Ryan Parker photographed Edmonton Stingers guard Sabry Philip for Home Court Hero, a sports feature in Edify’s July / August 2025 issue.
The story
Home Court Hero
Philip was born in Edmonton and came home to play for the Stingers in the Canadian Elite Basketball League after eight years away, from TRC Academy in Ontario to NCAA Division I basketball, with four surgeries along the way. The Stingers’ head coach, Jordan Baker, who coached him at Harry Ainlay High School, recruited him.
- Magazine
- Edify
- Issue
- July / August 2025
- Section
- Sports
- Ran as
- The contents page, and a two-page spread
- Words
- Karen Kwan
- Art direction
- Kim Larson
- Photographs
- Ryan Parker
As printed
The cover, and the pages.
01Edify, July / August 2025
The frames
The photographs, before the type.
01The photographs
How it got made
The brief, the room, the frame.
Kim wanted playfulness: a horizontal frame of Sabry mid-jump on Stingers yellow. I set up the afternoon before on the nine-foot yellow I’d bought for a Reader’s Digest cover. A multi-flash double exposure in camera cost too much sharpness, so I shot him in quick succession and built one in Photoshop.
The jump itself only took a couple of tries. Sabry was good, and I’ve shot a lot of dance, so we timed it well. The built frame didn’t make the cut, but it’s still one of my favourite shots from that year. That’s editorial sometimes: the best shot doesn’t always run, and that’s okay when the others are good too.
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