Springfield-based photographer’s work with the NBA on-display this week

SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - We are just days away from the start of the Basketball Hall of Fame’s enshrinement weekend and a Springfield-based photographer will soon be providing some early excitement before those festivities tip-off.

Basketball is a big deal in and around Springfield. Home to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, legends and all-time greats are forever engraved, with photos showing their talent on the court and local photographer Chris Marion has been taking photos of current and past players for NBA Entertainment during the last 12 seasons.

“I would never have guessed this in a million years. I’m a kid from Springfield and here I am traveling with the league and this close to these mega superstars, these larger-than-life heroes,” Marion explained.

Now, he is preparing to show off some of his best photos ahead of Hall of Fame enshrinement weekend. On Thursday, 25 pictures he took from the 2022 All-Star Weekend will be displayed for a one-time exhibit called “More than 1.5 Million Points Scored.” It features some legends from the NBA’s 75th anniversary reunion event in Cleveland, from Dikembe Mutombo and Dennis Rodman to Allen Iverson and Michael Jordan.

“It was really special and a lot of the players were seeing each other for the first time in half a dozen years. There was a lot of just…you can see the love and memories. It was really special to be there,” Marion added.

According to Marion, one of the main goals of the exhibits is to expose basketball fans, young and old, to all-time greats who they looked up to as an inspiration.

“If there’s a youngster who sees these photos, maybe they’re inspired. Maybe they play basketball and they’re inspired by that. Maybe they’re a budding photographer and…they can do that, too. They can follow their dreams and they can make things happen,” Marion noted.

While it is a lengthy process to get these photos into ginormous size, Marion is not ruling out possible exhibits ahead of future enshrinement weekends.

“I’m sure we could put together another exhibit…to hopefully draw in more people, people that would maybe wouldn’t normally come down to the beer garden or even just to downtown. For me, that’s what’s super exciting,” Marion said.

The exhibit is on Thursday afternoon from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Duryea Way Wine and Beer Garden.

Marion will also be at Symphony Hall to take photographs during the 2023 Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony, which is Saturday night.

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