Sideline Observation: The Game Within the Game

There is just so much you can see of a game from the stands. Even if you have fantastic seats twenty rows up on the fifty yard line, you are going to miss something. Actually, you are going to miss a lot. Having a super sharp lens with a super fast shutter allows us to see more. It allows us to see the subtle things happening within the game.

There is just so much you can see of a game from the stands. Even if you have fantastic seats twenty rows up on the fifty yard line, you are going to miss something. Actually, you are going to miss a lot. Having a super sharp lens with a super fast shutter allows us to see more. It allows us to see the subtle things happening within the game.

Like many sports fans who have long watched football games either live at a stadium or on television, we see the strengths and weaknesses of our favorite teams. We learn about the sideline habits of the coaching staff. We learn about different plays, and we learn to speak the language belonging to football itself. We see so much of the game we begin to think we've seen it all. But from the sidelines, there is another world to witness. 

There for the camera lens to dissect and display exists a more intimate, subtle, detailed world that from the stands or even when watching slow motion replays just isn't always so obvious.   

Many times, these subtleties aren't apparent until I sit and sift through the thousands of images I take during each game. Such is the case with this series of photos highlighting a pass from Trevor Lawrence to Tee Higgins in Clemson's win over North Carolina two weeks ago. 

Each frame shows a difference in Lawrence's gaze, his body posture, and his focus. But what doesn't change is Lawrence's intensity, his determination, and his total lack of panic. Intensity is power under control; panic is power in a state of chaos. And in the last few frames, we see the movement of Higgins who is undoubtedly reading all the subtleties the Saturday football observer may likely miss. 

The result in this series? A Trevor-to-Tee reception at a key moment in the game.