Home Sweet Home Opener
State Farm Stadium was loud and proud this weekend as the Cardinals put up 41 points against the Rams in Week 2.
Photographing games is slightly different on our home turf with additional requests here and there -- there is a lot going on with a pro football team aside from football -- but let's dive into the guys on the field.
We start every pregame with trying to capture as many "game faces" as possible, as this is pretty much the only time the players have their helmets off.
Sometimes, I'll get intense eye contact that really says "I'm so ready for this game."
Once the helmets go back on, I look for other compositions or things happening on the sideline.
This week, I used my 14-24mm to get a wide view of Marvin Harrison Jr. warming up ...
... before I switched to the 70-200mm to catch Michael Phelps taking in the scenery with his family.
One of my favorite moments of pregame warmups is whenever the players gather for a huddle. I keep an ear out for "Let's go, get in tight!" so I know when I have to quickly get into position.
Paris Johnson Jr. has been a leader in both the offensive line/linebacker huddle (the two positions come together pregame) and the whole team huddles recently, and if you could hear what he was saying in these photos, you'd want to run through a brick wall.
My second favorite pregame activity is capturing locker room moments. Our home locker room is much more spacious, so I feel more comfortable navigating it and searching for the good shots.
From quiet preparation ...
... to small details ...
... to carb loading, I try catch it all.
I whipped out the flash for player introductions this week since I knew I could rely on the rest of our photo team to capture the guys actually running out of the tunnel (shoutout Jeremy, Pete and Gene!)
The shutter drag method definitely is a finicky one, and it doesn't work every time. You can see in the below photo that the angle I had wasn't good enough to match their movement, so it's all just too blurry.
But, when the technique works just right, it creates a really cool effect.
I liked this moment of Marvin right before he was introduced as an Arizona Cardinal for the first time. He looked around and took it all in.
Then there are the veterans in James Conner and Kyler Murray who almost don't stop moving enough for me to capture them.
OK, enough of the build-up. Let's get into the action.
The game started off with a bang, and I could just feel by the energy that it was going to be a wild ride.
Once the Cardinals made it down the field on offense, I chose my shooting position apparently wisely, as evidenced by this sequence of Marvin Harrison Jr.'s first NFL touchdown.
I knew I had captured the moment, but I wasn't sure if I had gotten his whole body in the frame since it all happened so fast. This was a great start to the game!
The best part, of course, was the celebration with Paris Johnson Jr., an homage to their college days.
There wasn't much time in between great plays during this game, which is definitely not a complaint.
A top photo for me is from Dennis Gardeck's first sack of the day:
Marvin's second touchdown happened so fast, I didn't even know which camera I was using.
I missed his run towards the end zone because I grabbed my 14-24mm instead of the 70-200mm that would've been better.
So, while this is all I have of the run ...
... I recovered in time for the celebration with Big Red and Paris part two.
The theme of Week 2 was good old-fashioned football. I was getting photos left and right of the Cardinals putting the Rams down again and again.
Like Trey McBride running a defender's helmet off:
Or Elijah Higgins' smooth touchdown slide and patient wait in the endzone for his celebration buddies:
Cowboy Collins made an appearance:
And Dennis Gardeck's second sack of the day (spoiler alert: there's another one later) led to his classic celebration dance:
Every time the Rams defense came near Kyler, he slipped away in a split second.
In this first photo, you'd think he's about to get taken down, but then you see the second one and notice the defender's look of defeat as Kyler gets out of his grasp for good.
Then he hits a first down celebration for good measure.
Speaking of slipping away, James Conner had his turn during his touchdown where the Rams disappear from the frame of the photos entirely.
I love that you can see coach Jonathan Gannon celebrating with his arm up in the background of the last photo.
There was a lot of emotion after that score, from James' intense screams to a smiling sideline.
James gave us a scare later when he fumbled on his way to the end zone:
But have no fear, Trey McBride is here!
After Trey recovered the ball for a touchdown, I think everyone was feeling a mix of elation and confusion since it happened so fast.
We'll take the points any way we can get them.
Dennis Gardeck's third sack caused a fumble recovered by L.J. Collier.
I was really hoping for a big-man touchdown, but it still was a great play.
It was nice that we basically knew the win was a lock by the time the third quarter ended, so I was able to mentally prepare for the postgame celebrations.
I headed to the tunnel to get GM Monti Ossenfort congratulating each player and coach as they ran off the field:
Music was already blaring in the locker room by the time I got in there, and everyone was having a blast.
Once Gannon entered, he quieted the room down so they could kneel together in prayer, led by defensive quality control coach Ronald Booker:
After Gannon made his speech to the team (short and sweet), they huddled together under captain Budda Baker:
The music was turned back on immediately, and I left the locker room as hyped as ever.
This team is ready to keep the momentum going.
