Austin Bell shoots basketball courts—thousands of them—mostly from above. Using a drone and a flat-lay approach, he's documented more than 6,500 courts across 28 countries, including every single example to be found across Hong Kong's variegated landscape. In 2024, Bell's self-described "nonchalant obsession" became Shooting Hoops, an exhibition and monograph that maps the city through color, geometry, and concrete.
In today's show—our first full video release in our in-house studio—Austin describes the complex logistics involved in finding and photographing every last court, while also elaborating on his ingenious system for organizing all the data in a color-coded map that he can store on his phone.
We also touch on AI, as Austin shares details about the machine-powered analytics that helped him assemble all his New York-area courts into a magnificent rainbow-colored grid. Austin's latest undertaking is to update his collection of "concrete crop circles" across the five boroughs, with a plan to feature the top 10 courts from each borough on a deck of cards.
Austin's ultimate goal with this project is to "show people things that they're not going to get to see otherwise. "I think we all struggle with that need to make something uniquely ours as things get easier to produce," he notes. "But I think that drives us forward as artists. Part of creating is not mimicking. You want to go out there and actually create something that is yours."
If you've enjoyed this podcast, please follow us @bhpodcastnetwork and be on the lookout for more inspiring conversations in our new format.
Guest: Austin Bell
Episode Timeline:
1:02: Austin's Shooting Hoops t-shirt & being a basketball fan.
3:32: The flat lay approach to shooting with drones … plus crash stories!
9:06: Shoot logistics and collecting data in a spread sheet.
15:40: Creative aspects to photographing basketball courts.
20:55: Photo editing for Austin's Shooting Hoops book.
24:16: A tour of Hong Kong through its basketball courts.
29:38: Using AI to help with the edit.
33:51: People's personal relationships with their neighborhood courts.
43:10: Revisiting courts and keeping track of their current state.
49:07: The need to create something unique as things get easier to produce.
54:40: Austin's approach to shooting hoops as a very nonchalant obsession.
59:26: What's next for Austin and his Shooting Hoops project?
Guest Bio: Austin Bell is a peripatetic photographer, originally from North Carolina. His work centers around large-scale collections, frequently aerial, of landscapes and architecture that showcase novel perspectives. He seeks to present subjects and places in ways that delight and transport the viewer. In addition to capturing more than 6,600 basketball courts in 28 countries and 19 states—including the 2,549 Hong Kong courts featured in his 2024 book Shooting Hoops—Bell also photographs other types of aerial landscapes and birds. Past publications include a book of bird photography, Birding: The First Two Years, and a non-fiction book, Horse Show Boyfriend, a travelogue and explainer about the world of hunter-jumper horses.
Stay Connected:
Austin Bell Website: https://bellaustin.com
Austin Bell Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/austinwonderland
B&H Podcast Network Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bhpodcastnetwork/
B&H Podcast Network Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BHPodcastNetwork
