The Limits of Knowledge
I'll Let Frost Explain It
"Lost Satellite Reception"
I went to FedEx Field yesterday expecting to see the Redskins get slapped around by the Broncos. I didn’t really care one way or the other being, you know, an objective journalist. Deep inside my heart of hearts though, being from PA, I root for the mighty Iggles and seeing somebody, anybody slapping the Redskins around brings me a bit of joy. Except Dallas. $%@# Dallas. Plus, seeing how badly they can lose was getting kind of interesting. Lo and behold, the Skins actually weren’t playing too badly and better still, I was in a good position for most plays. Except of course for the game-winning TD by Ladell Betts. I was on the left, he went right. It happens. I guess in the scheme of things, yesterday was a weird day in football – Bengals beat the Steelers, Skins win. The Pats going for it ( and failing) on 4-and-2 on their own 28-yd line. What’s next? Cats & dogs living together? Mass hysteria!
I covered the Northwest Region quarterfinals yesterday at Liberty High School. Because of all the bad weather, the games had been moved from Friday night to Saturday, which made working on a day off a bit more palatable. The first game, Colonial Forge vs Franklin County was one of the better games I have seen in a long while. It was a barnburner – blow-for-blow scoring, great athleticism on the part of the players, great crowds and lots of emotion, all which make for good pictures. I also have to say that usually I can’t stand most high school bands, particularly when they butcher the national anthem but Forge’s band was even good! In the end, with seconds on the clock, all Forge had to do was hold Franklin on 4th down but the Eagles completed a pass, converting the first down. Forge held them off for two downs but Franklin kicked a field goal, leading 37-35 and leaving .8 seconds on the board. Point-eight?!?! As I was working the sidelines, trying to get a picture that showed the proverbial agony of defeat, an assistant coach gave me a hard time, telling me not to take a picture of a kid who was beside himself. I told him I’m trying to work here and he said he’d block my camera every chance he got. It’s funny how everybody loves you when they’re winning but when things get tough, that changes very quickly. I suppose he felt like he was protecting the kid but unfortunately for him we don’t live in a fuzzy and warm fantasy land where everybody is special and a winner. And I had already taken the picture. It gave me a some joy to tell him that.
After that game I was kind of tired – with that much action I found myself hustling back and forth all game long – but I had a second one to cover. I was hoping Brooke Point vs William Fleming was going to be a nice 14-10 kind of game. Initially I was right, the Black Hawks took an early lead. I thought, “Great, it is a nice slow game, they are winning so I won’t get any grief after the game.” And I said as much to a guy on the sidelines. Well, for my sins, the game quickly developed into another score-for-score slugfest. Brooke Point came out on top in the end 44-35 and I was whipped. The party doesn’t stop though – Redskins vs Broncos today and MORE high school playoff ball on Monday. It could be worse – I was originally slated to head to Virginia Beach to cover the state field hockey tournament. Nothing against the athletes but even after years of shooting the game, I am still baffled by some of the nuances of the game.
A few weeks ago I went to visit my buddy Rob out in San Diego. We were headed to Festival 8, the big Phish-fest in Indio, to meet up with more friends and hear some good music. The night before the festival though we decided to head out to Joshua Tree National Park as there was nearly a full moon out and we wanted to shoot some pictures. We rolled into the park after 10:30pm, found a spot along the road, turned on some music, cracked a few oat sodas and set about to work. I would love to get back there to explore the park some more but this was a pretty good taste… Basically they are just long exposures and a little light added with a strobe or painted with a small LED headlamp.
Rob’s mighty Volvo wagon. That’s Rob on the right, by the tree.
You’ve gotta love nice, fall afternoon light. Now if I could just apply that light to some football…
This picture is pretty dated considering Creigh Deeds lost his bid for governor of Virginia a couple weeks ago but I wanted to put it up here anyway. He was shaking hands at a high school football game and I like how he is isolated amid this group of people. He seemed a bit ill-at-ease with the public and he spent more time chatting up local pols and the political reporter than meeting and greeting. I didn’t have a chance to photograph his opponent, Bob McDonnell, as I had the good sense to take vacation over election day. On a national scale, people made a big deal about the GOP winning in Virginia. Personally, I think it had to do with the quality of candidates more than a referendum on the president and his policies.
The other night Rep. Rob Wittman came through town to hold a meeting at a VFW post to discuss veterans’ issues. The upside was that nobody unlocked the post so he held it on the steps. Challenging light, but definitely better than fluorescent tubes and a podium! As expected people spent a lot of time griping about, taxes, healthcare and the evil, left-wing media. And by evil, left-wing media, I mean my employer and by extension, me. It was a little scary when one guy started asking Wittman if he was going to hold congressional hearings investigating the infiltration in government of ‘avowed Marxists and Communists.’ What was scarier was that others agreed with him and nobody, including the congressman, tried to talk any kind of sense to the man. Every time I meet these people, the idea of becoming an ex-pat photog in some steamy tropical land is more and more appealing! It’s like the conversation is poisoned by an irrational anger that makes people unable to speak reasonably and respectfully to one another. As if the world was black & white and not shades of the Zone System! For the record, I’m all about zone V!
