Sunday’s Best
January 19th, 2012
The deal is that if you send me to Kentucky on assignment, I will buy you (and myself) bourbon. (There are other deals in place for Napa, Mexico, Barbados/Jamaica/DR/Haiti/Cuba, Scotland, and Russia). Amazingly
Men's Journal didn't really care about the bourbon, but they sent me to Kentucky anyway to photograph
sportscaster and former Cincinnati Bengals star WR Cris Collinsworth. Cris had just flown back home from his Sunday night gig, and we met up with him at high school football practice where he is a assistant/receivers coach (his son Jack is on the team).
It was tough going early on (it's always hard to shoot coaching during an actual practice, unless its linebackers and the coach is right up in there) but eventually we got some beautiful light and Cris was great to be around despite being tired (he reminded me a lot of my Uncle Eric actually). I brought plenty of strobes not knowing what I would find, but of course we ended up barely using any of them, especially in a final portrait of Cris and his son up in the "home" section of the stands, which felt like a nice metaphor for how it might feel for Cris to return to his family after his constant traveling. You just don't mess with beautiful light when you've gifted it like that.
Afterwards we went back to the Collinsworth home and photographed Cris watching the weekend games and making notes (down in his "man cave" office) for his matchup the following week (can't remember exactly but it was the Vikings vs. someone). I was already a fan of Cris' analysis and I really like his distinctive voice, but I had no clue how much tape and research he puts in all year long. He told me he watches more tape now than he ever did as a player. And for those who are also fans of America's native spirit... my final tally was around $600, including 6 bottles of my absolute favorite:
Vintage 17 year.
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The deal is that if you send me to Kentucky on assignment, I will buy you (and myself) bourbon. (There are other deals in place for Napa, Mexico, Barbados/Jamaica/DR/Haiti/Cuba, Scotland, and Russia). Amazingly Men's Journal didn't really care about the bourbon, but they sent me to Kentucky anyway to photograph sportscaster and former Cincinnati Bengals star WR Cris Collinsworth. Cris had just flown back home from his Sunday night gig, and we met up with him at high school football practice where he is a assistant/receivers coach (his son Jack is on the team).
It was tough going early on (it's always hard to shoot coaching during an actual practice, unless its linebackers and the coach is right up in there) but eventually we got some beautiful light and Cris was great to be around despite being tired (he reminded me a lot of my Uncle Eric actually). I brought plenty of strobes not knowing what I would find, but of course we ended up barely using any of them, especially in a final portrait of Cris and his son up in the "home" section of the stands, which felt like a nice metaphor for how it might feel for Cris to return to his family after his constant traveling. You just don't mess with beautiful light when you've gifted it like that.
Afterwards we went back to the Collinsworth home and photographed Cris watching the weekend games and making notes (down in his "man cave" office) for his matchup the following week (can't remember exactly but it was the Vikings vs. someone). I was already a fan of Cris' analysis and I really like his distinctive voice, but I had no clue how much tape and research he puts in all year long. He told me he watches more tape now than he ever did as a player. And for those who are also fans of America's native spirit... my final tally was around $600, including 6 bottles of my absolute favorite: Vintage 17 year.