ProCase Sports

I’ve been photographing Chicago Bears games on the sidelines since 1998. The challenge of a sports photographer is trying to position yourself to capture “the big shot”. For the first twenty years of being a sideline photographer, I could go anywhere I chose. However, in the last couple of seasons the Bears have assigned certain field locations to each photographer. There are five Bears’ photographers, so each of us would essentially be responsible for one quarter of the field. Most of the time I’m in the northwest corner. My job is to capture the plays that took place between the Bears’ bench and the goalpost in that corner. Sometimes it can get a little boring when the action happens on the other end of the field, but when they come my way I better be ready! I want to make sure I do the best I can when the action is in my quarter of the field!

A few of my buddies on the sidelines have nicknamed me “the magnet” because they say that all of the action always happens right in front of me! Now that’s not how it always plays out, but we like to tease each other while having fun on the sidelines.

In 2005 the Bears played the 49ers on a sunny, yet extremely windy day. It was a challenge just keeping the cameras steady in the wind. It was entertaining watching the kickers trying to do their job in that wind. In the last minute before halftime, the 49ers had been driving down the field, heading towards the south endzone. The drive stalled and they were going to attempt about a 50-yard field goal with a couple of seconds left on the clock. The majority of the photographers headed to the tunnel including myself. We wanted to get a head start at downloading photos and grabbing a bite to eat. When I got to the tunnel I stopped and decided to watch the field goal attempt from the north endzone. I wanted to see where the ball would go in that wind. The ball went wide to the left, but Nathan Vasher had positioned himself in that endzone. Nathan caught the ball and took off up the east sideline. Brian and Peanut cleared the way for him. I started to shoot the play when I saw it develop, I have about fifty images of the play developing from one endzone to the other where I was standing. That play became the longest return in NFL history at the time. I was the only photographer standing in that endzone.

That was a good decision that I made!

In the past when I wasn’t assigned a certain area on the field to take pictures from, I could be seen standing by myself away from the action. I would gamble on a big play developing in the far endzone away from all of the action. Many friends of mine would take a picture from the stands of me all by myself in the far endzone, and they’d tell me I looked so lonely. My goal has always been to have the best shot of the game, every game I shoot is sports history by the way.

On December 23, 2007, the greatest rivalry in sports history, the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers, were battling it out at Soldier Field again. Brett Favre has ripped the Bears apart so many times, but on that day this wasn’t the case. The Packers came in with a 12-3 record, while the Bears were 6-9. This was a day dominated by the Bear’s defense! The Bears were up 27-7 with eleven minutes left in the 4^th quarter. I was parked in the south endzone and the Packers started a drive on their own twenty-yard line. Favre had the Packers moving down the field. As the line of scrimmage moved towards the north endzone, so did the photographers. They all wanted to follow the ball and get as close as they can to the action. Knowing this was a great day for the Bears defense, I decided to stay in the south endzone. Maybe the Bears defense would cause a turnover, and I would get the shot! Well, the drive continued and the Packers made their way to the Bear’s twenty-five yard line. My hope of a turnover wasn’t likely to happen at this point, so I thought I should make my way down to where the action was at. Over the years I’ve had too many pictures of Favre lighting up the Bears, but I made the decision to head down the field anyway. I knew to move eighty yards down the field, it would be at the cost of missing one play, but I took that chance. I took off down the east sideline and watched the action on the jumbotron while I was walking. I’ll never forget that moment, I was behind the Packers bench heading north and I saw on the big screen Brett setting up for a pass. He drilled a pass right into the arms of Brian Urlacher! I watched Brian run that interception back eighty-five yards into the south endzone right where I was standing sixty seconds earlier. It was Brian’s first interception returned for a TD, and it was against Brett Favre!

There wasn’t one photographer in that endzone! A couple of days later Brian called me and asked me where was I during that play? I told him I was behind the Packers bench on my way to where the action was going to be! He told me if I was in the endzone he would have posed for me and probably would have handed me the ball! Those are the chances I have to take!

That was a bad decision that I made!