Detroit photojournalist captures memorable sports moments in black and white

(CBS DETROIT) – A time when images were frozen in black and white, moments captured through the lenses of Terrell Groggins’ camera constantly display his works of art as a photojournalist.

“Whether it’s sports, whether it’s politics, whatever it is, I’m looking for the empathy and the human story,” he said.

Groggins’ eyes see what others miss, and what he invasions as his gift to define an alternative description. 

One of his photos showed boxer Clarissa Shields’ powerful punch on Hanna Gabriels in 2018 at the Detroit Masonic Temple. It won four prestigious worldwide photography awards, including “The Guardian” top 50th moments in sports history.

“Whether it’s a solo individual sport or a team sport, you know that the person put the work in, and you’re capturing a moment,” he said. “Like that moment is not going to come again … You have to be ready to take the photo and you have to be prepared for that moment.”

For several years, the 40-year-old has stayed ready, such a captured moment of his cousin on a hot summer day in Detroit, or times when tension and uncertainty separated a nation in transition.

Still, the picture he wishes he could take never happened, and it reminds him that that opportunity missed is bittersweet.

“My brother was murdered in Detroit. A perfect moment would be him being there, having a drink with my brother, cracking jokes, capturing him in his essence, the empathy that I have because … family is the most thing. Those are the moments you don’t get back. So, I wish I had an archive of my brother when I took photography seriously. I wish I had that archive,” he said.

“I think about all of the great holiday moments: the Fourth of July, Christmas. And I don’t have that for my creative mindset. I don’t have those moments. That moment would be great.”