Denver Nuggets' Instagram taken over by local photographer for Lakers game

Blake Jackson’s five-year run as a noted local photographer in Denver has built quite the following. He has almost 13,000 followers on Instagram. Still, he admitted to being a bit star-struck when taking pictures of first-team All-NBA center Nikola Jokić ahead of the Denver Nuggets’ game against the Lakers Tuesday.   “I didn't want to bother him because they're trying to get into the zone and I didn't want to be up in his space. He was a cool dude, I asked him if I can take his photo and he was completely cool with that,” Jackson explained. “He just seems like a really nice guy and everyone on the team is really nice so it was easy to kind of be at ease and to be able to do my job.” The job at hand was taking over the Nuggets IG story for the night as they hosted the Los Angeles in a matchup that featured the top two teams in the Western Conference at the time. Since moving to Colorado from Wyoming in 2007 Jackson quickly adopted Denver’s basketball team as his own. He is particularly fond of this year’s group due to the international locker room the team possesses. So when Jackson was invited to be the first photographer for the Nuggets’ Skyline Nights, a group of evenings that highlights Denver’s local neighborhoods, he couldn’t refuse. “You have such an international feel to it, a bunch of players from all over the world, which makes them interesting,” Jackson said. “The Skyline jerseys [City Edition jerseys] are just so cool looking, it just looks great and I think they just pop when it comes off the camera.” Jackson’s photos include unique and dramatic variances in color along with close-ups on fans throughout Pepsi Center, which can be seen in the photo gallery below. Jackson appreciates the Nuggets for reaching out to local photographers and artists for their Skyline Nights and can’t wait to see who will be the next person to take over the team’s IG story. “I think it’s really awesome that the Nuggets are doing such a great job of outreach to the community and involving individuals who wouldn't have this opportunity normally,” Jackson said. “I'm very very thankful and I can't wait to see the rest of the photographers that they choose for the rest of the Skyline nights.”