Video: Early Contenders - No. 8 Mallard CreekHighlights from the Charlotte powerhouse.
Mallard Creek running back Chancery Bowman poses during a photo shoot at the school's football stadium on April 24.
Photos by Alik McIntosh
Photographer
Alik McIntosh likes challenges, and he was tested plenty while handling three photo shoots in three states for MaxPreps' Preseason Top 25 football project.
"It was a good challenge and I enjoyed it," McIntosh said about staging the three separate photo shoots over a three-week period that started the last weekend in April. "Each photo shoot presented me with different conditions and a lot you have to figure out on the fly."
McIntosh, who is based in Texas and has been working in North Carolina over the past year, started off his road trip by photographing several top players and the head coach for
Mallard Creek High School in Charlotte on April 24. The photo shoot took place on campus and involved two locations: the locker room and the football stadium.
"I chose the locker room and football field because I wanted to capture the personality of the players and also have an array of images that could show their athleticism and intensity," McIntosh said.
From there he was scheduled to travel to South Carolina for a second photo shoot over the weekend, but that one had to be postponed at the last minute due to school's football field being unavailable for use.
In the meantime, McIntosh headed to Texas for personal business and while there he picked up a third photo shoot for the project,
Katy High School, which is located in the Houston area. Instead of staging the photo shoot outdoors using off-campus Jack Rhodes Stadium as the backdrop, it had to be moved indoors to a locker room area due to rain. McIntosh photographed a few top players on the team along with legendary head coach Gary Joseph.
After completing the photo shoot with Katy on May 13 in the late afternoon, McIntosh hit the road and traveled to South Carolina, where he staged his third and final photo shoot at
Spartanburg High School the next day — with little sleep. McIntosh held the photo shoot at the school's on-campus football stadium.
"Once I got to the shoot the players were ready and highly animated and enthusiastic," McIntosh said. "They needed little posing and the players enjoyed the shoot immensely."
An assistant coach even donned some headphones and pretended he was calling out plays during the shoot.
When it was all over, McIntosh was proud of his efforts.
"It was amazing to get it all done and to meet the deadline," he said.
View team preview of No. 18 Spartanburg
View team preview of No. 11 Katy
View team preview of No. 8 Mallard Creek
Mallard Creek lineman Grant Gibson looks through a face mask.
Katy quarterback Garrett Doiron poses during his team's photo shoot on May 13.
Katy linebacker Jovanni Stewart shows intensity during the photo shoot.
Spartanburg running back Tavien Feaster soars during his team's photo shoot on May 14.
Spartanburg players (left to right) are Julian Stridiron, Jeron Dawkins, Trey Smith and Mike Murphy.
View the entire Katy presaeson photo shoot gallery
View the entire Spartanburg preseason photo shoot gallery
