White-Hot Winners
The Cardinals literally brought the heat in Week 5 with a win over the 49ers on the road.
We had it all: a flashy start, makeshift shade, end zone poses and a fire finish.
Playing division opponents on the road is always familiar, so it's nice to be able to find new ways to capture the things you've done before.
The icy white uniforms created a great contrast with the shadows in the team tunnel, especially from this angle.
(Ignore the fact that I picked that angle to take refuge from the sun.)
Pregame wasn't much of a "warmup" considering how hot it was (yes, even for the team from Arizona), but I did get an accidental selfie with Joey Blount's visor:
On our way back to the locker room, I saw Trey McBride talking to fans when I realized his mom was one of them. It was a very cute moment of her air-hugging Trey and him showing love before the game.
Jumping back to that familiarity concept, I felt a weird sense of déjà vu when I captured this image ...
And then I discovered where that feeling came from: a year earlier and a different tight end.
The leftover smoke from the 49ers introductions cast an interesting haze over where Kyler Murray was warming up:
And while the harsh sun didn't feel great, it did give me nice light and shadows to play with:
I'll end the pregame segment with the classic coin toss captains walkout pic, this time with honorary captain Greg Dortch and a scene-setting backdrop:
After wirelessly transmitting my photos to our editors, I finally get settled and am ready to shoot the game when Kyler Murray decides to make a 50-yard touchdown run.
I was using my 400mm lens to track who I thought was the ball carrier (spoiler alert: I was wrong), and then I see Kyler out of the corner of my eye and have to quickly refocus on him.
I'm glad I did because I caught him smiling and watching himself score on the jumbotron:
There were almost no cameras in the end zone positioned to capture the celebration, and I tried my best from where I was, but don't really love what I got.
But, because I was on our sideline, I was able to get James and Kyler walking back and hear James say something along the lines of "Let's do that again!"
Arizonans will recognize the misting fans that were on the benches this game. I will admit I was very jealous every time I looked at them.
I have to shoutout our equipment staff who made these shade coverings out of PVC pipe and fabric in preparation for the scorching temperatures.
I'm sure it was difficult holding them up the whole game, and it was funny when they had to lift them up for coaches to speak to the players underneath:
Usually, I like to always have the subject's eyes visible in the photo, but these next two frames are examples of how you can tell a story without relying on the eyes.
Speaking of eyes, take a look at the fear in George Kittle's in my favorite photo from the day:
I had just enough time to catch up with the group celebration to get right in front of them (they were already posing to our videographer, Kevin) but because my camera kept bumping against my phone in my pocket, my shutter setting had gotten all kinds of messed up.
So, I was left with an underexposed image:
But, have no fear, editing is here!
I wasn't able to get great shots of Elijah Higgins' touchdown or James Conner's two-point conversion, but luckily they celebrated together after so it still tells the story:
I was also on the wrong side for Jesse Luketa's forced fumble, but being on the home sideline definitely has its advantages when it comes to celebrations:
Marvin Harrison Jr.'s huge first-down catch was across the field from me, but with my angle I could still get the down marker and the 49ers' sideline praying it would fall incomplete.
It didn't.
The afternoon sun put half of the field in shadow which gave more contrast to the players facing towards me.
I love this shot for that reason, but also because you can see the defender in Kyler's visor:
I knew I had to get into the perfect position for Chad Ryland's field goal, and while I would have preferred to be on the other side, I was happy to catch the big moment:
And the biggest moment of all, Kyzir White's game-sealing interception.
I had dropped off my 400mm lens so I could be quicker on my feet for postgame, and that was the best decision I made all game.
I was able to catch Kyzir landing with the ball and a couple frames of the group celebrating using my 70-200mm lens, which was the perfect focal length for the situation:
Once I saw them running, I ran too.
I grabbed my 14-24mm lens on my other shoulder and started snapping away as my feet kept moving.
It felt like something out of a movie.
Even better, Michael Bidwill and Monti Ossenfort were making their way onto the field at that exact same time, so they were able to join in on the fun:
Roy Lopez and Budda Baker politely dismissed the 49ers fans from the stadium, how nice of them:
In contrast, Bilal Nichols took the solemn approach in what I interpret as a sigh of relief:
The celebration was just beginning.
Postgame, I followed Kyler as he greeted players and then found quarterbacks coach Israel Woolfork:
I then moved towards the tunnel to catch players coming off the field.
Tag yourself, I'm Dadrion Taylor-Demerson:
Monti took his post-win position and greeted every player and coach as they walked (or ran, or jumped for joy) back to the locker room:
The locker room was a big party by the time I got in there, smiles galore:
It got even rowdier when coach Jonathan Gannon came in:
The best part of Gannon's speech was when he recognized newbie Chad Ryland for sealing the deal with his field goal.
The team made sure to bring him into the middle of the group and show some love:
After a group prayer and huddle speech by James Conner, it was back to celebrating.
I thought this photo was going to be the last one of the day ...
... until Joey Blount sprayed water bottles all over us:
You can see James Conner's face in that above photo as he's shocked by the water.
He joked "C'mon, it's not like we won the Super Bowl or anything."
Not yet, anyway ...
