Wanted: Your Grassroots Hockey Pictures

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I use Flickr as a source for many of the images you see on this site. Every so often I browse the Creative Commons in search of beautiful, inspiring, breathtaking, or just plain strange hockey-centric images to use in future posts. I haven’t looked in months, yet still have nearly 100 images marked as ‘favorites’ on my Flickr account.

The problem with these images, however, is that many of them are nearly anonymous. Some Flickr users will include a quick blurb about the location or the scene, but it’s much easier to upload photos en masse, skipping the optional step of telling the photograph’s story. Sadly, many of the photos I’ve marked as favorites have absolutely no information at all.

I’m calling on the readers of Backyard-Hockey.com to help rectify this. Hockey pictures may be stunning, but the back stories that accompany these images need a home as well. I’m asking each of you to think about your best hockey images, whether they were on your backyard, at the pond, in the driveway, or at the World Pond Hockey Championships. Wherever it is, and whether you’re the shooter or the subject, there are stories behind your hockey photos. I’m offering a platform to tell those stories.

Take a stroll through your hard drive (or your shoeboxes), and look back at your hockey images. What stories might accompany those pictures? Why did you lift the camera and press the shutter? What were your thoughts, feelings, or emotions when the flash went off? Who is the subject, how are they important to you, and how do they experience the game of hockey? I want to know.

I’ve written before about how difficult it can be to talk about the rough, testosterone-fueled game of hockey in such raw emotional terms. But whether we admit it or not, everyone who experiences the game feels a similar attachment to it. The images that accompany our game have the ability to tap into a reservoir of memories and emotions that all hockey people share. Let’s tell your story.

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Send your images and stories to me at joe@backyard-hockey.com. Please include your name, hometown, and whatever information you’d like to share about the image. I’ll compile the entries for a future post.

Photos at top courtesy of North60, borevagan, and woodleywonderworks.

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