Tonight was round three of the high school state football playoffs.  It was also the first night of the local football season where the temperature was really uncomfortable for me as a photographer.  I have been doing this for a while now, and I am just starting to get the hang of staying warm while still being able to operate my camera.  I don’t like to wear a heavy jacket while I’m working, so I generally wear a long-sleeved t-shirt underneath a hoodie.  I may wear thermal underwear under my blue jeans if it’s cold enough.  A fleece head cover keeps my tater and ears warm enough.  The problem is my hands.  I have some light weight gloves that I wear that are thin enough so I can still operate the controls on my cameras.  They don’t keep my hands warm, but they do keep them from going numb in the cold for the most part.  If I can figure out how to keep my hands warm and still be able to operate my camera, I’ll have it made…

This football season is on its way to being longer than normal.  During my time doing this sort of work, I have never been past the Friday after Thanksgiving for high school football games.  I have only been that far once.  This year, we still have three local teams in the playoffs after tonight, so there will be three local teams playing next Friday.  I don’t know if any of them will be playing at home though, so I’m not sure if my football season is over yet or not.  I’m sure that two of the three teams will be playing on the road.  I don’t know about the third team yet.

I’m ready for basketball season so I can park my butt on the baseline where it’s warm and let the action come to me…

Photojournalism, Sports