On the first play of the memorable November 15, 2010 win over the Redskins, wide receiver DeSean Jackson burned safety LaRon Landry and the entire Redskins defense for an 88-yard touchdown. Eagles photographer Brian Garfinkel captured the photo above. He shares the story of how he captured it ...
"When we have multiple photographers at a game, we play zone coverage. This was the first play of the game. I wasn't even in position yet because I think I might have been too close to one of the other shooters. But the play started, so I stopped and started shooting. I got down on my knees so I could get a lower perspective and a more ideal angle. I was still finding my bearings when I saw the ball go in the air. I just followed DeSean Jackson coming down. I was lucky that I had all my exposures set from pre-game and that I was able to keep everything in focus.
"It was raining that night, so I put a raincoat over the camera to keep it protected. You have your hands inside the raincoat, so you don't have the same amount of control. It does add a little bit of complexity because you're used to being able to move your hands anywhere. You're a little bit more limited.
"I was happy with the way everything ended up being framed - how I got the defender in there, DeSean's full body in there and the ball falling perfectly into his hands. Most of the action shots that I shoot are with a 400 millimeter lens. It's a fixed length. You can't zoom in or out. The frame is the frame. It's more about making sure that you're keeping what you want to keep in focus, and you're not cutting out important stuff. I definitely chose to get DeSean in focus instead of the defender. If that play happens 20 yards closer to me, I would have been shooting with the same lens and the same zoom. I probably would've had to cut off DeSean's legs and I would not have gotten as much of the defender in the frame.
"It's especially hard when something impactful happens at the beginning of a game because you just hope that play ends up being meaningful. If DeSean and Michael Vick didn't have the game that they had and the Eagles did not win, the picture, although it's a great picture, would be so much less meaningful. When you get a picture, you try not to get too excited until after the game to truly know if it's significant or not."
