Flag Pole and Moon at Jordan-Hare Stadium

Since today is the 4th of July, I wanted to share two of my favorite images from my new photo book on Jordan-Hare Stadium, Views of a Stadium. The iconic view of the North-East end zone flagpole has always been a marquee point in the stadium, often where the eagle flight originates when the wind is right. On this particular day, the moon coordinated with the beginning of the game and just barely made the image something unique. This was a day game on November 8th, 2008, and one of the oldest images I included in Views of a Stadium.

The sequence of shots from that moment can be seen in the contact sheet below. A little girl was eating a massive pretzel and making faces at the camera, but it was when she turned to look at the flag that made the shot for me that day. She was sitting there with, what must be, her twin sister, who would have to be around 21 years old today.

There is always a bit of randomness to sitting with 90,000 fans in such a massive place. Everyone feels like a giant family, yet you don't really know anyone. I had never met this family with the two little girls before. I sat near them at one game on one Saturday 15 years ago and happened to have my camera with me that day (though the chance of that was probably pretty high). Photography always has a human element to it, no matter what the image depicts, but I love the two images set side by side in the book. The flag on the pole on that particular day was a little more meaningful because 90,000 faces were there to see it fly.

What I love about the sequence of shots from that day is that it was just another normal fall afternoon football Saturday on The Plains. It wasn't a huge conference game; it was a more casual, laid-back atmosphere. It was one of those beautiful blue sky days in the fall when the heat had dissipated, unlike what we have today on the 4th of July.

I'm looking forward to football season once again this year. If you haven't had a chance to check out my new photo book, Views of a Stadium, I did a very limited main print run of 100 copies—when they're gone, they're gone. It was a super fun project to put together, with a lot of fond memories of fall Saturdays in Auburn.

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