Field of Steam

FieldTurf is the surface that a lot of high schools have installed on their athletic fields. FieldTurf is also a bed of tiny scorching pebbles when it's 95 degrees out. Do you know how I know? It's because I spend a good amount of Monterey Trail's football practice laying on it.

Practice is all about repetition and while the players try to repeat their awesome technique play after play after play, I try to photograph something a little bit different practice after practice after practice. Sometimes I'm successful and pleased with my variety, but sometimes I also end up taking the same photograph that I did two practices ago. The moral of the story is...there is no moral. I just wanted you to know that I roll around on that burning cookie sheet of a field so you won't be bored when you visit blog.michaelstarghill.com.

Shout out to competition among teammates. You could lose your starting job on Tuesday afternoon but earn it right back on Thursday before the game at the end of the week.

Practice at 1.4

Practice, practice and more practice. This team does it almost everyday and when I'm out in Elk Grove with them, I'm practicing too. This day, I photographed their entire workout at 50mm f/1.4 for no other reason than, "why the hell not".

It was another hot day on the FieldTurf but the team is most definitely used to it by now. It's the Wednesday before a Friday game and the Mustangs are going over the spread offense that their next opponent, Rodriguez High School, employs. The off-season workouts are for the basics, you know, your blocking, tackling, scheme and conditioning. But every week of in season practice builds on those basics as well as infusing the tendencies and formations of the weekend opponent. I've never played football, but I thought I knew a good amount about the game just by watching and being around it. But upon further review, the game is a little more complex than I thought.