A Season in Review, Football Features

Here are some features from this football season, both published and unpublished.

I feel like accidental eye contact in photos doesn't work, except for in sports. Here, you can just feel Devon Still's frustration with the Alabama game. Eye contact that athletes make with your camera shows a certain intensity that you may not be able to portray otherwise.

This photo is from the Temple game at Lincoln Financial Field. I'm pretty positive that this was when Bolden was pacing the sidelines, again becoming the second-string quarterback. Here, he looks optimistic, though that seemed to change throughout the following games.

This I had a long discussion with our photo adviser about with publishing. The athletic trainer's shoe got stuck in the grass as the driver began to move the vehicle before he was off the ground, and the guy fell off. Though the moment was a small humorous moment that the crowd needed after Lynn was injured,  we didn't know how serious the injury was and it was inappropriate to use. Now that Lynn is ok, it's a funny moment to look back on. 

This is hands-down my favorite photo from the semester. I don't care what opinion you have about Joe Paterno at this point, I feel like this is a really moving moment between coach and player that can say so much more than words can ever tell (sorry for the watermark, I'm really protective of this image!).

Fortt and Stupar were celebrating after a play just before halftime, and I loved the lion above them as they were walking towards the tunnel during the Iowa game. 

This was the final kick during the Illinois game that the kicker (13) missed. He previously had a perfect season record. I like the number of reactions going on in this shot, even if composition-wise it isn't the greatest.

I just really like the feel of this photo for some reason. This was when a bunch of grounds crew guys had to roll up the tarps 
covering the field before the Illinois game, our first snow in October. Though the snow let up towards the end of the game, it was really intense in the beginning. I couldn't feel my feet or hands for most of the game. Stupidly pretty underdressed. Oh well, live and learn, right?

I wasn't expecting this, and I saw a bunch of photos from this game (Nebraska) of this tunnel walk-out that were really good from different spots. I wish I had gotten to the end of the tunnel, because I saw one shot where it was just the players holding hands and their shadows. Really neat. This one was the last crew of guys who walked onto the field, as opposed to their normal running out, and really showed the energy that they had that day going into it. After all, it was the Nittany Lions' first game without Coach Paterno since 1966.

I'll miss photographing in Beaver Stadium. It's been quite the experience. I've learned an incredible amount about sports photography and just the experience of photojournalism through shooting Penn State football.  I've met a lot of people, and helped my fellow photogs as well. Through wins and losses,  something important always comes out of it.