FOTOBALL: the GPZs of photography

A couple weeks ago my time was completely consumed with going to high school football practices, editing video, and uploading stuff to our new prep sports site GeorgiaPrepZone.com which I have nicknamed GPZ. Originally I was not happy about all the practices I was going to have to shoot. After sulking for a day I decided to take a positive stance and not only shoot practices, but also do videos of them to beef up our prep site. I'm not sure what got into me, but I had a blast making them! After 6 videos in 2 weeks I find myself actually missing having a video project to work on, sort of.
I'm posting the only two stills I liked from all those practices. Shooting video too definitely hurts the quality of the photos. As much fun as I had making the videos I hope I am never forced to shoot both video and stills during an actual game. I know there are photographers out there having to do it. In the age of "web hits" based advertising and the YouTube generation, newspapers are trying desperately to keep up. Photographers had to became videographers overnight. I'm on board to a certain extent. I get that the bills have to be paid. We have to adapt to find a way to survive in a changing marketplace and stop the bleeding in our industry. The part that is hard for me is when other people in the biz don't value good photography. I understand that one day the newspaper printing press might be collecting dust, I can live with that. What I can't live with is quality photojournalism becoming a dying art.


Jacob Owens, quarterback of the Madison County high school varsity football team, throws a pass at practice Thursday Aug. 6, 2009, in Danielsville.


Madison County high school quarterbacks throw passes during practice Thursday Aug. 6, 2009, in Danielsville.

Here are a few of the videos.