As a sports photographer, shooting your home team ahead of a World Cup is right up there with the bucket list jobs.
This summer was a pretty special one for English football. Watching the country get behind the team and make it all the way to the semi-finals was a great reminder of the effect sport can have on a nation. It brings people together, creates shared experiences and gives everyone something to get behind.
That’s one of the reasons I love photographing sport. It’s never just about the athlete or the game it’s about the feeling around it.
Dark Horses came up with a great concept: make the images feel like press photographs taken straight after a match, with the players gathered in the changing room watching a goal replay on a Google Pixel. The challenge was getting genuine celebrations in the short amount of time we had.
The solution? Play them absolute screamers.
We edited together a compilation of some of England’s best goals and played it back during the shoot. It didn’t take long. The reactions were real, the celebrations followed, and we had our moments. A pretty simple idea, but sometimes that’s all you need.
I’ve included a few behind-the-scenes shots from the day alongside the final images.
Massive thanks to everyone who helped make it happen.
Shot for Google Pixel.
Production — Double Dice Films
Creative — Dark Horses
Executive Producer — Charles S. Gordon
Production Manager — Shay Khelifa
Retouch — I Am A Retoucher
Lighting — Lawrence Atkin
Digital — Jonny Clarke
