I spent the last two weeks heading back and forth to Frederick, Md. to photograph the Maryland School for the Deaf high school football team. I have to say it was an amazing experience.
The Coach has two sons who play on the team and all the team does is win! MSD just won its sixth consecutive deaf school national championship, completing a 10-1 season. Its only loss ended a 35-game winning streak. I photographed their last two games which were blow-outs.
Coach Andy Boneyho gave me complete access to his team for the 2 weeks. After photographing the Redskins for 7 or 8 years, it was so much fun to get access to a football team.
I have photographed in a lot of foreign countries where I don’t understand any of the language. While it’s difficult, you can get a hand on the tone of the conversation. Working with an entire team of players and coaches who were deaf posed its challenges for me but was really just amazing to watch and soak in. I am used to coaches screaming at players, players horsing around, loud music in the locker room… My first day at their practice was so striking in the silence. Outside of pads hitting and an occasional yell, it was silent. You could hear the wind through the trees. It was so cool.
I have to say thank you to Coach Andy and his sons Ryan (#4) and Todd (#7) along with the rest of the team who put up with a strange photographer shooting roughly 6,000 images over the two weeks with them. They were a lot of fun to work with.
For the article, please go to The Washington Times.
