Pride of Wildcat Land Marching Band.

Here are a few of my favorite photos of the Kansas State University Pride of Wildcat Land Marching Band from October 29, 2011 in Manhattan, Kan. The first seven images were taken with a Canon 400/f2.8 lens on a 1dMk2 body and none of them have been cropped. The remaining six images were taken with a 15/f2.8 lens on the same body.

Thanks for looking.


A lens like the 400/f2.8 allows me to capture images of just about any musician on the field.


Faces are always good in sports and in my opinion the same applies to marching band.


Lots of plumes and bones in this backlit shot. I personally like the backlit option in a situation like this.


I like those images where the eyes are just peaking out behind an instrument. Long glass helps make this more pronounced.


It's fun to shoot "down a line', but I find it can be tough to really get a good shot unless one of the musicians is just a bit taller or somehow standing out from the others. In this image, the 380-member is playing the Star Spangled Banner with half the band facing one way and the other half facing the other way, allowing the stadium to be filled with the song.


Same as the above shot. This guy stood out just a little.


With longer glass like the 400/f2.8 I am able to "sneak" through other musicians and capture imgages that wouldn't otherwise work with shorter glass.


The following six images were shot with a 15/f2.8 lens.