"Hey watch out, there's ants all over the field"

Monday was the first day of football practice. In West Texas that's a really big deal. In fact, it's huge. It's also the official start of the photo part of the of the yearly football tab (More on that later). This year was no different than any other. I spent the day driving all over the area visiting seven schools shooting mug shots of every varsity player for the first of four days of our annual "football tour."

The first day is usually pretty nice, it's a long day but most of the coaches are veterans and since we keep nearly the same schedules every year it's no surprise when we show up. Also, since it's the first day of practice sports always needs a team practice photo for the next day's paper.

The great thing about practices are you can usually get in pretty close and use a wide angle lens, giving you a different look than you would see in a game. Anyone who knows me knows I love my wide angle lens and have no problem laying on the ground and getting a little dirty to get a shot. Well, Monday in Snyder was the same. I was shooting players exercising and was laying on some semi-tall grass on the practice field. Next thing I know I feel a little tingling on my arm. After the players past I hear the Snyder coach, Chad Rogers, who is probably the coolest and easiest guy in the area to work with, yelling to me, "Hey Tommy, be careful there's red ants all over this field!".

I look down at my right forearm and it's covered in them! My response, "Thanks! I think I found them!" After wiping them off and watching my arm swell up rather quickly, the only thing I could do was laugh about it. It did help out a little to see that I got a shot I was happy with.

Outside of being itchy all week, and a co-worker telling me I look like I have track marks on arm like a smack addict, The 30 or so bites I have are healing up. I'm sure it's not the only stupid thing I'll do this week... just the first.