All photos ©Al Macphee/MiraclePR
With Super Bowl 2023 coming up this weekend, I decided I would shake things up a bit and cover some American football. Now, the UK season doesn’t start until April, so I got in touch with the Torbay Trojans, our local American football team, who happened to be training in Plymouth last Sunday.
Shooting American football is in many ways similar to shooting rugby and ‘soccer’, and the tips I provide in my book, So, You Want To Be A Sports Photographer? will still apply.
However, there are some extra tips that will come in handy if you fancy covering an American football match for the first time.
Tip 1: Do your homework
I knew that there would be some similarities between American football and rugby, a sport I have covered many times, but I also knew there would be important differences. Turning up to a Trojans training session was the ideal preparation for covering a game, because it gave me a chance to learn how players move and position themselves during plays.
I learned that deceiving your opponent is central to the sport, making it challenging, as a photographer, to know exactly where the ball is going to go. However, by memorising a range of favourite plays, you can more easily keep up with play.
If you don’t have the opportunity to attend a practise session, try and observe a whole game (in person, not on TV) before shooting one.
Tip 2: Identify the quarterback
If you’re working for the press and have just ten minutes to take a decent shot and get away, a great tip is to identify the quarterback. Quarterbacks are the players at the heart of every play and see the most of the ball. They usually stand behind the centre to receive the ball at each ‘snap’, and they will then either run with the ball or pass it.
And if you don’t even have time to ask the coaching staff who the quarterback is, just look for the loudest, most conspicuous player on the field.
Tip 3: Be extra careful with your background
Managing your background is always vital in sports photography, but shooting American football in the UK is complicated even further because anything obviously ‘British’, like soccer goalposts, just doesn’t look right.
If you are faced with terrible backgrounds, you can use a wide aperture to minimise your depth of field and blur it out. Another trick is to shoot from a very low angle and use the sky as a backdrop. This can also add to the drama of a shot.
Tip 4: Capture the drama
The success or failure of a play hinges on dramatic moments of power and pace. Whether its a defender sacking the quarterback before they can throw their pass or a wide receiver powering towards the end zone, you want to capture those key events.
Set your camera on burst mode, using a high frame rate, to give you the most number of shots to select from. After the game, carefully go through each frame until you find the shot that best captures the drama of the game. Take a look at my blog post on selecting the best shots from a series.
Tip 5: Be prepared to travel…and to wait
Compared to soccer and rugby, the American football is less developed in the UK. This means that you are likely to have to travel to catch a full game, especially if you live outside of a major city or want to follow a full season.
You will also have to wait to take in a competitive game. The British American Football Association (BAFA) season runs opposite America’s National Football League (NFL) season, with the first games taking place in April. However, if you reach out to your local clubs, you might find they have a friendly lined up.
On the plus side, you have plenty of time to brush up on the sport by attending training sessions. And on that note, a huge thanks to the Torbay Trojans for their warm welcome and patience as I set up the shots for this blog! Good luck for the season ahead.
Want to give American football a shot?
Torbay Trojans coach Simon Porter is busy building a team for the upcoming BAFA season, so if you’re looking to get involved as a player, you can reach out to him via the Torbay Trojans Facebook page.
“It’s a unique sport,” said Porter. “A lot of people make the comparison to rugby because of the shape of the ball and the physical contact. But what people don’t always realise is that it’s a very tactical game. Every play, the two teams are trying to outsmart each other. So it’s not just about big blokes smashing into each other. I admit it’s not easy to understand if you’ve never seen it before, but it’s a very deep, tactical sport.
“From a playing point of view, there are positions for every shape and size. There are people who need to have good ball skills and be quick, nimble and hard to catch. Then there are the bigger guys. So it’s got something for everybody and we’re happy for anybody to turn up. There’s absolutely no discrimination in American football. We’ve got two female players who have played with us for a couple of seasons now and get game time. The league allows all genders to play in the same team.
“In our league, we will play four different teams twice each. Our two closest are the Cornish Monarchs and Somerset Wyverns, but we also play inter-Conference games. So we will play two games against Swindon who are at the same level but in a different Conference.”
I look forward to catching a game or two!