Demopolis, Alabama

I hope no one minds, but I decided to change gears a bit today and post something a little different from what everyone has grown accustomed to seeing here. You see, this is what I do most of the time — what I get paid to do anyway. I work as a stringer for the local newspaper, shooting whatever they need, from news to features to sports. I also shoot advertising and commercial work, and in my spare time I shoot all the other stuff you see here, from cats to flowers to nature photos like the one I will probably post tomorrow.

But a good portion of my income is the direct result of shooting stuff like tonight’s high school football game, 60 miles away in another town. I send my photos back to the paper via FTP and a phone line. This celebration picture turned out pretty well considering the fact that the fog was as thick as pea soup and I had to shoot at 1250. Noise Ninja’s new Mac beta did a nice job of removing the noise and really improved the picture a lot, especially in the sky area.

I have shot so many high school games that you would think it would get boring, but it doesn’t really. It’s how I got started in this business. I was 14 years old and the local weekly paper needed someone to write and shoot my high school’s Friday night games. I wasn’t all that into football, but I did like one of the guys on the team, so it seemed like a pretty good idea. By the end of the season, I had a three-ring binder filled with grainy Tri-X 400 negatives and a hefty dose of love for the sport.

When I see young photographers on the sidelines now, I always make it a point to talk to them for a few minutes, encourage them along in their career. Who knows where they might end up? Which reminds me… thanks to everyone who left such nice comments yesterday. We all need to hear a few kind words every once in a while.