SEMO athletes trying out the other side of sports

Southeast Missouri State junior women's basketball player Michaela Mayfield shoots photos at a Redhawk football game this past season at Houck Field. Mayfield is minoring in commercial photography.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

The Southeast Missouri State women’s basketball squad will be in search of its initial Ohio Valley Conference victory today, as it hosts Lindenwood (1-14, 0-4) at the Show Me Center at 5 p.m. and a pair of Redhawk student-athletes could not only contribute to the success of their team ON the court, but they also possess the capability of capturing the action OFF it, as well.

SEMO juniors Chandler Davis and Michaela Mayfield are studying journalism and commercial photography, respectively, and both have developed a passion for telling sports stories through words and visually.

“I chose the journalism side of mass communications,” Davis explained, “just because I like to write. Staying in sports was something that I wanted to do.”

Davis writes for the university newspaper, The Arrow, and has found that her personal involvement in athletics has brought her unique insight into telling the stories of Redhawk student-athletes.

“When it comes to sports journalism,” Davis explained, “it comes easy to me. I know all of the terminologies, and I know how to record stats, and I am able to relay the information to people in a way that they can understand.”

Obviously, Davis can deliver the reader insight into basketball with the proficiency of making a post feed, but she is also capable of covering other sports and has done so during her time in Cape Girardeau.

“Outside of basketball,” Davis said, “my favorite sport would be football. It’s a sport that I understand very well. Then, after that, it would be volleyball.”

Southeast Missouri State junior Chandler Davis defends against Illinois-Chicago earlier this season at the Show Me Center. (Tony Capobianco ~ Tcapobianco@semoball.com)

Davis had an epiphany in jumping into journalism early in her time at SEMO.

The Georgia native had originally planned on studying sports medicine, but once she gained experience in journalism, she was hooked.

“I had never really thought about journalism before I got here,” Davis said.

For Mayfield, too, had her interest piqued after coming to Cape Girardeau.

Early in her athletic career, the Arkansas native saw some photos of Redhawk athletes on Instagram and thought being on the other side of the camera would be interesting, as well.

“I thought (photography) looked like something that would be fun,” Mayfield said. “I said ‘Let me try this photography thing out.’”

She switched her minor to commercial photography last spring and has been on a mission to gain experience ever since.

Mayfield goes out and shoots SEMO athletic events, but she also enjoys capturing the rest of the world, as well.

When Mayfield isn’t in class or at basketball practice, she’ll wander over to places such as the SEMO River Campus or Cape Rock and shoot natural scenes.

“I like to take pictures of nature,” Mayfield said.

Lindenwood will provide a challenge for SEMO, but Mayfield has said that she is working to overcome the tough tests in photography, as well.

“Since photography is so new to me,” Mayfield said, “getting the different settings and the aperture right. Getting the right lighting, also.”