How a lonely summer, my father’s camera and a lifelong love of sports led me to create Full Court Dream
My journey in photography began in the summer of 1976, when I was a 13-year-old kid who had just finished seventh grade.
That June, my family moved from Huntington Beach, California, to Dana Point. We moved into a brand-new house in a tract where many of the homes were still being built.
Back in Huntington Beach, I had my buddies. We spent our time surfing, playing basketball and hanging out at the beach. Suddenly, I was living in a neighborhood that felt like a ghost town.
I didn’t know it then, but that lonely summer would change the direction of my life.
The Summer of 1976
The 1976 Summer Olympics were approaching, and I had a subscription to Sports Illustrated. I loved sports, but I was also fascinated by the magazine’s photography. I could spend hours studying the images and thinking about how a photographer had captured one exact moment that told an entire story.
That summer, my dad allowed me to use his Fuji camera.
I took it to the beach and began photographing new friends I had met who surfed. I photographed the ocean, the coastline and the sunsets over Dana Point.
I fell in love with photography almost immediately.
Using my savings, I bought an old enlarger and built a small darkroom in our family’s garage. I learned how to develop film and make my own black-and-white prints.
I would shoot pictures during the day and spend my nights in that little garage darkroom creating images while listening to Dodger Talk on KABC 790 AM through an old radio.
It was fun. It was exciting. For the first time since moving, I had found something that truly felt like mine.
A Teacher Who Saw Something in Me
When summer ended, I began eighth grade at a new school.
The school was different from what I was used to because it only served seventh- and eighth-grade students, and we were required to take electives. One of those electives was photography, so naturally I signed up.
When I walked into the school’s darkroom, I was amazed. My darkroom occupied a small corner of our garage. This darkroom was an entire classroom.
During the next three months, I learned more about photography, developing film and printing images than I had ever imagined possible.
Then my photography teacher asked to speak with me.
He told me I was one of the best young photographers he had taught. He had submitted my name to join the yearbook staff at Dana Hills High School the following year.
Freshmen were not normally selected, but two weeks later I received the call: I had been accepted.
Someone saw something in me before I fully saw it in myself.
Learning Sports Photography at 14
I began working on the Dana Hills yearbook as a freshman, photographing mostly sports.
Friday-night football presented one of my first major challenges. We were shooting black-and-white film under high school stadium lights and pushing 400 ASA film to 1600 just to get enough light to create an image.
Man, I was learning.
My first year was incredible. I learned about cameras, timing, exposure and composition. I made great friends, and I began developing the skills that would eventually lead to my career as a professional sports photographer.
The process was completely different from photography today.
There was no screen on the back of the camera. We couldn’t look at a picture seconds after taking it to see whether we had captured the moment.
We had to trust our preparation and instincts.
After a football game ended around 10 p.m., we would drive back to the school darkroom and develop the film. We made a contact sheet from the negatives, examined every frame, selected the strongest images and created the final prints.
Then we drove the prints to San Clemente and delivered them to the Daily Sun-Post so they could appear on the sports page the following morning.
If we finished by 2 a.m., we considered ourselves lucky.
That experience taught me something I still believe today: sports photography requires much more than owning a camera and pressing a button.
It requires preparation, knowledge, patience, judgment and an understanding of how one image can tell a story.
From Film to Digital
When I started my sports photography business several years later, we were still shooting film.
I began transitioning to digital photography in the early 2000s. One of my first Nikon digital workhorses was the D2H. From there, I moved to the D2X, D3 and D500 before entering Nikon’s mirrorless Z system. Today, I photograph with the incredible Nikon Z9.
I have always been a Nikon man professionally, but I still remember using a Canon AE-1 on the yearbook staff. It had a motor drive capable of shooting about two frames per second, and at 14 years old, I thought I was the man with that camera.
Today, my Z9 can capture 40 frames per second in the right setting, and I can review those images almost instantly.
It is amazing to think about how far photography has come.
Yet the foundation hasn’t changed. Photography is still built around ISO—called ASA when I started—shutter speed, aperture, f-stops, light and depth of field.
Many young photographers shoot exclusively in automatic mode. They sometimes laugh because I am old-school and still prefer shooting manually or in shutter-priority mode.
Technology has made photography more accessible, and that is a good thing. But being able to afford a camera, turn it on and post an image to social media does not automatically make someone a professional photographer.
Becoming a professional takes time. It requires learning your craft, understanding your responsibility and always trying to improve.
Keep Shooting and Keep Learning
When I was a freshman, the head photographer on our yearbook staff was a senior. He gave me advice that has remained with me throughout my life:
Keep shooting every day. Keep working on your craft. Always try to get better.
