Football Fever

On February 3, millions of viewers will tune in to watch the Baltimore Ravens play the San Francisco 49ers in the Superbowl.

How do you capture in a still image the intensity of watching a football game like the Superbowl where the fans are on the edge of their seats?

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Garry Winogrand, Dallas, Texas, 1974 (117.1981.j)

Although not known for sports photography, Garry Winogrand was able to evoke the adrenaline rush of a single play executed in a packed stadium with fans anxiously awaiting what happens in his photo.

Also attesting to Winogrand’s photographic skill was his ability to catch all 22 players in motion on the field. Winogrand is famously quoted as saying that if he saw something familiar in his viewfinder, he would “do something to change it.” In this image, he cleverly tilted his camera to change the ordinary image into a powerful shot.

Why was Winogrand at the football game? Although Winogrand was originally from New York, he was likely cheering on team from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was on the faculty for a number of years.

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3 Responses to Football Fever

  1. Fonzy Shazam says:

    Like the site and this post, but the caption of you picture is wrong actually. The location is Dallas, TX as this is from the annual OU-TX game played annually in Dallas.

    Boomer Sooner!

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