Photographers Pick Their Favorites (and Jay Townsend)

Jay Townsend at work

This seems appropriate for today in the formerly US (for those of you who aren't from here, or who don't follow sports, it's Super Bowl Sunday): "How'd they get that shot? Our photographers' favorite NFL photos of the season—and the stories behind them," a "Backstory" feature in USA Today by Nicole Carroll. (With a title that long, I guess I don't have to explain what the article is about.)

[UPDATE Monday: "A reformed football fan" (who normally posts as "Speed") wrote yesterday: "Sometime tomorrow, let us know who won. And for me, let us know who played." For Speed and others in the very narrow demographic of those who a.) care who won but b.) not enough to look it up themselves, the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23–20. It was an entertaining game but not an especially well-played one.

L.A. wide receiver Cooper Kupp was MVP, on the heels of what Sporting News called "one of the greatest single seasons by a receiver in NFL history...Kupp was magnificent in 2021, averaging 114.5 receiving yards per game while tallying 145 receptions for 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns—all NFL highs, making him the first player to achieve the receiving triple crown since 2005."

Apropos of nothing, softspoken L.A. quarterback Matthew Stafford is married to...wait for it...a blonde cheerleader. My brother Scott once saw a dog peeing on a fire hydrant and commented, "that's such a cliché." Despite the cliché aspect, they appear to be a genuine and loving couple, which was nice to see in interviews. They have four daughters; I hope Matthew is retired by the time they all become teenagers, because that sounds like it's going to be a full-time handful.

There were several injuries on the field but no players barrelled into photographers that I know of.]

Through TOP, I got to know the late Michael McCaskey, who succeeded his grandfather George Halas as President of the Chicago Bears. An enthusiastic amateur photographer, Michael obviously had very good access to the Bears, and his favorite football photographs of his own were a sequence of action shots of a touchdown catch taken from the end zone. They were similar to some of these. Michael and I attended a number of local photo shows together in the Midwest, and he treated me to a Bears game every year when I lived in Wisconsin.

I also got to know Jack MacDonough, who was on the Board of the Packers for many years (might still be, I'll have to ask him). Jack's spectacular Packers photos, in huge enlargements, are featured prominently at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Seeing a Packers game at Lambeau is the secular American football version of a holy rite, which I got to experience, on a perfect day, thanks to Jack.

Sports photography?
The story also made me think of my friend Jay Townsend, who attends a lot of sporting events as a professional photographer. But Jay frequently mystifies his fellow photographers—he'll shoot madly in certain situations, some of which don't seem to have anything in common, then stay quiet at what everyone else thinks is the peak of the action.

This is an example of what Jay considers a successful sporting event shot:

The reason? Jay works for Leidos, created when Science Applications International Corporation was split into two separate companies in 2013. Leidos sponsors many prestigious sporting events, and Jay's job is to document the company's sponsorship displays. "Rule of thumb: If players are near our logo, fire away. If the players are anywhere else, I don’t bother putting the camera up to my face." Take a look at his self-portrait at the top of this post. When I commented about the background, Jay replied, "on brand 24/7."

It's a good job, though, and Jay and his wife Mary have a plethora of engaging photographic and artistic interests. For "ordinary" people with ordinary budgets, they're serious art collectors, for one thing.

The problem with TV
I don't get to watch the Super Bowl today. Haven't had a television since 2014. I just don't like it enough to pay for it, and the avalanche of ads gets to be like torture to me. Today is probably the day I miss it the most.

But I learned my lesson. The first time I experimented with not having a TV was a period of about a year in the 1980s. On the day before a Super Bowl in which the Washington Commanders (under their former name) were competing—I lived in D.C. at the time—I gave in and bought myself a television just before the game. I saw a memorable Super Bowl—Doug Williams threw for 340 yards as the first Black quarterback both to start and also to win a Super Bowl, and the Redskins won a 42–10 blowout, which means that we Washington fans were the only people in the country who enjoyed the game.

No problem with that. But then, three weeks later, I found myself watching reruns of "Bewitched" at two o'clock in the morning.

That's the problem with television right there. One day you're watching something you really want to see, and then some indeterminate amount of time later you're slouched like a zombie in front of something absolutely meaningless just because Elizabeth Montgomery was such a babe. (I almost wrote, "...was so bewitching," but even I have my limits.)

If you're watching today, enjoy the game. I'm rooting for the Bengals because the city of Cincinnati has never won a Super Bowl, and also for Matthew Stafford because he seems to be a nice guy and a family man and he's never won a Super Bowl. I wish Barry Sanders had had the same opportunity Matthew has today. Either way it goes, can't lose. 

Mike

Book o' the Week:

Ernst Haas: New York in Color 1952–1962. "When Haas moved from Vienna to New York City in 1951, he left behind a war-torn continent and a career producing black-and-white images. For Haas, the new medium of color photography was the only way to capture a city pulsing with energy and humanity. These images demonstrate Haas's tremendous virtuosity and confidence with Kodachrome film and the technical challenges of color printing."