I still follow those words.
Even after more than 40 years, I continue learning and improving. I work constantly on my photography and editing skills using Photoshop, Lightroom and my favorite program, Photo Mechanic.
I love photographing sports, but I also love the editing process.
There is an incredible feeling that comes with returning to my MacBook Pro, going through the images and finally seeing that one frame on a large screen—the image that captures the emotion, athleticism and meaning of a moment.
I sometimes smile when I see a young photographer capture a decent shot and immediately run around showing everyone the image on the back of the camera.
They become so excited about that one photograph that they stop paying attention—and then miss the action still happening on the court.
Capture the moment, stay focused and keep shooting. There will be time to celebrate later.
What It Means to Be a Professional
I have learned from many outstanding photographers during my career, but a few principles have always remained especially important to me.
First, always act professionally.
What the players and coaches are doing is more important than what I am doing. The game is not taking place for the photographer. We are privileged to be there to document it.
Second, learn the sport.
Understanding basketball helps a photographer anticipate where the action is going, recognize important moments and position themselves without interfering.
I have seen inexperienced photographers stand in front of the shot clock, walk onto the court during warmups or use flash photography during games. Those mistakes can distract players, interfere with competition and create safety problems.
The privilege of working beside any court—whether it is high school, prep school, college or the NBA—should never be taken for granted.
Respect the players. Respect the coaches and officials. Respect the other photographers. Respect the game.
Always remember that the action on the floor comes first.
Eleven Seasons With Prolific Prep
One of the greatest privileges of my career was working and traveling with Prolific Prep for 11 seasons.
The relationships I built with coaches, players, parents and school officials will last a lifetime.
I was able to photograph remarkable young people from around the world as they came to the United States for an opportunity to attend school, play basketball and build a future.
I watched players arrive as teenagers and continue to college basketball. Some ultimately reached the NBA and other professional leagues.
Those journeys were about far more than basketball.
They were stories about courage, family, culture, sacrifice, opportunity and hope.
I loved hearing those stories. Now I want to help tell them to the world.
The People Behind the Players
Basketball coverage often focuses on rankings, statistics, scholarship offers and highlight videos. Those things are part of the sport, but they are never the complete story.
Behind every player is a human being.
There may be parents sacrificing everything to create an opportunity for their child. There may be coaches providing guidance and discipline. There may be a young athlete thousands of miles from home, learning a new language and adjusting to a culture they have never experienced before.
I want people to learn about the remarkable young men and women coming from Africa, Europe, Canada and communities across the United States.
I want to tell stories about who they are, where they came from, what they have overcome and what they hope to accomplish.
That is why I created Full Court Dream.
The Person Who Always Believed in Me
My sister, Kerry Lynn Manahan, played an enormous role in my life and career.
I was shy and quiet as a kid, and Kerry constantly pushed me to believe in myself. She encouraged me to pursue photography and later urged me to start my own business. She also introduced me to Michele, the woman who became my wife and has stood beside me for nearly four decades.
When I was 15, Kerry’s high school drill team performed at halftime of a Los Angeles Rams game against the San Francisco 49ers at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. She brought me along and gave me the opportunity to photograph inside one of America’s most historic stadiums.
We lost Kerry to cancer in 2014. Life has never felt quite the same without her.
Her initials—KLM—now appear quietly in the header of the Full Court Dream website. They remind me every day of how much she believed in me and how much of her kindness, strength and encouragement lives within this company.
If Kerry were still here, I know she would be involved in helping young athletes from Africa come to the United States, receive an education, play basketball and pursue their own Full Court Dream.
In many ways, she still is.
My Full Court Dream
For most of my life, I believed my role was to photograph other people pursuing their dreams.
Now I understand that creating Full Court Dream is part of my own.
Full Court Dream brings together everything I love: sports photography, journalism, writing, editing, travel, basketball and the opportunity to help young people.
We will cover the game, but we will also tell the stories behind it.
We will promote players, coaches and programs professionally and respectfully. We will build relationships with basketball programs across the United States and around the world. We will help young photographers and writers learn how to work in sports media with preparation, integrity and respect.
Most importantly, we will never forget that the athletes are human beings before they are prospects.
So I invite you to join me.
Visit FullCourtDream.com. Follow us on social media. Read our stories and learn about the remarkable people who make basketball such a powerful global game.
After more than four decades of photographing other people chasing their dreams, I am finally building mine.
This is my Full Court Dream.
Dream Big. Work Hard. Be Kind. Keep Going.