture.
Freelance photographer Craig Mitchelldyer captures moments.
At Tuesday night’s Blazers game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Mitchelldyer captured a moment fans can't get enough of. Some have even compared it to a renaissance painting.
“I think what makes a good photo is emotion,” said the Portland-based Mitchelldyer, who shoots blazers games for the Associated Press and USA Today.
As the game clock ran down, Tuesday night, Mitchelldyer stared down the lens at pure emotion, as Blazers point guard Damian Lillard unleashed his game and series-winning three-pointer.
“Everybody knew Dame was going to take that shot,” said Mitchelldyer.
After snapping a photo of Lillard waving good-bye to the Thunder, Mitchelldyer kicked into high gear to capture the chaos and bliss.
“I just picked up my stuff and tried to make a picture,” he said.
Then it happened. Mitchelldyer, squeezed in through the crowd and captured a now-viral photo of a stone-faced Lillard, surrounded by his teammates and fans, bathed in bright light.
“The spotlight's on him-- I got lucky,” said Mitchelldyer. “I mean, Dame's face never changed. Everyone's freaking out and he's stone cold the whole time and it's just fantastic.”
The photo has been shared thousands of times on Twitter.
Someone even described it as an "unreal, unparalleled piece of sports art that belongs in a museum.”
“Is worth a thousand words? I hope so!” Mitchelldyer said.
Perhaps a thousand emotions in a single moment, defining an unforgettable night. For Mitchelldyer, that’s all he could hope for.
“You can just look at the picture and you could say okay, I remember that moment,” Mitchelldyer said. “I remember what was happening there, I remember what I felt when that happened.”
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