How To Ruin A Monopod

MGCCC QB Raymond Cotton (7) stiff arms an East Miss. defender Sept. 1.

I've done a lot of different photo work over the years, but this was my first time ever shooting football from the sidelines. I've gotta say, it was way more fun than I would have imagined, and I hope I get the opportunity to shoot more.

This was opening night of the 2011 MACJC season. Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College vs East Mississippi Community College at Scooba, MS. It was also the first game played at EMCC's new Sullivan-Windham Field, and it's a great facility. There was also a documentary about juco football being filmed at the game.

In the second quarter, I got trampled by our new QB, Ray Cotton. I thought he was trying to cut up the field, but he got pushed out of bounds by a defender. I managed to stay on my feet, but I've got cleat marks going up my left leg. My borrowed monopod wasn't so lucky - it didn't survive. The D700 and 70-200mm lens were both fine. And one of the photos from this sequence ended up being used as the lead photo for the story on the front page of mgcccbulldogs.com.

It was great working with the D700 again. It's just a pleasure to shoot with. All these shots were at 1000 ISO.