My 21 Favorite High School Football Photos From 2021

This was a fun year for me when I could get out to a high school game. Every year I say that I need to get to more games, and every year work gets in the way. It is not all that bad though as work means that it was another sporting event. This year I started off strong, and then didn’t get to another game for a while. High school football is always fun to cover though. It means so much to the players that the emotion is real and amazing. Here are my favorite photos from this past year.

21. The countdown starts with a photo that was really an accident. After cooking dinner I saw this great rainbow so I hopped into the car to go out and find something to put into my frame. I saw a football game going on so I knew that I had my subject. I wanted to get a little closer to the players, but I ran out of the house in flip flops so I stayed away. I still like this photo though as it shows the field off a bit.

20. The early season games always have such great light. Here as Corey Adams runs with the ball you get some of that late day light streaming in.

19. When you show up at the season opening scrimmage you are practicing as much as the team is. At this point I have not made a football photo yet in the season so you are just getting the rust out. When you capture an actual moment it is always an amazing thing.

18. Here is another photo from that opening scrimmage. At this point of the year you are just trying to make photos that have any kind of action in them.

17. Here the West Side defense makes life rough on the running back. I didn’t get to many West Side games this year, but the games that I saw were really entertaining.

16. When you are just at the game for fun you can chase the light a little. Here I went behind the opponent to have some fun with the last sunlight of the day. I took off my lens hood to let more of it steam in.

15. There is a lot going on here. You have the ball about to be snapped, and the fans in the background going crazy. Rivalry games are always fun with the emotion all over the stadium.

14. With that great sky I knew that I wanted to get a little wider with the action. I just wanted a play to come near me. Here though it started to get too close. This was my last frame before I bailed.

13. I made these photos fairly close to each other during that season opening scrimmage. I put them on here because of the feeling that they gave me at the time. You always wonder if you still have the ability to capture the peak action. Two plays near each other I was right there.

12. This photo is a reason to stay on the play. As the defender picked off the ball I had a defender blocking me during his entire run into the end zone. I really thought that I had missed the play. As soon as he scored though he turned to his fellow defenders and yelled. That made me feel like I accomplished something on the play.

11. I like this photo for the action as well as the background. On the big run you have the bench yelling and the fans just starting to rise and yell. The late day light just adds to it for me.

10. Speaking of late day light here you have a stiff arm with the last light of the day streaming into my camera. These early season games are so much fun to photograph.

9. During blue hour I wanted to pan back a little and show the crowd and the action. All I needed was a play that let me do all of that. This pass was that play. We moved down the field, and this view was gone. Luckily they gave me a good play while they were are midfield.

8. The thing about football is that it is hard to show emotion. The helmets really make it hard to see what is going on there. Here though after scoring the Jeff quarterback emotes big enough that it shines through.

7. Speaking of emotion this is my favorite post game photo of the year. After a big win this young man was very excited. He made the game fun, and he shows up again later in the countdown.

6. Late day light is great. Here there is not much going on, but the photo is more of a landscape than anything else.

5. With the blue skies during pregame I knew that I wanted to show some of it in my photos. I don’t know the team that well so I didn’t go too far onto the field. Here though I had a good view of the punter. He wears a good number as well.

4. As a photographer you love it when the play comes right at you. When the blue hour skies are in the background it makes the photo even better.

3. With a storm just to the east of us the sky just looked amazing just before the half. I realized that any tight photo was out of the question so I went wide to show the scene. The huge storm clouds and the kick returner ready for the kickoff.

2. This is my favorite action photo of the year. I made it early in the first regular season game as well. I guessed that this receiver would get the ball, and I was lucky that it went that way. The eyes, the hands, and the ball all make this photo for me.

1. As West Side was getting ready to win the first game of the year I heard some yelling from over my shoulder. I saw this young man having a blast cheering his team on. I recognized him from the background of a photo that shows up earlier on this countdown. I swing my wide angle over to make this photo. To me this is what Friday night lights are all about.

 

There are my favorite photos from this past high school football season. Tomorrow I photograph my last football game of the year. No matter how much football I photograph I always feel like I could have done more. This year that seems to be the case more than ever. Even in limited duty though I still feel like I put together a good list.