Nike Came Calling

NIKE WANTED A LOCAL student photographer to document the 2026 Hoop Summit, their annual all-star game that invites elite high school basketball players from around the US and around the world to Oregon to train and compete. Nike chose University of Portland sophomore and Beacon multimedia editor Evan Guerra ’28 for the job.

“I’d always been waiting for the moment to get my foot in the door,” Guerra says. “This felt like the opportunity.”

It all moved very fast. He had a conversation with the Nike creative team and the following week he was taking photos on their campus, getting to know the facilities and the players. In addition to the action and emotion of the game, he knew he wanted to find moments of camaraderie, of players who didn’t know each other a week earlier forming a team. “I like to find a moment that tells a bigger story,” he says, all while keeping the Nike aesthetic top of mind.

Guerra nailed the assignment. Nike ran his photos with their story on the 2026 Hoop Summit, and his creative director even worked his images together to create a film in a kind of stop-motion style. There was a bonus “nod” to his work during that week as well. During the Hoop Summit, Nike announced a new sneaker, the Nike Kobe 3 Low Potro in “Atomic Pink.” Brandon McCoy Jr., of Los Angeles, was wearing them during the game. When Guerra checked out Nike’s announcement on social media: there was a photo he’d taken. His work had gone global.

A marketing major and sports business minor, Guerra gives a big shoutout to The Beacon for all of the opportunities he’s had there to hone his craft and take on leadership positions. He also thanks UP’s Career Education Center and the School of Business’s P4 program. He had his LinkedIn profile and resume ready, and he says this preparation helped him to make the most of this opportunity. “Doing this for Nike felt like a big deal."