TGFF*

*thank god for football

I tend to get down in the wintertime. I guess it is the cold and the gray skies. My wife on the other hand told me she can’t stand the summer, especially August. Come to think of it, I don’t like it either. And not just because I sweat like a pig at a sausage factory.  I think it’s because there is no football. But that is all behind me.  Football season is in full swing and I am beginning to get into midseason form. I must admit my first two weeks were pretty ugly – think of it as the photographic version of the Redskins!

Plus I decided to change up my approach. Last season I toted a 400mm lens to most of the games I covered and the ‘look’ began to get a little stale so this season, I decided to go a little looser with a 300mm. The longer lens gave me a little less reason to move around and find different angles. I would sit in a general area, pop on a teleconverter and wait for the action to come to me. Now I’m staying much closer to the line of scrimmage and moving more. So thank you to SI’s Robert Beck and his article at sportsshooter.com for motivating me to change up my game!

So here are a few pictures from some recent prep games. The puddle one was from the first game of the season. I think its an ‘almost’ -too quiet a picture for the paper. Probably too quiet a picture to ever see the light of day, really. I think I need to make an effort this season to take some time at each Friday night game to make more ‘flavor’ pictures. Mostly because the action is usually fairly lackluster. That is my mission tomorrow night!

Massaponax players, reflected in a puddle following heavy rain, watch their teammates warm up prior to the start of Friday's game against Spotsylvania. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)

Christian Barham, center, and his Eagle teammates listen to the pregame prayer before the start of Fredericksburg Christian School's first football game. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)

Chancellor's Tony Russell tries to avoid Massaponax's Andre Wyche on a punt return during Friday's game at Massaponax. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)

Massaponax football players lay their hands on a stone with a plaque honoring Ryan McGhee, a Massaponax graduate who died in Iraq, before the start of Friday's game against Chancellor. His jersey, number 33, was also retired. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)