So, if you occasionally drop by this little corner of the web (which is now even harder to find now that the links to it have been taken off the sports page), you know I've recently been struggling to make frames I like at football games.

Like many sports, in photography you can get into the "zone", where every time you go out to shoot something decent happens in front of your lens.

While I'm certainly not in anyone's zone, the frames are starting to appear in the cameras.

Friday night I was sent to shoot a high school football game in the rain.

Early in the game, I was able to get just enough of a peek as Liberty's Kyle Ahrens (white jersey) puts a highlight reel hit on Juanita's Jhalen Brown. The quarterback is just encroaching on the right side of the frame, and I cropped him out. But he's blocking the subsequent frames of this series. However, as the old saying goes, "all you need is one".

(Nikon VR 400mm/f2.8, ISO 6400, 1/500th sec.,f2.8)

It was raining pretty hard, and you can see the spray come off the helmet on this hit.

(Nikon VR 400mm/f2.8, ISO 6400, 1/500th sec.,f2.8)

One thing I've talked a lot about on the blog is the importance of backgrounds. Having a clean background can make all the difference in making a good photo great. Just so you know where I stand on this -- soccer goals don't make good backgrounds for football photos (that also goes for parked cars, storage trailers and portable toilets).

(Nikon VR 400mm/f2.8, ISO 6400, 1/500th sec.,f2.8)

Liberty's Chandler Jenkins broke up the middle for a long gain in the first half, making a photo that would have been a good effort for me two weeks ago but wasn't even in medal contention last night.

(Nikon VR 400mm/f2.8, ISO 6400, 1/500th sec.,f2.8)

High school kids fly around the field just like the pros, only a lot slower. Juanita's Cole Graves (1) looks for more yardage as Liberty's Kyle Ahrens flew by trying to make the tackle.

(Nikon VR 400mm/f2.8, ISO 6400, 1/500th sec.,f2.8)

It's raining! Show the rain! Okay. Like it doesn't rain in Seattle anyway, right?

(Nikon VR 400mm/f2.8, ISO 6400, 1/100th sec.,f5.6)

Finally, a note to all high schools in the Greater Seattle area: if you're having homecoming, make sure Rod Mar is not in the stadium. For the past two weeks I've covered homecomings, and the home team has lost by a combined score of 81-18. At the end of the game, Juanita student John Elvidge, a senior, didn't appear too excited as the Rebels mounted a small comeback but still lost,

(Nikon VR 400mm/f2.8, ISO 6400, 1/250th sec.,f2.8)