The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

It's hard to put into words to describe the emotions of my first week of shooting high school football in 2018. On Monday night, I was sick, but didn't let that stop me from shooting the first two high school football games of the season. I struggled because I wasn't feeling well, but managed some nice images. On Saturday, I photographed 3 games. Two at North Little Rock's stadium and finally the Salt Bowl at War Memorial in Little Rock. It was a hot August day in Arkansas, exacerbated by the turf on the football field, especially the two early games. Dealing with the elements always makes shooting games challenging.

I'm gonna take a brief moment here to address what happened at the Salt Bowl on Saturday night, August 25th, 2018. For those who don't know, or aren't in Arkansas or have not seen my Facebook status concerning last night's game between Benton and Bryant, it was ugly. From what we understand, a fight broke out in the bathroom on the West side of the stadium. Although, categorically denied by the Little Rock Police, there have been several videos and eye witnesses that a gun was seen and shots were fired. I, personally, didn't hear anything. This lead to panic in the stands. I was at the 25 yard line near the north end zone and suddenly, I saw people running in terror in the north end zone bleachers. Pandemonium broke out and people began jumping out of the stands onto the field. I had moved over to the wall and people were jumping over me onto the field. Both football teams sprinted off the field away from the area where I was standing. It was a surreal moment. Several fans were injured by being trampled. It was a very unfortunate situation. Bryant was leading 28-14 at the time the panic broke out. Officials from both teams decided to end the game and according to Arkansas Activities Association rules, since Bryant was ahead when the game was called, they were declared the winner. I really hate it for the kids, coaches, teachers, administrations from both schools and fans, who put so much time and effort into preparation for this game. Going forward, there will need to be a very frank and candid conversation about the security for this event, due to the fact that it has grown into the largest attended game in the state with over 38,000 attending last night. If some kids did bring a gun into this game, they should be found and punished to the fullest degree. Their selfish act ended the football game, got people injured and scared a bunch of people who were there to watch the best rivalry in the state.

Enough talk about what happened, now on to the images.

NIKON D4, F5.6, 1/4000, ISO 400, MANUAL

One of the best images I captured this week. Shooting into mixed light is very difficult on a camera. Auto ISO works well, but sometimes struggles. For this image, the RB was coming out of shadow into full light, so I set the exposure to catch him as came into the sun. He scored on this play. Nice image!

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/4000, ISO 500, SHUTTER PRIORITY

Like the image above, similar situation with mixed light.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/4000, ISO 500, SHUTTER PRIORITY

Nice backlight portrait. She saw me taking her photo and smiled for me. :)

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/1000, ISO 1250, MANUAL

I really wasn't feeling well during the second game, so I struggled. But this was a pretty nice frame of a run during the 4th quarter. I really like shots were a runner is stretching out to avoid a tackle. Always makes nice photos.

I shot the first game on Saturday for the Arkansas varsity. I've been shooting for Luke Matheson, the owner, since around 2010.

NIKON D4, F4.5, 1/2000, ISO 200, SHUTTER PRIORITY

Always try to catch the tight portrait shots during pregame warm-ups. Here Bauxite coach Darryl Patton watches his team before playing Conway Christian on Saturday, August 25th, 2018.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/3200, ISO 200, SHUTTER PRIORITY

Another good time for tight portraits is the coin toss. The stoic look is certainly a game face!

NIKON D4, F3.5, 1/3200, ISO 200, SHUTTER PRIORITY

Nelson Chenault taught me how to shoot football games. I stick to his process which works really well. I start off the game grabbing tight portraits of QB or RB action from near scrimmage lines. I grab some shots and then move down. Here the Conway Christian QB looks to fires a pass on a tunnel screen.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/3200, ISO 200, SHUTTER PRIORITY

Another tight action shot. Newspaper shooting has taught me to grab these kind of images. They work really well as game story art. I have a good understanding of what editors like and so I try my best to capture images that make their job easy.

NIKON D4, F4.0, 1/3200, ISO 200, SHUTTER PRIORITY

The shot before this frame was better, but there was a player standing in the image, so decided on this one with a cleaner background.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/3200, ISO 200, SHUTTER PRIORITY

This was a hail mary to end the first half. Again, the frame previous was better, but an official decided to run through at the split second that the ball was in the receivers hand. Almost an epic catch in traffic.

I shot the second game on Saturday for the Arkansas Democrat Gazette newspaper. I've been shooting off and on for them since 2011 and I also enjoy seeing my images in print the following day.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/5000, ISO 200, MANUAL

This is the image I captured and transmitted to the newspaper.

