State Track Day 1...

Like a lot of the UIL events this year things got changed around this year for state track too. Class 1A got split into two different divisions. Division I was doing some of their field events on the first day but the running events were being run on Saturday. Division II, which was had a ton of teams that we cover was all being run on Friday, all the field events as well as the running in the evening session. This not only made for a really long day, but also, very little time to sit down and edit photos between events. Since I had someone in almost every one of the Div. II events. To add to that there was a 2 hour delay in the morning to open things because of a thunderstorm.

The delay put all of the field events on a rolling schedule which meant I didn't have any time to run to the tent to edit. So, I spent most of my dinner break editing photos instead of eating (not that it would hurt me to miss a meal or 6). By the time the running events started I was still a little behind with no photos sent. Part of this is I didn't want something put on the page in case I got something I liked better or it fit with the story being written. In the back of my head I was thinking to myself that a rain delay wouldn't be the worst thing to happen. However, I didn't want the two hour rain delay that we eventually got.

The second rain delay really threw things off. The one good thing that did come out of it was I was able to get pretty caught up with a lot of the photos I already had. Plus I was able to send a bunch of photos with the possibility of getting more. After the rain delay I would shoot a few events and if I wasn't trying to edit in camera I was running up and editing between the 1A events I was shooting (the Class 4A meet was going on too and we have no 4A schools that we cover), or I was shooting an event from the top of the stands in the tent as my photos were moving or downloading a card. It wasn't the ideal situation and made for a damn long day, but it had to be done. It's a good thing I enjoy shooting track... and it's happening again, so I got to go back to the hotel for a nap before starting over again.

Six-Man Thursday Night Football...

I don't shoot a whole lot of six-man football, it just doesn't work out either with the timing or there aren't any decent matchups when I can get there. Not to mention most regular season six-man games usually just suck. The talent gap between the good and bad teams especially at this level is huge, and it's usually the third or fourth week of the playoffs before the talent gap narrows. So, when Ira was playing Aspermont, both teams undefeated, in a Thursday night game on the final week of the season for the district championship it was almost a no-brainer to cover the game.

I ended up having to shoot two assignments before heading out and had to write a photo column then make the 90 minute drive to Ira for the game. All that together put me about 15 minutes behind, so when I got there Ira was already up 14-0. Uh oh! Then in the couple minutes it took me to go from my car to the field Ira scored again. One of the cool things about going to these small towns is seeing a few hundred fans cheering on their schools. That number may not sound that big, but when you realize that the combined enrollment of these two schools is less than 200 it really makes it kind of cool.

Well, the game was pretty much a blowout. Ira led 44-0 at halftime and tried to kick a field goal as time expired in the half to end it (in six-man football if one team goes up by 45 points or more the game is over at halftime or after halftime when the team goes ahead by 45), but the kick was blocked. So, basically, I had to wait through halftime for Ira to score one more time. Aspermont got the opening kickoff of the second half and started driving the ball pretty well for a few plays and was looking like they'd be at least a little pesky for the second half. But, that didn't last too long. They ended up turning the ball over on downs, then Ira just marched the ball down the field to end it. This game that was supposed to be pretty good turned out to be kind of a flop, too bad, I was hoping for one of those great high scoring games... oh well, maybe during the playoffs.

Cover Stories...

I'm beginning to believe the worst part of football season happens before the season even starts. It certainly seems like it may be the busiest. It has a lot more to do with the deadlines that seem to get tighter every year and not with the grind of shooting the photos... that's always the fun part. The biggest problem is the logistics and trying to make my schedule end up fitting in with kids' and coaches schedules.

Luckily, we have a lot of really good coaches in the area who make life a lot easier in getting their players back after practice in order to let me shoot the photos. Now, it wouldn't be so bad if this was all I had to do, however, for the first four days of this I'm shooting mug shots of all our area 11-man schools. Some of the cover shots work out when I'm able to get them shot after shooting mugs. However, most of them require some creative scheduling, like driving 60 miles out of my way after finishing mugs, or waiting around for a practice to finish, of hoping a kid can come back a couple hours after practice is over. But, luckily they all worked out, and for the most part I was happy with the results.

For the front cover of the tab (above), the theme was about quarterbacks so we took the best of the local quarterbacks (Cooper's Clayton Nicholas) and the best area QB (Snyder's Keenon Ward) and put them on the cover. The problem was there was no way we'd be able to get them both in the same town because of practice schedules. So, the only option was to shoot them separately and put them together in a photo illustration. Now, this would have been easy enough, I've done similar photos, however, it's always a good idea, when you walk out of the office with the lighting kit to MAKE SURE ALL THE PARTS ARE IN IT!! Like the reflectors!! Because it truly sucks to be setting up the lights and notice you have no reflectors and knowing there no way I'm going to have time to come back to re-shoot it in time. So, after a slight panic attack, I pulled out the strobes I always keep in my car and set them up on the light stands, the strobist approach worked out well this time. Note to self: don't start one of the busiest weeks of the year right after coming off vacation!