Charged Up
The Cardinals' Week 7 game seemed like something out of an alternate reality: black uniforms, open roof, Monday night and a Los Angeles team not called the Rams.
No need to pinch yourself, it wasn't all a dream. The Cardinals came out with a primetime win, and I left with a couple of nice photos.
Since it wasn't too hot by Phoenix standards, I decided to photograph player arrivals outside. Marvin Harrison Jr. was all smiles as he entered, and Budda Baker showed up and out per usual.
Trey McBride walked up holding a Starbucks drink that he had accidentally been given at the drive thru, and since he didn't want it, I took it off his hands.
For the good of the team, of course.
While I was getting my cameras ready inside, I saw Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill sporting some flashy footwear and had to investigate.
I found out later that Divaad "Newt" Wilson had bought the sneakers for Michael as a gift; one that they both definitely enjoyed.
The primetime game brought out a different type of star in UFC/WWE athletes Tracy Cortez, "Suga" Sean O'Malley and Baron Corbin. Fun fact: Corbin once played for the Cardinals!
I captured their on-field experience that included some custom jerseys:
The alternate black uniforms always look clean, but I was excited to see them under the lights and amid more darkness than usual.
I think Budda was too:
The open roof let the sky reflect off of the black helmets, and the lights were making the red "Texas flakes" really pop:
With my trusty 14-24mm wide lens, I was able to capture the open roof in the same composition as warmups:
The "Desert Viking" Hjalte Froholdt made his pregame huddle debut, and his long hair and tattoos definitely gave a new look this week.
I've started to notice some new pregame rituals in the locker room, one being Jesse Luketa putting a towel over his head and sitting in thought.
This week, I was able to capture the action and the reaction:
A new one this week was James Conner in eye black.
I'm not sure of the motivation, but if it had anything to do with his in-game performance, I say keep it up.
I took the high-five tunnel angle for introductions this week, which was a newer perspective but difficult to capture the guys running out.
It's also a lot further back than I'm used to, so by the time they got to me, they weren't really showing any emotion like they do immediately out of the tunnel.
I did get prompted to return a couple of high-fives though, so that was fun.
Since I was at midfield, I was close enough to run over to the end zone and catch some guys praying.
And then Paris Johnson Jr. screaming:
I stuck around for Kyler Murray to walk back before the National Anthem, and I really like this wide photo I got including the open roof:
There was a little bit of confusion on the timing during the coin toss captains walk, but it worked in my favor since I then had more time to get some cool images:
The first quarter was anticlimactic and ended with a 0-0 score.
So, the first action photos I'll show you are from Greg Dortch's second-quarter touchdown:
I was in the perfect position for the action, and without knowing it, the celebration.
Dortch made his way to the fans in the Casitas area to bring them in on the joy:
The defense definitely earned their paycheck this week, and I tried my best to capture their big moments.
At halftime, I waited to get some shots of the players walking back to the locker room and captured Marvin Harrison Jr. with the dark night sky above him thanks to the open roof:
The worst part of any game is when a player gets injured. I usually avoid photographing these experiences, but when Dennis Gardeck went down, I turned focus to his teammates coming together and kneeling in prayer for him.
I was on the opposite corner of the end zone for Kyler Murray's touchdown run, but I was still able to capture him smiling the whole way down:
I switched from my 400mm to my wide angle as the offense made their way back to the bench after celebrating:
Blake Gillikin's punt and Joey Blount excellent downing at the 1 led to a cute celebration by their teammates.
(I taught them everything they know 📸)
Of course I captured James Conner running literally all over the field this week.
I feel like most of those photos are pretty par for the course, but this one is my favorite.
It's from the last run that put the team close to game-winning field goal position:
I stayed near the team bench to get ready for the field goal and celebration.
I caught Kyler Murray meeting up with coach Jonathan Gannon and Trey McBride screaming his head off as the special teams crew made their way out:
I was only able to get one frame off before sprinting to the middle of the field ...
... where the team was hoisting up kicker Chad Ryland for sealing the deal:
Enter post-game celebrations!
For a glimpse of what my face looked like during these festivities, you can look at our social media manager Janay in the background of this one:
Everywhere I turned in the locker room, someone was being hugged. It was very wholesome:
After huddling for the team prayer, Kelvin Beachum stayed kneeled down, which I just thought was a cool image:
To the shock of literally no one, James Conner was presented with the game ball.
In case any haters out there thought he might not have deserved it, he sweat off all of that aforementioned eye black and his jersey looked like this:
The message in the locker room huddle is always the same.
Great job today, but tomorrow, we look forward.