This is how it looks in the newspaper. As you can see, for spacing, they had to crop it into a vertical box. I always try to send both horizontal and vertical images to give the editor some options. I didn't get a good vertical of this particular player so they had to edit it to fit since this player was a focal subject of the article by Jeremy Muck.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/3200, ISO 200, SHUTTER PRIORITY

Due to format of the game schedule, I didn't get a chance to photograph warm-ups for the second game. So, I grabbed this frame of Warren receiver Treylon Burks cooling himself off before the start of the game. Pretty "cool" image huh? ;)

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/3200, ISO 200, SHUTTER PRIORITY

Nice tight action image of Warren defensive tackle Marcus Miller (90) tackling a Batesville Southside running back. Marcus is a 6'5 300 pounder who is committed to the University of Arkansas.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/5000, ISO 200, SHUTTER PRIORITY

One of the challenges of shooting in the heat is waves that rise off the turf. This causes some images to be soft at times. Although this images isn't tack sharp, I still like it. A bit wider than I prefer, but good action as I captured it right as he caught the ball.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/3200, ISO 200, SHUTTER PRIORITY

Nice image of tackle by a Warren DB.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/3200, ISO 200, SHUTTER PRIORITY

Warren WR Cade Reep (4) celebrates with QB J'Malachi Kinnard after a touchdown.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/3200, ISO 200, SHUTTER PRIORITY

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/1250, ISO 200, SHUTTER PRIORITY

I didn't get a good portrait image of Warren's Treylon Burks during pregame, but I did grab this one during the 4th quarter. Burks played only a few snaps on offense, but was a force on defense. Much is said about how great he is at receiver, but he is a 5 star defender as well. Just a great all-around player.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/1000, ISO 320, MANUAL

Warm-up time for the Salt Bowl. If you are learning to shoot, this is the time to work on these close tight portraits.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/1000, ISO 360, MANUAL

Close tight portraits aren't always players! :)

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/2000, ISO 360, MANUAL

I always try to grab a shots of the head coach interacting with players. Here I caught Bryant head coach Buck James preparing to talk to his Bryant Hornets.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/1000, ISO 100, MANUAL

KATV Sports Director Steve Sullivan before Saturday's Salt Bowl. Sully has been a fixture with high school sports in Arkansas for over 30 years.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/800, ISO 300, MANUAL, Exposure Bias +3

This was actually a tough shot due to several factors. Balancing the exposure due to the light and having to navigate players, TV cameras and the officals but I was really pleased with the result. Didn't get the coin vertical but you can still see it. Very nice!

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/1000, ISO 200, MANUAL

Benton made some big plays passing the ball early in the game.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/1000, ISO 800, MANUAL

Nice wide image of the Benton QB firing a pass.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/1000, ISO 200, MANUAL

The big maulers. Bryant's offensive line, lead by #67, Logan Burton, waits for the play call on their first snap of the 2018 Salt Bowl.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/1000, ISO 200, MANUAL

Bryant QB Ren Hefley looks to pass during the first quarter of Saturday's Salt Bowl at War Memorial stadium in Little Rock.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/1000, ISO 1000, MANUAL

Clean sailing. Benton's running back breaks for a touchdown during the second quarter.

NIKON D4, F3.2, 1/1000, ISO 800, MANUAL

Bryant running back pulls a defender during the second quarter of the Salt Bowl. There is a little bit of a blur in this shot as the focus was on the defender.

NIKON D4, F3.2, 1/1000, ISO 800, MANUAL

Running and tackling blind. Always interesting to see the eyes of the players. Both are closed in this frame.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/1000, ISO 1600, MANUAL

Bryant QB Ren Hefley looks for the end zone during the second quarter of Saturday night's Salt Bowl.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/1000, ISO 1600, MANUAL

Helmets high during kickoff.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/1000, ISO 1600, MANUAL

Bryant head coach Buck James shows some concern during the first half of Saturday's Salt Bowl.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/1000, ISO 1600, MANUAL

A Benton RB breaks outside during the 3rd quarter of Saturday night's Salt Bowl.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/1000, ISO 1600, MANUAL

This was my final game image of the night after Bryant had stopped Benton and forced a punt. The chaos in the stands started seconds later.

NIKON D4, F2.8, 1/1000, ISO 1600, MANUAL

The clock shows when action stopped and the panic began in the stands. I chose not to photograph any of the chaos. I just didn't feel right about capturing kids crying and in a state of panic. I'm a sports photographer and not a photojournalist. I really, really, really hate seeing games not decided on the field and distracted by something other than the competition on the field. I feel awful about this and hope they will get the security situation fixed before next year.