Senior team photographer Matt Aguirre shares his perspective of the 2024 season as he breaks down five of his favorite photos.
Studio BB
50mm
1/250th
f/2.8
ISO 100
Out of all the photos we got of Brock Bowers this season (and trust me, we got a lot), the one above means the most to me and it just so happens to have been taken on his first day in Las Vegas after getting drafted. Not only was this one of Brock's first photos with the Silver and Black, but it was the first shoot conducted in our photo team's newest portrait studio. Studio BB, which was fittingly named after the first player we ever photographed in it. It was a passion project of mine that took the whole 2024 offseason for me to get up and running. Since I began working for the team in 2017, I have always wanted a designated studio for the photo team to take portraits and headshots of both players and staff members. So, when I see this photo of Brock, not only do I see the NFL's newest up and coming superstar, but I see the months of work I put into Studio BB.
Maxximum Effort
400mm
1/2000th
f/2.8
ISO 1600
Leave it up to Mad Maxx to restore my faith in shooting "177 Feet Up." This season marks four years of shooting up on Allegiant Stadium's catwalk, and content was feeling a bit stale at the start of the season. One of my biggest complaints about shooting from this angle is the difficulty of isolating a player in a given frame. Doing this makes an image cleaner and free of distractions. Fast forward to Week 12 and Maxx Crosby made a big tackle for loss in the first half. Since he was in the backfield, there was no one else in the composition which made his passion, energy and effort much more impactful in this photo.
Media Day with Alexander Mattison
102mm
1/200th
f/4
ISO 100
A goal I've always had since becoming a sports photographer was shooting game action content of players in a studio environment. I attempted to do this during Media Day in 2023, and although I delivered acceptable images, I felt heading into 2024 Media Day that I could improve upon them. This is where things can get technical, and if you're familiar with photography, you might notice that my shutter speed for this shot was very slow to freeze all the action and movement. Thanks to a concept called "flash duration," capturing motion without blur is possible without having to shoot at such fast shutter speeds, which can be difficult in studio environments or with studio strobe lights.
Campin' in Costa Mesa
400mm
1/2500th
f/2.8
ISO 100
It's been a while since we've gone away for training camp, the last time being 2019 in Napa, California. So, there was a lot to look forward to in Costa Mesa this past training camp. Something we were excited about were the scheduled afternoon practices. As visual creators, we were drawn to the opportunity to photograph the team under the beautiful light at sunset — and it didn't disappoint! The image above was my overall favorite from the two days because of the contrast between shadow and highlights. The shadows were created by the grandstands on the field and the highlights were a result of the one and only gap between the grandstands for the sun to squeeze through.
Brady in the Building
12mm
1/400th
f/2.8
ISO 1000
I don't get starstruck too often in my line of work. The day I shot this image is an exception. My favorite part about this photo is that it not only highlights Tom Brady, but it also highlights us, the front office staff. It's not too frequent that we're all together in the same room, so I thought it was super special for all of us to be together to welcome not only the greatest quarterback of all time, but also our newest minority owner into the building.
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