My Favorite High School Football Photos Of 2024

Here we go. It is the season of countdowns looking back at my favorite photos from this past year. This is a fun exercise that helps me get better each year. This year was a weird high school year for me. All of the local teams have photographers so I was just kind of messing around when I went to games. This is fun though because it let me try things without much fear of failure.

For one game every year at Harrison you get some great light during the team runout. I spend the final few minutes before the runout every year hoping the team hurries up before the sun goes behind the locker room. It always works out though so I don’t know why I worry so much. For this game I was photographing for the local paper, and this was a fun photo to have right away from the game.

This was a fun game. It was the final high school game that I photographed on the year, and it was a win for West Side in sectionals. The early part of the game let me make some fun photos with the sunset in the background. I really liked how this one turned out.

This year was a fun sword game to cover. It was the weekend before homecoming so some of the Harrison players were using that chance to ask dates to the dance. Here Ethan Karberg had a great game and was the player of the game. He had the sword and now a date to homecoming. As a high school player it probably doesn’t get much better than this.

I had a great idea here. I wanted to get the kick returner up against that great sunset sky. I would make this photo, and then head to the other end zone in case Harrison scored. Of course Jacob would take this kick to the house. The good news is that Harrison has a ton of photographers so they had that covered. I could gamble a bit to make this photo.

Early in the high school season you get some great light to work with pregame. I love to use that light and the great skies to make some hero shots of the players.

I don’t get to photograph McCutcheon very often, but the sword game is always a fun game to photograph. No matter the records of each team they battle to win the coveted sword.

After a big play you get big emotion. It doesn’t always come your way though. When it does you remember it. Here I was in the perfect spot to make this photo. You had the defense looking to the sidelines to celebrate a huge stop. I was lucky to be in this spot to make this photo.

There are many ways that you can get lucky. Here I was in the right spot with the light working for me when a West Side player picked the ball off. As they ran down the sidelines I had a great view of the action.

When I went to the end zone just before this photo it was a pure gamble. West Side was at the far end of the field, but the sunset behind the players was too good not to gamble on. Kojo decided to try and reward me by breaking off a huge run with the sunset behind him. I love it when a gamble pays off.

The battle between Harrison and West Side is always a good one. The schools are literally down the road from each other, and the bragging rights are a big deal. Here early in the game I had some fun getting on the ground to make this photo. Being low helps make the players jump look even higher.

I love a good stiff arm photo. They can often happen far away from you though so you don’t get to see the impact of the play. Here this one happened close enough to me to allow me to make this photo.

Those were my favorite high school football photos from this past year. Every year the high school season seems like it goes by too fast. You have the early season scrimmage where we are all working on things, and then before you know it the playoffs are here. I really think that football is the most fun to photograph at this level. You have great access to the game. As you get higher your access is limited quite a bit. As I write this I am still eight months away from football, but it sounds like a lot of fun to photograph right now.