Friday Night Light

"Dale Harris #2 of the St. Paul’s Crusaders rushes down the sideline as Devon Ruane #69 of the John Carroll Patriots tries to pull him down in the fourth quarter during an MIAA B Conference regular season game at St. Paul's School on October 12, 2012, in Brooklandville, Md."

I rarely cover high school football anymore - maybe a game or two a year. But I recently shot a game on assignment and had a blast.

There is nothing like covering high school sports. While the light isn't always great at night, the access is most of the time unrestricted and emotions run high.

It's funny, because I used to cover sports in a very generic way. But when I lived in Utah, all of my colleagues at other newspapers were always competing to get the unseen photos inside the locker room of pregame payers and images away from the action.

I grew to love covering sports that way. It made me see the games I was covering differently and made me excited to find that moment that was telling of the outcome, despite being before or after kick-off.

With that said, I love putting a wide angle to good use in sports - mainly speaking the action. It's usually a gamble, but without risks, you're left wondering what a play could have looked like without one.

Being able to get right on the sideline (unlike a couple yards back in college and pros), the wide makes sideline action more compelling. The image above ended up being telling (read cutline), and to boot, the light reminded me of that early season light in Utah.

The entire game between the St. Paul's Crusaders and the John Carroll Patriots I shot my way. I shot backlit the entire game, I shot weird features throughout and I shot very tight, loose. The end result was a nice package of telling images.