Shooting football is tough. To be a really good football shooter, you have to:

• know the sport (anticipate the action)
• know where to stand (be in best spot to get the action)
• know where not to stand (so you don’t get killed by the action)
• and most important – get the action in focus

The first 3 items came pretty quickly. It’s the last one that’s a little tricky. Sometimes you think you nailed the focus, but after a closer look you see you have a sharp cheerleader and the game-winning catch is a big, fat blur. Damnit. I guess if I shot football 3 times a week, I would get much better much more quickly. But it still drives me crazy.

Here’s an example of a missed focus that actually turned out to be a better photo because I screwed up. The QB crossing for the TD would have been nice, but the receiver’s reaction to the TD tells a better story. Lucky Doug. You can more photos from the Free State High School home opener here.

I recently finished up an extra-tasty recruiting guide for the folks at College Coaches Network. It took us a while to get from start to finish, but the final product turned out very well. Special thanks by my print production superstar, Sara Hood, for her always-great attention to detail and printing savvy.

I neglected posting images from the Liz + Dave wedding I shot late this summer. Liz is the daughter of my bowling-baseball buddy Dave Wagner (I also bowl with the groom Dave Arndt). I’ve only shot several weddings now – so I haven’t reached the point where it gets a little easier. My photo buddy Bruce (veteran wedding pro) would probably tell me it never, ever gets easier. But it was a lot more comfortable shooting with people I’ve known for a long time. It was great fun, and I hope I captured the happy mood of the day. Congrats Liz and Dave. I hope you have many, many wonderful years together.

What strange summer weather we’ve had. I’m not complaining about 75-degree temps in August, I just can’t remember this ever happening in my lifetime. Evidently, the sunflowers were perplexed, too. I made my yearly trip to photograph a field near Reno, KS – and found some strange looking sunflowers. Lots of rain and cool temps aren’t the ideal weather for our sunny friends. I spent about a 30 minutes trying to compose a decent shot – and I didn’t get ‘r done. Better luck next year.

Below is what it looks like when you get heavy-handed with the “300-look” in Adobe Lightroom.  Makes for some really bad-ass sunflowers.