Lucky Winner
Way back in August I donated a free action photography session to the Midway Wolverines Football Kick-Off Date. The lucky winners, the Bankston family, asked me to photograph their son Knight. Knight plays football at Liberty Middle School in Forsyth County.
Liberty took on Lakeview Middle School (also Forsyth County) in the match up. As with many Middle School games, it was a beautiful late afternoon start which meant great light throughout the game.
Knight plays offensive line. It’s unusual that you see Offensive Lineman pictures in newspapers or magazines – usually the “Action” of the game is more limited to the ball carriers. Look deeper – and there’s a lot going on at the line.
The Catch II
Following up on yesterday’s post, how great is the look of surprise on this young athlete’s face?
The Catch
The difference between making the catch and not making the catch doesn’t matter – it all goes down the same in the box score.
The Moment Before Impact
What do you think goes through a six year-old hitter’s mind right before the ball hits the bat? Is he worried about whether he will make contact, where the ball will go, or what to do next? Is he running to first in his head?
Or are the team parents more worried, and it’s just a simple reaction to him?
Silly Bandz hit Cumming, Georgia
If you are a parent with kids in Forsyth County Public Schools, especially at the Elementary School level – you’ve probably seen, and tried to find Silly Bandz. It seems almost every kid is wearing them.
Volleyball Action and Portrait Photography Mashup
Among the team and individual photographs I completed last week for Prolink Atlanta Volleyball, I had some time to work with one of the fifteen year-old teams on some higher concept staged action photographs.
The concepts for these are still a work in progress and will be taken further in the future. My goals with the lighting was to help highlight the player as the subject, while reducing the background and improving the stop-action sharpness of the photographs.
The State of Youth Sports, 2009
Rather than follow a lot of the normal “End of Year” highlight packages you see on ESPN, or the “Year in Images” that Sports Illustrated created so long ago – I decided to summarize what’s great about youth sports…but in images only.
We’re # 1
Good Light
It seemed like every week of the season was either rainy or overcast. On the last weekend before the Lanier Bowl – finally had that elusive “Golden Hour” game.
Getting Sideways
So much time in sports is spent photographing subjects vertically. There’s good reason for it – the subjects in sports spend a lot of time running, and in some sports are using their feet. In football, however, there’s a lot of action that happens only from the waist up – so in my mind it makes great sense turn the camera back to horizontal and shoot very tight on the upper bodies of players on opposite sides of the ball.
In this case, the wider view (horizontally) allowed me to see the defender trying to wrap up the ball carrier – where as a vertical of this shot, from the same position on the field would have lost the contact except for part of either.
Evasive Action
I thought this sequence of Sharon Springs War Eagles runner being pursued by a Midway Wolverines tackler had several great things working for it:
- Tight framing
- Great faces on the ball carrier
- A great backlight and rim light on the helmets
You Make the Call
There’s no replay in Youth Football obviously – but if this was a play in the College or Pro ranks it surely would have come under review.
The ball carrier (white jersey) is apparently stripped of the ball near the goal line.
Detail of the hands and ball:
Another detail from the above frame – looks like the ball has changed hands:
Forward Motion
Football, like all other sports, is about bodies in motion. However, Sports Photography in many cases is about freezing a moment of that motion crisply. In some cases though, the motion of the athlete still comes through in the frame.
The Eyes Have It
I’ve always thought the eyes were very important in any sports image – it gives the best view of what is going on in the mind of the athlete. It’s why the photographs with the greatest impact always seem to have compelling eye contact with the subject.
The Big Catch
“Football is an incredible game. Sometimes it’s so incredible, it’s unbelievable.” – Tom Landry
How often do you see an over the shoulder catch of a downfield pass in a sixth grade football game?
Gang Tackles
Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. – Vince Lombardi
On the Line
The offensive and defensive lines in football: None of the glory of the ball carriers, but lots of hard work and contact!
Ready for attack!
In the midst of battle individually…
And as a team, the chaos of the battle.
Giving the Stiff Arm
When the lone tackler comes calling – the runner responds with a stiff arm!
And the tackler has his own response!
Close Calls
Passing doesn’t happen much in youth football. When it does, the receivers and cornerbacks battle it out for the ball and give everything to try to make the catch.
And even after the first tip, the players still try and make the catch (check out the wide open eyes on the fallen Sharon Springs player in the white jersey):
Undampened Spirit
While I’ve often seen the football players slug it out in the wet and other weather, it’s always impressive to see the Cheerleaders stay in high spirit even through the rain and perform the “Wolverine Growl.”
