Still Developing 002 : Kobe Bryant

The undeniable aura of the Black Mamba 🐍

We're here for installment two. Thank you to everyone who tuned in to the first one with Kendrick Lamar. For the second installment of my Still Developing series, we are talking about one of my favorite captures of none other than Kobe Bryant.

To give this some backstory — early in my career, I worked for LA Hoop Legend Baron Davis. He had a company called LAUNFD, where we would capture and be apart of all things Los Angeles. I was a photographer on the team, and one of the things I did starting out was going to the Drew League. The Drew League is a very important summer pro-am here in LA, and I've been going since 2013. I built relationships and friendships there to the point where I recently captured the commissioner, Chaniel Smiley’s wedding.

During my summers at Drew League, a few of those summers were sponsored by Nike, and I built relationships with some of the staff there as well. Shout out to Jian, who is one of the people I met at Drew League. I recently captured his wedding as well.

So with all that said — the year is 2017, and Jian invites me out to the Nike Academy, which was a basketball camp held in Thousand Oaks, CA. A lot of the top high school players were there to experience the camp alongside some pretty legendary NBA players — Gary Payton, Bruce Bowen, Brian Shaw, Amar'e Stoudemire, Rasheed Wallace and more.

They were there coaching and training the kids throughout the camp. And of course, you'll notice some familiar faces in the photos who are currently in the NBA. Such as Darius Garland, Mikal Bridges, Jaren Jackson Jr., Tyler Herro, Tyus and Tre Jones, James Wiseman, and Grayson Allen.

During the camp they also did panels where they talked about the other side of playing basketball and being a professional — Jian tapped me and said, "We are heading over here." I think we were at the Four Season Hotel in Westlake. Once I realized what was happening — Kobe was about to arrive. His helicopter was about to land. In my head I'm thinking, “Okay, where's the nearest airport or airstrip? Silly me, because the helicopter landed right on the hotel's premises. Not on a helipad — just a large patch of grass.

Growing up in Los Angeles, if you're my age, you always heard the stories: Kobe doesn't sit in traffic, he doesn't drive to the games, he takes a helicopter to Staples Center. But seeing it in real life was something pretty dope.

So on that patch of grass at the hotel, he lands. The propeller stops moving, the door opens, and it's like King Joffrey is about to walk out into Zamunda. I guess the kids would call it “aura” now, but it was something to witness.

He steps out of the helicopter almost in slow motion, wearing Nikes that only he had at the time and a grey Nike tech sweatsuit, just casually walking toward everybody.

He walks over, shakes hands, says “what's up”, greets some fans. After, He walked over to the panel room. None of the kids knew he was coming. When he walked through that door, they all went crazy! — "Oh, that's Mamba, Mamba's here, that's crazy" — all of that.

He walks in, sits down, and talks to all the players for about 25 to 30 minutes. Takes some pictures with them, says his farewells, gets back in the helicopter, and leaves.

It was dope being able to capture this experience and it’s crazy to think this was almost 10 years ago. This was 2017, just one year into his retirement, seeing a legend take time out of his day to come through, talk to some future NBA players, and bounce. That’s pretty dope. I’m glad I was there to capture it and it’s one of my favorite pictures in my archive.

Shout out to Kobe Bryant, rest in peace.

Thank you for checking out this installment of Still Developing series.