Hoopfest Weekend: A Photographer's Guide to Spokane's Biggest Basketball Tournament

Spokane hosts Hoopfest, the largest three-on-three basketball tournament in the world, and for one weekend every summer, downtown streets turn into hundreds of basketball courts packed into a few square blocks. It's chaotic, loud, and one of the more visually rich local events a camera can point at — if you know how to work within that chaos instead of fighting it.

The scale and energy of the event

Hundreds of simultaneous games means there's no single "main court" to camp out at — the energy is distributed across the entire footprint of downtown. That spread is actually an advantage for content: it means there's always something happening within a short walk, no matter where a shoot starts.

Challenges of shooting fast action across dozens of courts

Street basketball moves fast and close, which rewards a shooter who can anticipate plays rather than react to them. A single fixed camera on a tripod will miss most of what makes the event visually interesting; a mobile, handheld or gimbal-stabilized setup that can move between adjacent courts captures far more usable footage per hour.

Turning it into a highlight reel or sponsorship asset

For local sponsors, gyms, sports retailers, and youth programs, a well-cut Hoopfest highlight reel captures exactly the kind of community energy that's hard to manufacture in a studio. It's authentic, it's citywide, and it happens on a predictable schedule every year.

What to bring

Fast autofocus, a stabilized rig for moving through crowds, and a shooter who isn't afraid to get close to the action. RAW capture matters here too — bright summer sun and shifting shade between buildings creates a wide dynamic range that's easier to correct in post than to get perfectly exposed in-camera in real time.

One weekend, a full year of content

Hoopfest happens once a year, but the footage from a single well-covered weekend can carry a sponsor's social content for months afterward. It's worth treating that one weekend with the production effort it deserves.