Black Cobra Media has become the number one source for high school baseball photos, especially in the state of Georgia. From top ranked prospects, to highly ranked schools, everyone seems to want photos from Cobra, but why?
Black Cobra Media was founded in May of 2021 by Willie G. Prince II, a former college football player who has found his passion in photography and videography. Through years of hard work, his company has found a place within the sports media landscape, having amassed millions of views across YouTube and Instagram, with over 70,000 followers between the two platforms.
Prince started his journey in 2019, where he got his first professional camera and started doing portrait photography. He was working as a college baseball umpire during this time, when an injury to his meniscus in 2021 meant he couldn’t call games until it healed.
“Since I wasn’t an umpire anymore, I really started to miss the ballpark,” he said. “I was still doing some portrait and newlywed stuff, so I decided to try shooting a few games and really fell in love with it.”
The Process
A few games turned into shooting high school baseball full time for Prince. The more games he shot, the more he fell in love with the artform. He said that once he discovered how much fun it was, he started pouring everything he had into it.
“I really just started shooting anytime I could,” he said. “I was doing high school because those games usually don’t need a press pass, and over time I found a market. I got better, my photos got better and I started to gain a bigger following on social media.”
This newfound success gave Prince the idea to start trying new avenues of content besides photography, and he started with his YouTube channel in May of 2022. He makes videos covering big games, especially during the playoffs. Many of his followers use him as a way to keep up with top high school teams during the regular season, as the games are not televised.
Most of his videos are game summary style videos, where the viewer gets to see the result of every at-bat during a game. For some of the biggest prospects and teams he covers, he will give a mic to a player, such as in this video with the 3rd overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, Max Clark.
Prince said that one of the biggest factors behind his success has been his ability to make connections. Whether it’s players, coaches, parents, or even the umpires, he said he tries to talk to as many people at a game as he can. He credits one of these connections as the reason he started his partnership with Prep Baseball Report (PBR).
“I already had a good connection with the United Umpire’s group that works with PBR,” he said. “Once PBR started looking for a photographer to cover bigger events for them, I was recommended by some of the higher-ups in United. No one was really covering high school baseball in Georgia like I wanted to do when I first started, which has really helped me stand out.”
The two companies will collaborate on posts, with Black Cobra Media providing photos and videos from top games for PBR to use in their coverage of Georgia high school baseball. Beyond PBR, his connections with the subjects of his photos are what he says he is the proudest of.
“I mean sometimes I get emotional reading the comments on some posts from the players,” Prince said. “It’s just not something I ever expected. When I first started it was just something to get back into baseball, and now it’s my career where I’ve made so many friends and memories.”
He says his favorite memories come from his time covering Max Clark and the Indiana Bulls during a travel ball tournament.
“Getting to hang out with Max Clark, Andrew Wiggins, Drayk Bowen and all those guys was special,” he said. “It was very cool to see top-level prospects like them play up close, and to see their work behind the scenes is inspirational even as someone who’s older than they are.”
He said that it has been shocking to be embraced by every team he covers. While Prince may hold the players he works with in high regard, the players may hold him higher.
Ubiquitous
“Cobra is the man,” 2024 University of Georgia baseball commit Michael Mullinax said. “He’s a great guy and he always delivers insane pictures. It’s always exciting when we see him post on his Instagram that he’s coming to a game or tournament we’re playing in. You know you’re getting some sick photos and you get to say ‘hey’ to him.”
The list of notable players who have been clients of Prince’s is too long to list, but it includes multiple first round MLB draft picks such as the second overall pick in 2022 Druw Jones, and the current number one prospect in the 2024 class, PJ Morlando.
If you are looking at any high school baseball team from Georgia’s Instagram, chances are at least one of their players has posted photos that Prince took on their page. His name is well known within the space, even for fellow photographers.
“I really appreciate my time working with Willie,” said Josh Clay, a student photographer who met Prince during a game at his high school. “He’s taught me so much about how to carry yourself around clients and obviously a lot more with the camera. He deserves all the hype he’s been getting and then some.”
Clay said that getting to work alongside Prince during North Cobb Christian’s 2023 State Championship run taught him more than any class he’s taken.
“As someone who wants to run my own company similar to Black Cobra Media, it was really inspiring to see how he operates up close,” Clay said. “Just little things like where he sets up for a shot that I may have never thought about was huge for my growth.”
Now that the company is so well known within Georgia, Black Cobra Media has started branching farther outside of the state, something Prince says he hopes to continue in the future.
Looking Forward
“Recently I got to go to the USA Baseball Complex in North Carolina to shoot the National High School Invitational tournament,” Prince said. “There were a lot of elite teams there and I think we got some great content out of it. I know a lot of comments on the videos said that they enjoyed seeing new teams instead of just schools from Georgia. That’s something I’d like to do more of whenever I can.”
Black Cobra Media has also recently covered the Perfect Game High School Showdown in Alabama, which featured teams from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. Prince said he is very excited for some of the tournaments he will be traveling to cover.
“USA Baseball over the summer has a big tournament with a lot of the top prospects around the country which is very exciting,” he said. “Then closer to August a lot of the showcases start so I’ll be going to those in Alabama, Florida and California.”
However, Prince said he does not plan to forget about Georgia High School Baseball anytime soon.
“Georgia is one of the best states for high school baseball,” he said. “So, playoff time is always electric. I’m sad we won’t be playing at Truist Park this year but the games themselves will still be exciting. And then over the summer, LakePoint is always busy with travel ball tournaments, so I expect to be very busy.”
With the GHSA State Playoffs starting April 25th and going throughout May, Black Cobra Media fans are in store for plenty of new content this spring.
Leaving a Mark
Prince said he loves to hear feedback from his clients, especially the parents of players he shoots. To him, their reactions are the most rewarding part of his work.
“I remember growing up and playing, I graduated in 2007,” he said. “I might have one picture of myself from my whole playing career. To hear parents say that the photos I take are special and knowing they can have those memories forever, it’s something I never get tired of hearing.”
Though the content itself is of course the main focus of his company, Prince said that he appreciates the connections he makes and hopes to leave an impact on everyone he meets. He emphasized this during his time coaching during the fall of 2023.
“I love shooting, but I had the Black Cobra Baseball Team this past fall which was probably the most fun I’ve had on a baseball field,” he said. “Getting to coach, strategize and be around some super-talented athletes is an experience I’ll never forget. Getting to interact with my guys and go win ball games was special, I hope I can do it again when the time is right.”
Whether he is umpiring, coaching or shooting, Prince said that he hopes to play a role in growing the game of baseball.
“You know baseball is a sport that at the high school level at least, does not get the same attention basketball and football gets,” he said. “Being able to help promote the game and the special athletes that play, it means the world to me.”
