Football Wives

Football in Texas is as close to a religion as you'll find. And, the first Monday in August is the start of it all. Practice begins for small schools all across the state. Our Sunday front page story this week was about the coaches wives, and how they deal with their husbands' jobs for the four months that their husbands are gone for six days a week and a minimum of 12 hours a day. Over a two day period I shot portraits of six of the 40 or so area coaches plus their wives. I wasn't sure what exactly to expect. Most coaches aren't real fond of having their photo taken. However, the group that I shot last week were all great to work with. Especially when I told them we were putting the wives in the foreground and they got to take a backseat on this one. The funny part was not one of the men complained, most joked that was the way it was anyway and were happy to be in the background.

The only problem with shooting six different couples was trying to make six different photos. I tried to vary things a little in where they were shot. Some were at the stadium, some in the locker rooms, the one above was in the coach's living room at his home (a place he probably won't be spending a whole lot of time in come next week), and one was shot in the athletic office with the mascot in the background.

It was a fun little mini-project to shoot in preparation for the upcoming football season. And, I think it's kind of a nice story to have since no one really thinks about the women who do a good bit of the work at home while their husbands are on the football fields.