How this photo of Travis Kelce’s Super Bowl LVII touchdown nearly went so, so wrong
Editor’s note: Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes says the throw he made to tight end Travis Kelce in Super Bowl LVII was his favorite pass play of the game. Star photojournalist Nick Wagner was mere yards away from Kelce’s catch but almost missed the shot.
As a field-level photographer at Super Bowl LVII, I feel like I had the best seat — err, chunk of slippery turf — in the stadium for the Kansas City Chiefs’ first score against the Philadelphia Eagles.
And I nearly blew it.
You see, no other sports assignment compares to covering the Super Bowl. So I definitely had the zoomies running the sideline as I followed the Chiefs first-quarter scoring drive. My dog would’ve approved.
As I ran from position to position on the sideline, my legs brushed repeatedly against the focus ring of the 70-200mm Z-series zoom lens I was using on loan from Nikon. I’m pretty good about finding breaks in the action to pre-focus my wide-angle and medium-telephoto lenses on the goal-line pylon in anticipation of capturing an incoming touchdown. This time I forgot to do that. Again, zoomies.
So with 7:04 to play in the first quarter, I framed Mahomes through my 400mm telephoto lens downfield as he received the snap. I saw his eyes briefly look left and then he quickly looked my way as his favorite target, tight end Travis Kelce, ran an out route before cutting up toward the end zone, leaving Eagles safety Marcus Epps in the dust. Mahomes floated the ball over Epps’ head and into Kelce’s hands for an 18-yard touchdown.
Before the play unfolded, I set myself up about 10 yards from the back corner of the end zone. As I watched Mahomes shift his eyes toward my side of the field, I brought my secondary camera to my eye. The first frame I made was so bad. Because I forgot to pre-focus my lens on the goal line it was totally back focused on the crowd at the opposite end of the field more than 120 yards away. Probably a fireable offense.
Luckily the top-of-the-line Nikon Z9 camera I was using features something called phase-detection autofocus (technological voodoo), so in less than half a second the focus snapped into place. New technology was my saving grace. I got the shot (and still have my job).
Now come Monday, in a rematch of Super Bowl LVII between the Chiefs and Eagles, if the KC offense runs this play again, I’ll be ready for it.
See how the play unfolded in the sequence of photos below.
