Chiefs Card Stunt

Nov 21, 2011 · In Commercial Photography · By Allison Carenza

Sometimes the stars align and good things happen.  This shoot was just one of those magical moments.  My client Mary  recommended me to Fleishman-Hillard for a job shooting a chiefs game in KC.  When I got the email asking for an estimate I was like woew that's cool, then I was like, wait, what's a card stunt.  A million emails later I got the job!  Luckily the day before the shoot Jon and I did a walk through, so I felt pretty good Sunday morning when we arrived at Arrowhead.  The plan was for Jon to shoot on the north side of the stadium in section 301 and I was to shoot in 324.  So we would be a whole stadium a part.  Luckily representatives from IMG and the USAA were there to help out if a crisis were to come up.  They were both awesome and oh so helpful.

The card stunt was planned to take place during the 3rd timeout.  As soon as the game started Jon headed to the other side of the stadium, and left me to watch carefully for the 2nd timeout so I could get in position.  It came up fast, but I was ready with my camera.  I used my Nikon 14mm lens so I could get a ton of the stadium.  I was ready for the shadows, I was ready for the light, I was ready for the crowd, but I wasn't ready for the pressure.  Maybe it was my imagination but when they announced the start of the stunt, the stadium got silent, the people faded away, and it was me, the loud thud of my heart,  the click of my camera, and one minute to capture 76,000 people holding up cards that were saying something.  I didn't really see the stunt, but it was Amazing!  The single minute felt like seconds as I scrambled up and down the isles to capture different shots.  And then it was over.  We hurried up to the press room and started downloading and editing them to be posted on the web immediately.

This event was fantabulous!  I look forward to pushing myself again soon!