The blogging photographer

The referee held the ball while waiting
for the chain gang to bring the markers
to measure to see if the offense
had earned a first down.

I photographed the recent California Lutheran University football game against the University of La Verne. The game was played at La Verne or I would have been calling the game on CLU’s CLUtube internet live streaming site.

            The images here are from that game. CLU and La Verne are NCAA Division III schools and they play in the SCIAC conference here in Southern California. The games are typically a lot of fun to watch and this one was really fun for CLU fans. The Kingsmen clobbered the Leopards.

The playing surface at La Verne is natural grass. At the end
of a long game on a hot day, things get a little dusty. I
like the look when mixed in with the intensity of the
game action.

            The shoot provided some challenges. The day was very sunny and the sun was directly in my lens for half the game. By that I mean the sun was behind the same end zone all game long. The sun moved from one sideline to the other, but it remained behind the same end zone and I had to overcome that issue for four quarters. There were times during the game when the field position of the line of scrimmage made shooting pointless.

            I could have been more productive working the La Verne sideline, especially during the second half, but I’m not comfortable doing that. I was wearing a CLU baseball cap and I did not feel it was appropriate for me to stand on the La Verne sideline when I was obviously associated somehow with the visitors. Had I been on assignment for a newspaper, I would have been wearing a different cap and might have changed sidelines.

The body language during a football game tells a
story all its own.

            I recommend you catch a small college or Division III game at your first opportunity. The games are a lot of fun and the ticket prices, where they charge anything at all, are family friendly. I have found the people to be very welcoming, especially among the SCIAC members.

            Day time football is a blast for a photographer. I used a fast shutter speed, mostly about 1/1,600^th of a second. Next time I’ll drop the shutter speed and play with the f-stops a little in order to blur the background a bit. The La Verne stadium is so open that you can end up with a parking lot in the background unless you are careful. Mark that as another lesson learned by your blogging photographer.

A runner following his blockers.

            I’ve posted a few images here from the game and I hope you enjoy them. You can read more about CLU’s football team (ranked 12^th in the country this week) at CLUsports.com. I’ll have more images from the game up on http://www.speedylee.com/ in a few days. I hope you enjoy the images I have displayed here.

            Thanks for reading.