This week’s top photo comes from Visual Journalist Manuel Martinez. Follow him on Instagram.
Sports photography isn’t just capturing the action, but often more importantly about telling the story of emotion both in moments of triumph and defeat. The quarterback is said to be the most important player on the football field. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams' job is not only to make the plays, but to carry the team on his shoulders with the hope each week of leading them to a win. When Williams scrambled toward the end zone during the fourth quarter Sunday, I knew I was about to shoot an important play, but what came next was unexpected. When he fell, the stadium went from pure joy to total silence. The image captures the heavy price of playing a violent sport, but also Williams' willingness to put his body at risk for a win. The season rides on the health of the team, so losing the star quarterback was tragic. It’s not always easy bearing witness to these heavy moments, but it also reminds us that sports are a mixture of joy and disappointment.
Talk about getting your feet wet! This image was shot during the season home opener for the Bears in a five-hour rain storm. Sports photography requires skill, patience and a whole lot of luck. The rain was relentless from the moment that my colleague and I arrived at Soldier Field, to the moment we left. Everything I was carrying was soaked within the first 30 minutes, and it made shooting difficult. I was positioned on the right side of the field, behind the end zone. Williams ran directly towards me and, what I figured would be a touchdown image, turned out to be a game-ending injury image. Everything in sports happens so fast you really don’t have time to think, it is a very instinctual form of photography. I was relying on all of my years of experience and instinct to try to capture a difficult moment for Williams and his team. The image almost doesn’t need a caption because you can feel his pain and imagine how every Bears fan felt watching their leader fall.
Nancy Crespo, left, arrives with her husband, Chicago Police Officer Nelson Crespo, while they are greeted by family, fellow Chicago Police Department officers and supporters during a fundraiser in his honor on Sept. 18 at Old Crow Smokehouse in Wrigleyville. Crespo, who is paralyzed from the shoulders down, made his first public appearance since being shot in April inside Swedish Hospital, where his partner, Officer John Bartholomew, was killed.
Octavio Jones/For the Sun-Times
