THE photo of the Women's World Cup was taken by foot
He took the most iconic photo of one of the most memorable goals in World Cup soccer history, and he had no idea until after the match was over.
Perhaps you've seen the shot of the shot by now: Japan goalie Ayumi Kaihori lying on her back, watching helplessly as Carli Lloyd's bomb from midfield bounces off the post and into the net for the third goal in her historic hat trick in Sunday's World Cup final. It's an incredible photo: the ball in the middle, framed by the net, with Kaihori down and American players and fans in the distance watching the moment unfold. One instant tells the story of the play and the entire day.
Dennis Grombkowski of Getty Images wasn't even supposed to be at the match. He's a trained fashion photographer based in Frankfurt, Germany, and he joined Getty in 2011 because he loves sports. This World Cup was only his second, after last year in Brazil, and his assignment was to cover Germany throughout the event. Then the Americans beat the Germans and Grombkowski traveled to Edmonton for the consolation match, then to Vancouver for the final. It was a series of twists that got him to B.C. Place in the first place.
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Photographers aren't allowed to station themselves behind the goals, so Grombkowki had to take a guess in setting up his Nikon D4 remotely. "I put it down three or four feet out of the center as this gives you usually the best angle on the action," Grombkowski told Yahoo Sports. "Focus is all about prediction. I set it up a bit further out … and put my camera to a middle aperture to increase depth of field to make sure to a wider range of objects in focus."
He ran a cable to his position in the corner of the field (on the Japan side), and operated his camera using a foot pedal so he could also take photos with a long lens. Some photographers use radio triggers, but Grombkowski was worried about the signal in such a crowded venue and he wanted to be safe. Then, when the game started, he went to work.
He knew when Lloyd put her foot into that shot at the 16-minute mark that he witnessed a big moment, but he had no idea what his own foot had produced.
"Every image went straight to an editor in the stadium media center," Grombkowski said. "So, I didn't see the picture until the very end of the final. I just recognized my phone going crazy on tweets but during an important match like this was, there was no time to check at all."
Then, after the end of the match, he saw it: the ball had bounced just right, the goalie was positioned just right, the light fell just right. He knew it was the best sports photo he had ever taken.
"It looks composed but it is one of the rare moments in sports, where a lot comes together well to give you this one picture you are striving for," he said. "Japan had no real chance in the beginning, and this frame sums it all up."
The funny thing is, Grombkowski shoots up to 80 matches a year and he said entire seasons have gone by without a single great shot from his remote camera. Yet on Sunday the fashion photographer from Germany got a picture that will live in American sports history.
