VA State High School Football

I’ve never considered myself to be much of a sports shooter. I love sports, but I just can’t seem to come away with any great sports images. But the nice thing about sports is that the same opportunities will always present themselves. If you go to enough baseball games, you’re going to get one of the shortstop diving for a grounder. But events, while they may come along often, always present themselves with unique storylines.

Saturday night was one of those events. The Virginia high school state championship was held at Lane Stadium on the VA Tech campus. And to top it all off, I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express (spoiler alert: there may be a bad joke somewhere in the future…).

Part of the charm of working for a community newspaper is that events like these happen often. With about a million high schools in the county, someone is bound to go to “states” at some point in the year. It happened several times in York, when I was an intern, and that was only a six month internship.

Last night, amid the sinking temperatures and drifting flurries, a football game emerged…albeit for about one and a half quarters. When these games happen, like they do, in far away places, this time a mere four and a half hours away, ideas sift through your mind and you have to come away with a plan on how to shoot the thing. Especially when you are the only photographer assigned to cover the game. So it forces you to gameplan for multiple storylines. What are the fans doing? What does the stadium look like from the top? How are they reacting after the game? During the game? This is all done in addition to getting the game action.

Osbourn Superfan cheering the team on early in the first half...

So the ideas flooded in. I had ideas of shooting with my Speed Graphic, I rented a tilt shift lens, I brought strobes and remote triggers (I wasn’t sure what the hell I’d do with those, but I thought maybe I’d come up with something). I also had a toy-ish plastic camera, the WX-3 with me loaded with Tri-X.

Ooohhh boy did I have ideas. This is why I packed my truck to the gills with bags upon bags. I really needed a forklift to get it all in, but instead I did my best Sherpa imitation, grabbed a rickety dolly, and jammed it all in the rear of my SUV.

Then a funny thing happens when you get to the game, and the realization hits you that at these state-of-the art stadiums have distances that are far greater than any high school stadium, and to lug any gear would mean having to strategically place it all around the stadium, because there’d be no way to carry it all with you during the game. In fact, figuring out when to use the 4x5, and when, and where to set up strobes, and finally which lenses to bring for the 3 digi-cams I brought and how to carry them became a bit overwhelming. So in the end I took my three digicams, my five lenses, extra batteries and memory cards, a laptop, a stepladder and a monopod. So there was bunch of things I left in the truck. But I’ll probably do the same thing next time. Because there is nothing like getting somewhere and really wishing you had a piece of gear that is sitting at home. Ugh…I hate that feeling.

There is another quality to shooting for community newspapers that I enjoy as well. That is freedom. There is a paradoxical freedom to being the only photographer assigned to cover a big event. In one sense there is the pressure to come away with several images. In this case, you’re expected to come away with game action, “color” (i.e. fans, cheerleaders, the stuff on the periphery), and the images summarizing the finality of the event, like the players celebrating, or, as in this case, not. So there is that pressure, and I struggled to deliver a little bit on the finality of the event. When a game is 34-0 at the half, when the game ends, there isn’t quite the same exasperated “if we just had 2 more minutes look” on the players and coaches faces. That went out the window when the other team threw bombs for touchdowns in the second quarter. But I’m happy overall with everything I shot.

The other part to this paradox of freedom is that once I know I’ve gotten a few useable images, I’m off. I’m off on my own exploring my lenses, cameras, and what I can shoot. I was in the stands, in the press box, in the tunnel, behind the end zone, on the visitor’s sideline. I was trying to come away with different pictures that made me happy, and pushed the boundaries of what the paper could, or would want to, use. I don’t know that I succeeded completely in that. I grabbed a couple images that I really like. I really like that I was able to come away with images early on to stoke my confidence.

Sometimes, though, unforeseen developments can alter the way you shoot. For instance the game was essentially over with about 5 minutes left in the first half. At that point, game action simply isn’t going to be compelling. There aren’t many “crucial” plays left. The game is over. So in another sense, it gives me more freedom.

At this point in my development, I like to approach assignments in a certain way. I absolutely shoot for what I know will be published and further work toward the fringes. I want to keep shooting for what’s relevant to the story, but I’m really hunting for the images that “feel” right.

Congratulatory hug and kisses from mom after the game...

In this case, the game ended the rah-rah of the trophy presentation was over and the teams either bounded or slinked back to their respective locker rooms. At this point I had just captured a “finality” picture I knew would work, so I was no on the look for a “feel” image. Something that captured the feel of getting blown out in a game. And finally as the team walked in the belly of the stands, in front of me limped the star of the team. For a brief moment a coach wrapped his arm around the injured athlete and they walked together, intermittently highlighted by the row of lights overhead.

Osbourn's star limps back to the locker room

With this image I approached a little bit closer to what I wanted to take away from this game, or any game for that matter. I wish I had been in front of them and seen their faces. But maybe there’s something to seeing the faceless warrior, limping out of battle, gear in hand, being helped along. Either way, I think I captured what I had in front of me, and that’s the best I can expect. But then again, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. You are now free to groan and roll your eyes collectively…