Month: October 2010

It’s been more than 40 years since I last shot a Central High School football game. Maybe I should have passed on this one. According to news stories I’ve been reading, Cape and the Sikeston Bulldogs were undefeated for the season.

If I had to put bookends on the evening, the shot of a Tiger being consoled after the game would be at the back end and this shot of a Bulldog scoring the first touchdown would go on the front end. The Bulldogs scored in less than a minute, ending up with a 21-0 win.

Sikeston’s first touchdown

When I first started shooting sports, I was told a good photo was one that showed the ball, the player’s number, his face and action. Oh, yes, and it should be sharp unless you were trying for an arty effect.

You’re going to see a bunch of action shots here that bend that rule severely. I didn’t have any long lenses with me, so I was limited in what I could get. I decided to put in some of the marginal shots because (a) it doesn’t cost me anything and (b) somebody might recognize themselves.

Unpleasant flashback as the clock counted down

When I was shooting the final moments of the game, I had a scary flashback to a high school basketball game I shot in a small Ohio town. The game seesawed back and forth all evening. When the winning goal was shot at the buzzer, the losing cheerleaders started crying. Some of the fan objected to me taking pictures of that. I looked over at a local cop for support; he shook his head and said, “If they come after you, I’m out of here.”

A touch of class

Missourian photographer Laura Simon captured Cape Central defenders Rodney Reynolds and Devin Rowett helping Sikeston running back Darryl Howard get back on his feet in the fourth quarter. I missed seeing it, but I’m glad it happened. That’s the kind of sportsmanship you don’t see often these days. I’ve covered high school games where the coach berated a player for doing something like that.

I was touched, too, when I saw several players not only shake hands with their opponents after the game, but embrace each other.

The Jungle was full of Tiger spirit

I always enjoyed shooting the crowd more than the game. One Friday night in southern Ohio, I shot the best football game of my career. It had all the elements: enthusiastic fans, raving coaches, a kid who set a record in about every category you could think, winning cheerleaders, losing cheerleaders, a great photo of two opponents shaking hands at the end, and the losing team leaving the field.

Ohio football crowds

As it turned out, the sports editor ran a pedestrian action shot. On Monday morning, the published called me in to complain about our lackluster sports coverage of late. It gave me great pleasure to hand him the sheaf of photos I had taken at that game.

Did you hear her bell?

I was amused at the idea of the tiny bells being part of a band performance at a football stadium. (If those aren’t bells, I apologize. I know less about music than I do about football.)

Photo gallery from Cape vs. Sikeston

The gallery is in chronological order, from pre-game, game, half time, more action, then game end. Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the photo to move through the gallery.

I wouldn’t waste a lot of time on the game action photos unless you’re looking for someone you know. I didn’t have the lenses to zero in on the action, it’s been over 40 years since I shot Central High School football and close to 20 years since I shot any kind of football.

If I can get in, I’m going to cover my first Central High School game in about four decades. When I asked Missourian photographer Fred Lynch what kind of credentials you need to get on the sidelines or if could I just talk my way in, he said it was pretty casual.

Don’t bother talking. Just head for the 30-yard line with a bigger lens than the high school kids use. You use a monopod? That makes you look like a pro. But I am sure that you carry yourself like a pro. No one will know you are retired.

Impersonating a photographer

If you don’t see anything here for a couple of days, you can assume that I’ve been busted for impersonating a photographer.

Football ghosts

I haven’t scanned many sports negatives because I have a problem figuring out which teams are in the photos. Most schools didn’t have team names or logos on their uniforms in those days. I’m only assuming these photos were taken at Central High School games.

If you click on the photo above to make it larger, you can see the ghostly images of football players hovering over the play. Number 24, in particular, shows up right above the quarterback.

The photographer was sloppy

I’d love to make up some scary story appropriate to the Halloween season, but there is a simple, technical explanation: the photographer was sloppy.

The photo was taken with a 4×5 Crown Graphic camera that used 4-inch by 5-inch sheets of film in a film holder or carrier.

When you went to take the first picture, you would insert the film carrier into the camera and pull a slide that protected the film from light when it was out of the camera. After taking the photo, you would replace the slide, remove the film holder and reverse it so the unexposed film was facing the lens. You would “pull the slide,” make the exposure, replace the slide, remove the holder and set it aside.

Sounds confusing, right? It was.

Lots of things could go wrong

• You could forget to pull the slide, so the film was never exposed
• You could forget to replace the slide, so the film would be ruined when it came out of the camera
• You could forget to flip the folder, so the photos would be double exposed with more than one image on the film (which is what happened above).
• You could grab a holder than had been used, which would result in a double (or more) exposure.

Four sheets of film, five flashbulbs

Film was expensive, so it was common to be sent to cover a football game with four sheets of film and five flashbulbs (the extra bulb was in case you forgot to pull the slide, see above). You learned to make every shot count.

Flash bulbs, cold weather and static electricity were a bad mix. You usually carried the flash bulbs in your pants pocket. On a cold night, static electricity could create a spark that would ignite a bulb in your pocket. If ONE bulb went off, they’d ALL go off. Flashbulbs put out a LOT of heat.

If you ever saw me jumping and thrashing around on the sidelines, I wasn’t trying out a new dance step. There was a fiery furnace raging in my pants pocket.

66 or 67 Central High School football team