Super Bowl 2009: Working the Sports Photographer's Angle
by Bill Frakes, February 2009 (updated June 2010)
Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa Bay, FL, was high-powered, exciting, and intense as usual. This was the 17th time I’ve photographed the game for Sports Illustrated. I’m a SI staff photographer and want to share with you a brief running log of how I covered the game. I’ll also share a little of what goes on in order to get the images produced and to New York to be edited for this week’s edition of Sports Illustrated.
Note: All images included in this article link to the hosted images on Sports Illustrated.
My cell phone went off at 7:30am Monday morning, which was entirely too early, since I had gotten back to my room after Sunday night’s Super Bowl at about 4:00am. The important text was from a friend who wanted me to know that she hadn’t been able to pick me out of the crowd of hundreds of photographers covering the game.
There is a good reason why she didn’t spot me. I wasn’t on the field. I was in a seat on the second deck of the stadium. Sports Illustrated sent a big team of photographers to cover the game—John Biever, Walter Iooss Jr., Heinz Kluetmeier, John McDonough, Al Tielemans, Damian Strohmeyer, Johnny Iacono, Simon Bruty, Peter Read Miller, Bob Rosato, and me.
When you’re working with a team, that’s exactly what you have to do. Work as a team. The SI photographers were spread out all over the field and my job was to provide a high, graphic angle of the game’s big plays. Being part of team also means holding your position and taking care of your responsibilities. I was in a position where I couldn’t move. They were counting on me for that angle and to move would have jeopardized the coverage in this case.
When Lamar Woodely forced a Kurt Warner fumble to effectively end the game it unfolded right in front of me (Intro Image)
Similarly, when Santonio Holmes made his amazing sideline catch, Al Tielemans was right in front of him. View photo from Al Tielemans.
Those two photographs illustrate the SI big game coverage philosophy perfectly for me. Different angles—high and low, wide and tight, both important moments—and moments that most if not all of the other SI photographers had as well from a host of different angles.
© Sports Illustrated 2009: Image 2
When Big James Harrison intercepted Kurt Warner and made his epic 100 yard rumble down the sideline to score on the final play of the first half, a number of SI photographers had key vantage points and SI.com was able to post a 15-image gallery that gave our readers a terrific look at what will surely be remembered as one of the great plays in Super Bowl history (Image 2).
View the 15-image gallery of Big James Harrison intercepting Kurt Warner.
Director of Photography, Steve Fine works on his game plan months in advance. He traveled from our offices in NYC to Tampa to attend NFL planning meetings. He selected positions in the stands and on the field. He organized the logistics—with help from photo editors Greg Choat—technology, and Linda Bonefant who coordinated the game week coverage on the ground in Tampa.
Pre-game Preparation
On the morning of the big game I headed to Tampa early. Steve had assigned me to do a portrait gallery of fans—from both teams—heading to the stadium. Laura Heald and I packed the SUV and started to the stadium. Traffic is always intense at NFL games and Super Bowl traffic is certainly no less so. We had opted to stay in Orlando, about a 100 miles from the stadium for a number of reasons. The rooms were less expensive, the congestion easier to manage, it broke up our trip—we live in North Florida and drove to the game—and my coverage responsibilities didn’t start until Saturday so we didn’t need to be in Tampa early.
Gear
We packed the SUV with five cases of gear—high for a football game, but low for most SI jobs.
For the game I packed 4 cameras:
Six Nikkor lens:
I took two 6x Gitzo Carbon Fiber Monopods and a Manfrotto Super Clamp and geared ballhead. I packed 40 Lexar 4GB Compact Flash cards into shipping cases.
© Sports Illustrated 2009
Text ©2009 Bill Frakes. Photos © Sports Illustrated 2009.
Article revised June 2010.
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, February 04, 2009; 12:51 A.M. 
