Why did you pick this photo as your favorite out of all you took on Sunday?First, it's always special when one of the "big guys" makes a great play. In this case it was Terrance Knighton tipping a third quarter pass that led to DeMarcus Ware snaring the football out of midair and turning it upfield for three yards. Secondly, the intensity in DeMarcus's eyes tells it all and certainly reflected the personality of Sunday night's game.
It's easy to see their eyes and the expressions on their faces in this shot. How difficult is that to capture?It's more difficult in a night games however, Arrowhead is lit exceptionally well — better than most stadiums for night games. Also, it helped that this play developed on my side of the field and DeMarcus' and Chris' [Harris Jr.] faces were positioned upward and illuminated by the East bank of overhead lights.
This was a hard-fought divisional game with implications as the season goes on. In a broad sense, what story/emotion/mood does this photo tell?As I mentioned earlier, intensity and certainly determination.
Turnovers can happen in a blink of an eye. What challenges arise in these situations, and were there any challenges in getting this particular photo?You are absolutely correct. Terrance Knighton's tipped ball happened in a flash and I was a bit obscured on that portion of the play but I just kept following the action and saw Ware move for the ball. Initially his back or side was facing me so I just stayed focused on him as the play developed.
It was a cold game, especially because of the wind. Do these conditions make it tougher for you to shoot?Yes, concentration is a little more difficult because you are trying to block the idea it's so cold out of your mind. I did wear a light pair of gloves which makes shooting more difficult but by the second half your fingers are pretty well gone. And the wind gusts were moving the long lens around frequently.
What technical specifics did you use in this photo, and did any of those specifically help this photo stand out?The image was photographed on a Nikon D4s DSLR with a 400 mm f 2.8 lens. Exposure was 1000th/sec at f 4.0 at an ISO of 2000. The longer lens with a smaller aperture gave me a nicely compressed image with a bit of a diffused background because of the shallow depth of field so the primary focus was on DeMarcus but still allowing the other players to provide necessary content and composition to the photograph.
Look through the best moments captured on film from Sunday night's big divisional win at Arrowhead Stadium.
