Friday Night Lights – The Catch – A One Shot Story

The year was 1981 and I had recently received a certificate of completion for a film processing and printing class at Mountain View Community College located in Dallas County. I wanted to photograph the home games of the Duncanville, Texas high school varsity football team so self processing my Ilford HP5 would help to keep my costs down.

A friend of mine, Curtis, was a starter on the team and he got me access to the sidelines during home games. I had two Canon cameras, an A1 and an ftb-QL, various lenses and a Vivitar 285 flash. My plan was to photograph a game then process and contact print my negs ASAP so Curtis could show his teammates photos the next week. I hoped to sell a few prints to help offset my film costs.

I was working at Landis Aerial Photography in Dallas,Texas and part of my job entailed printing in the darkroom. The enlarger was a huge Durst and the negative carrier was large enough to hold the bulk roll film with 10” x 10” negatives from the military grade aerial camera they used. This allowed me to place all the neg strips side by side and then enlarge them to fit on a 16×20 piece of RC paper. I then cut them into wallet sized proof prints for Curtis to show his teammates.

On September 18,1981, I was photographing a home game, a light mist was falling and Duncanville was on offense. My ‘gut feeling’ told me they were about to go with a deep pass. I ran down the sidelines about 25 yards or so and readied my camera for what was coming. At least that’s what I hoped. As one of the next plays began I watched as it unfolded almost exactly as I had imagined. Duncanville’s quarterback launched the football into the air and directly towards a receiver, closely guarded by the opposing teams defensive backs, running my direction. I waited for the exact moment to press the shutter as I could only get one shot. The receiver made a diving catch. Did I get it? I wouldn’t know the answer until I processed my film.

No it’s not a ‘Pro’ shot but I was ecstatic with the image I got. The fact that I anticipated what was about to happen and actually got something useable makes this photo part of my personal best collection. Not such a bad job processing either I might add.

I only photographed the football team this one season. I decided that nighttime sports with a flash was not my cup of tea. I learned a lot though and really had an enjoyable time in the process. I did sell a few prints and I gifted the head coach with a 30”x 30” print of one of the teams defensive lineman going head to head with an opponents running back. Moments and memories like this one are what have made film photography so special to me over my lifetime.

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