Panther Marching Band member cadence across the entrance of the Strath Haven High School as they make their way to the George L. King Field on September 20, 2024.
HOW THE HECK DO YOU VISUALLY REPRESENT THE LARGEST HIGH SCHOOL MARCHING BAND IN PENNSYLVANIA?
It sounds daunting, and it is. But it’s also really fun. To do this job right, you need to be at the front of it all. That means early mornings at band camp, Friday nights on the sidelines, hot bus rides, and constant movement on the football field. It also means watching out for flags whizzing by your head mid-performance. It means paying attention, over and over again, to not miss moments others might not see. That’s the job of a photographer: to notice.
“Turn the flywheel.”
– It’s a metaphor used by band director Nicholas Pignataro about effort, small pushes building momentum, and the idea that progress doesn’t happen suddenly. It’s slow. But if you keep pushing, eventually the wheel turns. That idea stayed with me even outside the marching band season, in both how I approached and completed this project.
*This excerpt comes from my 2024–2025 marching band photo book, a documentary photography project created during my junior year of high school that followed a nearly 300-member marching band throughout its season.
