NFL

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  Dawson-Bettis

  One of my favorite portrait adventures: The story was an SI feature on Steelers HOF center Dermontti Dawson who blocked for Jerome "The Bus" Bettis. I had a platform built for the shoot and bought the front grill of a school bus as a background. I had to run out into the middle of practice at Three Rivers (in front of Bill Cowher!) and get Dawson into his down position to measure his height, then just before the shoot I ran into Bettis in the hall and talked him into getting into uniform to clown around behind his lineman. The picture that ran? Dawson without Bettis, with the bus photoshopped out!!!

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  Josh Norman

  After a 2016 trip to the Super Bowl, Panthers cornerback Josh Norman had his franchise tag rescinded and was released, leading to his signing with the Washington Redskins. This was a portrait shot in a tiny storage closet at the Redskins practice facility.

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  Malcolm Jenkins

  This was the third time I'd shot Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins, the second time involving his men's apparel line. The retail store he was set to open was bare, with only a few items even available to display. But the space was a dramatic maze of great shapes and colors...I told him to forget the apparel shop and rent it out as a photo studio. Always personable a professional, he seemed shocked by how the space appeared in pictures.

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  Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders

  Think what you want about NFL Cheerleaders (most photographer's just spend their Sundays dodging them on the sidelines) but the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are the best.

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  William Leonard

  There is something about the midseason, mid-game texture of a football uniform. During a Jets game I spent following around Leonard Williams, you notice the little details of a violent, solitary job.

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  Mike Tomlin

  The morning of his first workout as Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin met Peter King and me in Mt. Washington for a sunrise portrait overlooking the city. He looks relaxed, but this was clearly not his first choice for a day-one distraction. I saw him several years later at an Antonio Brown shoot and we chatted about the morning...."Man," he said, "that was almost ten years ago!" Time flies indeed.

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  DeSean Jackson

  You often hear that professional athletes don't care...well after DeSean Jackson was traded away from the Eagles in what appeared to be a personality dispute with the coach, Jackson returned with his Redskins team to clinch the division on the Eagles home field...DeSean left the field caring!

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  EYP

  The Eagles Youth Partnership hired me several times to create images for their BookMobile and EyeMobile vehicle wraps. The selling point to the players of course was that they needed to make reading and wearing glasses seem cool. The players always straggled in as they always do for a portrait shoot, looking reluctant and resigned to their fate. But once they got into the shoot and started pitching ideas themselves they were unstoppably generous with their time. Eagles Brandon Boykin (left) and Connor Barwin and Jason Kelce stole the show.

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  Matthew Stafford

  Preseason games can be brutal to shoot. There's a lot of going-through-the-motions by star players, and a lot of bad football by the wannabe's. Finding something to shoot outside the lines to salvage the day is key. I noticed the sun peeking through the Baltimore's upper deck vomitory and slid into the tunnel behind the visiting Lions. With a preseason roster bulging with nobodies, I found QB Matthew Stafford looking over his shoulder at just the right time.