This book link is a portal to Amazon.

Today at B&H Photo

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Comments

[James]

Hi Mike, I think you have it wrong.
Today is all about the ads - the game is just the method of delivery.

[robert e]

There are six live streaming services (i.e., TV over internet) plus NBC's own PeacockTV, and they all have free trial periods. (Peacock has been running so many promotions that there's a 50-50 chance that you qualify for a free account anyway.) By my count that's good for seven super bowls. Maybe you'll get sucked into that rabbit hole, but only as long as the free trial period (remember to cancel right after the game).

Here's a list that's only missing peacocktv.com

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/best-live-tv-streaming-service-for-cord-cutters/

[ASW]

Try www.nflbite.com to watch the game.

I've been using this website for quite a while now, including when I lived overseas, and as far as I can tell there are no issues (outside of the fact that being a Chicago Bears fan is pure torture).

We have a TV, but our home is surrounded by hills and heavy tree cover so we don't get any over the air signal. Instead we borrow movies and TV shows that *we* want to watch (currently on Season 6 of The Office) from our local public library. I would rather make an annual donation to the library than pay for cable or streaming services.

[Chuck Albertson]

I'm with you. My TV died in the middle of the 2016 Presidential campaign, and I never bothered to replace it.

[Speed]

Sometime tomorrow, let us know who won. And for me, let us know who played.

-- A reformed football fan :)

[Jack Mac]

Mike, I had no TV when the first men landed on the moon*.

I listened to the first man walk on the moon on the radio.

*I bet your dad had a better view?

[Jack, my dad wasn't at NASA way back then. He was a Ford appointee. But I saw the moon landing on TV! --Mike]

[Moose]

". . . the avalanche of ads gets to be like torture to me."

Weird thing; the only ads we ever see are on PBS!

We subscribe to several streaming services, all for a total much less than we were paying for Dish TV. None of those services have ads — that's part of what we're paying for.

I remember years ago wishing there were a way to pay to get rid of commercials. And it's come true!

Except for PBS, where every show is preceded by the same ad for Viking Cruises. It can't be stopped, skipped, whatever. Fortunately, the mute button works.

"I found myself watching reruns of "Bewitched" at two o'clock in the morning."

My condolences, Fortunately we don't suffer from that here. In fact, streaming lets us watch only what we want, when we want — wonderful control.

[Thomas Mc Cann]

to me the internet and youtube are the real time sinks.

[For me too, although the ads on YouTube are pouring cold water on that. The main things I am thankful for are pool and snooker matches. YouTube has made it easy to watch a lot of matches that would be inaccessible or difficult to watch otherwise. I've even started watching games like 1-ball and 3-cushion that were only hazy rumors in pre-YouTube days.

Pool aside, I actively seek out good content on YouTube. It's in there, but it's not terribly easy to find. As I've written before, my friend Al Gorithm thinks he knows me well but he really doesn't know me at all. --Mike]

[Albert Smith]

Huh, what game? Is that like a sport thing?

[It is. It is a very sport thing. --Mike]

[JimK]

My TV died in the middle of the 2016 Presidential campaign, and I never bothered to replace it.

Died, Chuck??? Or was it murder? :)

[Dave]

Mike,

Although I watched about half of the first half of the game, I listened to most of the second half on BBC5 radio via internet.

Video wasn't available in the U.S., just posts every so often on the "American football" site of BBC.com

The Brits did a pretty good job. A couple of ex-NFL players helped, but the minimum of exaggeration was refreshing to hear.

[Herman Krieger]

A look at college sports-
"Hirer Education"
members.efn.org/~hkrieger/sport.htm

[KeithB]

I am not sure whether it was the ball or a player that did it, but during one of the 5-6 tries to get a touchdown in the last minutes of the game, one of the attempts was a pass thrown high past the endzone. I saw a lot of photographers and glass go every which way.

[Moose]

"UPDATE Monday"

ZZZzzzzzzzzz TBDR, or is it DCDR?

OTOH, the Superb Owl photos on the
Atlantic web were a real treat.

[Speed]

"A reformed football fan" (who normally posts as "Speed") here ...

I accidently hit the Super Bowl channel exactly three minutes after the game ended and learned that Cincinnati lost to some other team by three points. Or runs. Or downs. Or something.

[They lost by three wickets in the final heat. Game, set, match. --Mike]

[Speed]

A reformed football fan (who normally posts as "Speed") here again ...

My wife (who is a big football fan) and I enjoy watching Olympic Curling. Perhaps that is enough to remove me from the sports-luddite party.

[I feel you are a prime candidate to become a cue sports fan. Test the waters by watching a 147 clearance by O'Sullivan. --Mike]