Sometime just before midnight the marching band season ended for Hamilton Southeastern’s Royal Command & Guard. That’s significant for several reasons. First and foremost, my son’s a senior so this was his final season marching with the band. Second, the RCG had another award-winning season, winning their class at all the invitationals they entered and finishing the season as Class AAAA Reserve Grand Champions. And finally, yesterday wrapped up another busy season of being the RCG’s official photographer.
In addition to photographing other bands and invitationals, my company is the Royal Command & Guard’s official photographic partner. I was there nearly every day from the beginning of band camp last spring, right through the end last night. Along the way I witnessed firsthand the pride, work ethic, and spirit of these incredible young musicians. Over the season they logged more hours in rehearsals and performances than any high school athletic team. And most of the time they did it in obscurity…in the corner of a parking lot, without the attention that football and basketball teams get, and often in the wee hours of the morning and late at night.
For my part, I tried to document as much of the season as possible, taking more than 10,000 exposures along the way. My joy comes in watching the students and parents look at the photos and remember the good times they had (okay, there are some not-so-good times, too), their victories, and the friendships they made. Now comes the really hard part: Winnowing down all the photos to about 150 for an end-of-the-season presentation in a couple of weeks.
