At any university the performing arts students and intercollegiate athletes are some of the most visible students on campus. Not only is that true at NIU, but Paul Kassel, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts and Sean Frazier, vice president/director of athletics and recreation, have taken the extra step to create ways for those students to get together and enjoy the product of each other’s hard work.
Through Artists for Athletes/Athletes for Artists, these students are special VIP guests at each other’s performances, exhibitions, and games, working to create a culture where students enjoy, understand and appreciate their respective students’ unique talents put on display for all to enjoy.
One student with a foot in both worlds is Michael Leeson, who graduated in May with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography from the School of Art and Design while also doing photography and videography for the NIU Men’s Soccer team.
Leeson played soccer at Harlem High School in Machesney Park, Illinois and played club soccer for Rockford Raptors FC. He is currently an assistant coach for Harlem’s boys and girls soccer teams.
His interest in photography started at home. His dad had a darkroom in the house and gave Michael his first digital camera. The more shots Michael took the more he began to enjoy it and after some time at Western Illinois University and Rock Valley College he transferred to NIU to earn his BFA.
In spring semester 2023 he did a photography project on a senior he was coaching at Harlem, documenting his life on and off the field. The work caught the eye of his photography professor Jessica Labatte, now the director of the School of Art and Design. She encouraged Michael to combine his love of soccer and photography more formally and soon Bethany Geiseman, academic advisor in Art and Design and men’s soccer assistant coach Ronnie Bouemboue were creating a work study opportunity for Leeson.
Leeson not only shot footage at Huskies home games, he traveled with the team for road games and shot three training sessions per week.
Hard work wasn’t an issue for Leeson. For games he would get shots of the travel, warmups, game action and even some locker room footage. He would produce photos within a day and turn up to four hours of footage into a two minute video, and provide Huskie Athletics with all kinds of material they can use in the future. The marketing team in athletics took his finished products and posted them regularly on social media and the athletics website.
All told, Leeson worked about 400 hours and collected more than three terabytes of photos and videos. His three-credit work study project grew into a six-credit project. His versatility to be able to shoot both photos and videos was a huge asset to the team.
Leeson’s background as a soccer player and coach meant he knew what to look for and how to best portray it. He said his biggest rewards came from the athletes themselves seeing his completed work and being impressed enough to request he do more.
All of that work has helped Leeson build a very impressive portfolio as he looks to further his career shooting for professional teams and players, but he also wants to continue to pursue fine arts photography as that’s what got him interested in the medium in the first place.
Photo credits: Michael Leeson/NIU Athletics
