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It was a welcome surprise for Charlotte, North Carolina-based photographer Andar Sawyers when the NFL contacted him through his website to work on a shoot for their ticket exchange campaign. The assignment was to photograph Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera. From there, the relationship took off, resulting in several high-profile photo shoots with NFL athletes Luke Kuechly and Greg Olson.
For the first shoot, Andar worked with a video crew that was filming a commercial to run during the games. His assignment was not only to take portraits of the coach but also to capture moments of surprise when unexpected fans got to meet him. The portraits proved to be more difficult as Andar had to stay alert to find his moments between the excitement of the situation and the filming video crew.
Given the success of the first shoot, the NFL Shop asked Andar to return a few weeks later for another assignment. Once again, he found himself working with a video production team, this time on Panther linebacker Luke Kuechly. Before the shoot, Andar met with the agency’s creatives to discuss what they were looking for in the images. So he had a clear idea of what needed to happen.
We had two setups and I had roughly five minutes per set with Luke. This meant I had to shoot fast and know exactly when we got the shot we were looking for.
The third shoot occurred the following weekend. Andar photographed Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator and coaching legend Greg Olson for the NFL’s Breast Cancer Awareness campaign. Andar had grown accustomed to collaborating with the video crew. He had developed assertiveness to capture the shots desired by the creative team. However, this shoot demanded a different approach. Alongside capturing Greg interacting and playing with children, Andar also had the task of re-creating scenes for stills after the video crew had finished their work.
I am always grateful for new clients and new projects. I enjoy photographing athletes and movement so I was very happy to work with the NFL, and I look forward to future projects with them!
To see more of Andar’s work on his website.
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