The G.O.A.T
As a photographer, we meet many different people from business owners and tradesmen to athletes and actors.
Jerry Rice, Retired San Francisco 49er wide receiver and NFL Hall of Famer.
Recently I was asked to photograph Jerry Rice, a retired San Francisco 49er wide receiver, NFL Hall of Famer, and one of the athletes that I watched growing up. I have a great friend Stephanie Suddarth who is now the general manager of his energy drink company called G.O.A.T. fuel (Greatest of All Time). His daughter is the president. I was asked to travel to the Bay Area to make some marketing and PR images of Jerry for social media usage. So I spent Thursday evening and Saturday morning photographing him during various activities.
During the Saturday morning session, I was able to shoot individual images of him.
Saturday's location was a brand new hotel in Silicon Valley. When I arrived I scouted out a gray area in the parking garage that I could use to make my portraits. As the morning progressed and I was photographing the various events, Jerry turned and said, “Hey, let's do those images now. I have 20 minutes before I have to leave.” Thank goodness I had scouted out my spot and planned out what I wanted to do. My assistant Skip and I hurried over and set up five portrait scenarios in about eight minutes. Jerry came over, and we were able to make about 200 images in 12 minutes. All the scenarios except for one worked out.
This is the area I scouted when we arrived. Having Skip as my assistant sets my mind at ease. He is so good at what he does.
After we finished, I shared the story with Jerry about how my father had a personalized license plate that said RICEDAY. I kept them after my father's passing and have had them in the garage for years. I brought them to show Jerry and he was happy to sign them. They will make for some good conversation pieces.
My dad and I watched the 49ers for decades, his license plates are a testament to it.
One of the takeaways from the assignment is to know your gear and have a plan going into a shoot. Be ready to go. If I had tried things I hadn't done or wasn't comfortable with my equipment, it could've been a disaster.