Photo by Kacie Q Photography

The last five years of my life have been the greatest of my life, because for the last five years I have been living the dream as  Montana State University football player. My name is Andy Austin, and I have been living a double life. NCAA rules do not allow NCAA athletes to use their name to represent a business. I did not know this rule until my first photography business “Andy Austin Photography” was shut down. Thus I created an alternate persona, Peak Photography of Montana. What started as a way to pay for a lens or two evolved into a business that would create challenges of its own.

Playing football on it’s own while going to school is a challenge, but add business to the mix was no easy challenge. This challenge was multiplied because I was unable to tell people why I couldn’t always be at certain events or represent my business in any way. But I perceived this as a fun challenge, not an adversity. I also had the unique opportunity to create and help run the phenomenal non-profit Wheels of Change. We collect bicycles in the United States and send them to Africa while creating enterprise by training locals how to run a bike shop. This may sound familiar because it was the feature of the Gameday section of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle earlier this season. You can read that article here: Wheel Route

Montana State Gold Rush

At this point you may be wondering as to how I captured game shots. Such as the now infamous Gold Rush images (seen on the right). This was a main challenge I faced as I had a lot of requests for game images. To accomplish this image I enlisted the help of my friend Michael Balen, a member of the film crew for MSU. I set my camera up to take a picture every ten seconds and Michael put the camera up on the film platform before the game. I ended up with 1,200 shots which I turned into a timelapse of the entire gold rush.

This was only one of many challenges I found creative ways to overcome. I also could not sell my images at farmer’s markets and craft fairs because  it was considered a public appearance by an NCAA athlete. So I would trade prints to friends to have them run the fairs for me. Running a business without being able to represent it myself was an interesting time, but if I was to go back a few years I would do it all over again. The amount I’ve learned about business in this time as well as photography has been life changing.

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Photo by Jeff Krogstad of Krogstad Photography

Yesterday my career as a Bobcat Football player ended, and while it was not how I wanted the season to end I am humbled and grateful to be part one of the best Bobcat Football classes to come through and I am leaving with three rings. More important than the rings is the friendships and experiences I have gained, those are the moments I will always remember. I always dreamed of playing college football and I lived that dream for five years. I am grateful for the amazing fan support I have received.

In conclusion all I can say is thank you. Thank you to the fans, the trainers, the coaches, but most importantly, the players.

I look forward to closing this chapter on my life, and see where the next chapter will take me.

Your photographer (for the first time),

Andy Austin

Peak Photography of Montana

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P.S. A huge thank you to my friend Kacie Q Photography for doing the football player meets photographer portraits!