Small Victories
Even though the Cardinals are 1-7, there were some pretty exciting and photogenic moments during the Week 8 game against the Ravens. Take a journey through the game from my point-of-view, starting with an accidental selfie in Trey McBride's sunglasses:
I'm actually including arrival photos this week because there were a couple of outfits that I'm sure fans would take notice of, like some Diamondbacks appreciation:
And with the game being two days before Halloween, we had some spooky attire as well:
But the winner of the day was definitely Cameron Thomas in his Mr. Incredibles costume:
This week's pregame was not very unique, but I did want to share what is definitely the photo with the most spit this season. I should probably start wearing a rain jacket.
Dennis Gardeck has not forgotten the photo I took of him eating a banana in the locker room, as evidenced by his face this week:
This was rookie Garrett Williams' first home game as a Cardinal, and I noticed him reading a book right before kickoff. The Google results led me to "Mind Gym: An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence," a self-help book outlining how your mindset can affect your performance on the field:
During team introductions, I took a new approach and laid on my stomach so I could get the lowest angle possible. I think the concept was good, but once the giant wall of smoke blew past me, it was hard to focus on anything:
I got a couple of photos that I'm still happy with, but it wasn't until the last player, Budda Baker, ran out that the smoke cleared enough for the photos to really have some contrast:
To round out the pregame photos, I'll end with this shot of Trey McBride that I have captured a couple of times, but never from this direct of an angle. I love the symmetry and the clean background around his face:
We'll start off the game action photos by illustrating the difficulties of capturing plays on the goal line. When Joshua Dobbs lined up right behind the center, I knew I wasn't going to get the clean touchdown photo I always hope for.
As you can see, once the ball is snapped, I lose the quarterback completely. At that point, I just keep watching through my viewfinder for the celebration:
And sometimes, I don't even get the celebration at first! I ended up with the typical celebration photos after this frame, but this one is totally focused on the fans in the background. I think I'll call this a happy accident though, since it does capture the fans' excitement:
During my time as a sports photographer, I've learned that sometimes, you miss big plays but get great angles of bad ones. This almost-interception by Antonio Hamilton was still a great play, but as he even expressed in the second photo, it was thaaaat close:
Speaking of great plays, the strip sack by Zaven Collins happened so fast that I didn't even notice that the ball flew out until I saw all the players running towards the end zone.
Here's the sequence of the sack:
And here's one of the last frames I shot before running to the end zone to try and get the group celebration:
By the time I got over there, the players had mostly stopped celebrating, but Joey Blount saw me and made sure to keep the party going.
Thanks for making my running worth something, Joey!
Something random I noticed after these plays was that these two frames are taken in the exact same spot, with the subject falling in exactly the same place. You'd think that might happen all the time, but honestly this is the first it's happened to me.
Emari Demercado's helmet and left foot almost perfectly line up with Marquise Brown's:
The Cardinals defense has a couple of standout rookies this season. This game marked BJ Ojulari's first NFL sack, one of which I'm very grateful to have gotten a good angle:
I definitely did not think Trey McBride's touchdown was going to end the way that it started. I was using my 400mm to capture him catching the ball and running before quickly realizing that he was not going down easy:
I had to grab my 85mm on my hip and hope to not miss the moment he crossed into the end zone. I ended up being blocked a little bit until he made it fully in, but the next few frames of the celebration were definitely fun ones to capture:
I do not envy NFL defenders. Having to keep track of where the ball is through a camera lens is hard enough; I can't imagine having to do it without being blocked.
During Joshua Dobbs' two-point conversion, he faked the hand-off to Keaontay Ingram and I followed Keaontay for way too long before realizing Joshua had kept the ball and scored.
Budda Baker made his presence known a couple of times this game, and this play was definitely my favorite. He tackles low and the running back gets flipped completely upside down:
My ultimate "OMG" moment was the onside kick recovery by Owen Pappoe. I followed the ball and just kept clicking the shutter to see who ended up with it, and the results look like something out of a renaissance painting:
Postgame, I followed Marquise Brown meeting up with all of his former Ravens teammates.
Another day, another photo essay ending with an Oklahoma Football reunion photo:
