Lessons From the Football Field

I added a new sport to my field of photography expertise yesterday, as a couple of the local high school football teams competed in the annual Turkey Bowl (this is the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend for those of you south of the border). I found a spot on the sidelines about 20 yards into the defensive zone from the line of scrimmage, and this gave me a nice view of the ground game as it came towards me. I did manage to get some nice shots, and it was a gorgeous, sunny fall afternoon. I also learned that I need to keep a close watch on where the play is heading, even as I focus on the action through my lens. It is really easy to forget that I am kneeling about two feet off the field, almost exactly where someone is likely to get tackled and pushed out-of-bounds.

The out of focus, blurred image above is the last thing my camera captured before I realized how close it was and I jumped for my life. It was funny later, but more than just a bit scary at the time!  Lesson learned