A chance encounter with Reagan Lunn, Duke’s Director of Athletics Photography, at Lynchburg led to shooting Duke football games in the fall of 2017. LeDonne made the two-and-a-half hour drive to Durham two or three times per week during her final semester to cover more events.
She joined Duke full-time as an Assistant Athletics Photographer in the summer of 2018.
“I’m so grateful and thankful that Duke took a chance on me,” she said of the opportunity that helped turn her passion into her profession.
The job has also provided a unique vantage point of the men’s lacrosse team that’s compiled the most impressive resume in the country in 2021. Since Duke’s COVID-19 protocols have restricted outside media and fans alike from attending games, LeDonne is one of a select few that’s seen the Blue Devils play in person at Koskinen Stadium. She stays above the goal line to avoid oncoming shots and away from the opposing team’s bench but otherwise has free range of the sidelines along with Duke senior producer Rebecca Fiorentino.
Like every team she covers, LeDonne has developed a familiarity with their tendencies on the field in hopes that it puts her in the right place at the right time. There are exceptions.
“He’s hard to track,” LeDonne said of Princeton graduate transfer Michael Sowers, sharing a sentiment felt by most defenses. “He’s a fast one and keeps me on my toes.”
During the UNC timeout that preceded Robertson’s winning goal, LeDonne moved closer to the restraining line from GLE to give herself a good range of view in case Duke swarmed the goal scorer or Adler. A week earlier, she hustled closer to the goal line when Syracuse called a timeout with 4.4 seconds remaining in regulation. She positioned herself so the action, in theory, would move towards her. Owen Hiltz and Stephen Rehfuss had other ideas.
“It worked out how it worked out,” LeDonne said. “I guess it turned out better than I thought.”
Duke photographer Nat LeDonne captured Joe Robertson's dramatic game-winning goal against North Carolina in a matchup of the top two teams in the country at the time.
LeDonne has yet to travel with the men’s lacrosse team this spring because of its limited travel roster and the loaded schedule every weekend in Durham. On Saturday, she’ll cover a men’s tennis match, then a women’s lacrosse game and then finish with some baseball. While the topic hasn’t yet come up, she hopes she’ll get the chance to chronicle the Blue Devils in the NCAA lacrosse tournament.
Beyond their obvious success thus far, LeDonne noted that the team seems even more excited and energized than usual this spring given the way last season ended.
She feels the same way.
“That whole saying, ‘You don’t understand what you have until it’s gone,’ is so real,” she said. “After not shooting games and having the question of, ‘Are we going to have games this year at all?’ I want to enjoy every moment I have out there.”