Intro

Russell Ries 0:11

Good morning, afternoon, or evening to you, wherever you're listening from. It is Sunday, September thirteenth. My name is Russell Ries, and this is the National Sports Report. All right, well, it's finally game day in Music City. The Titans return and open their 2026 regular season at home today against the Jets at noon. This will be Robert Sala's first regular season game as the Titans head coach. And it comes against his former team, the Jets, that he coached from 2021 to 2024. Chris Johnson's planned Ring of Honor induction has been postponed because he and his family are no longer able to travel to Nashville for Sunday's game due to unforeseen circumstances. The Titans still plan to honor Johnson's on-field achievements and legacy at half-time. However, the official induction will take place at a later date when Johnson and his family can attend. Speaking of Chris Johnson, on September 10th, he published a letter to my kids in the Players Tribune writing about his experience living with ALS, his decision to make his diagnosis public, and his family as a major reason he keeps fighting. I'll admit I had a hard time getting through this one without tearing up. I'll link it in the description below. It's a beautiful summation of everything he's dealing with, and it's tragic and heartbreaking all at once. Also in Titans News, Cam Ward, Jeffrey Simmons, and Morgan Cox were named team captains for the 2026 season. Ward for the offense, Jeffrey Simmons for the defense, and Morgan Cox, the long snapper for special teams. Star linebacker Cedric Dre remained in concussion protocol this weekend and is officially ruled out for today. However, Keldrick Falk did practice this week and should be good to go. On the Nashville SC front, it was a busy week on the road. They lost 2-1 at Toronto on Wednesday after a late second goal to Toronto, falling to 16-3-5 with 53 points on the season. And then last night a Sam Surridge brace, one goal four minutes in, and another a minute into stoppage time, allowed Nashville SC to escape Miami with a draw, moving them to 16-3-6 with 54 points on the season. That draw keeps them nine points ahead of Miami in the Eastern Conference standings. The veterans will report this Wednesday, September 16th, for physicals and team meetings, and then the first on-ice day for the full squad will be Thursday, September 17th. In college football, Vanderbilt defeated Delaware 35-26, moving to 2-0 on the season. Tennessee State lost 30-3 at Alabama AM, falling to 0-3, and Middle Tennessee State lost 28-26 at Marshall, falling to 1-1. In brighter collegiate news, Vanderbilt Soccer completed non-conference plays 7-0 and reached number one in the top drawer soccer rankings for the first time in program history. They also opened SEC play with a 1-1 draw at Georgia on the road on Thursday, moving to 7-0-1. The Nashville Sounds had a very busy and exciting week. Thomas Pannone threw a perfect game in Nashville's 3-0 win over Durham on September 7th. He retired all 27 batters on 94 pitches with eight strikeouts. This was only the fifth nine-inning perfect game in interleague history. The Sounds then lost later on that week to Durham last night, 2-1, falling to 78 and 64 overall in the season. The series concludes today, and then they will return home for a six-game series against the Memphis Redbirds starting on Tuesday. My

Christina Moore Introduction

Russell Ries 4:42

guest this week is Christina Moore. A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to talk with Christina. She is a freelance sports photographer whose work can be seen on 615Soccer.com. She's spent a lot of time on the sidelines at Nashville SC matches and other major soccer events. We talked about what it takes to photograph sports well, how she prepares for a match, where she positions herself, how she anticipates movements before they happen, and how looking at a game through a camera can change what you notice about it. We also talked about the quieter in-between moments that can tell the story of a game just as much as the obvious goals and celebrations and what makes her know almost immediately that she's captured a really good image. I hope you'll enjoy my conversation with Christina Moore.

Christina Moore Interview

Russell Ries 5:30

All right. Well, Christina, thank you so much for giving me time to talk today. I'm really excited to have you on. I see a lot of your work on uh 615Soccer.com, and um so it's it's I'm excited to to learn more about it.

Christina Moore 5:45

Awesome. Thank you for having me. I'm I'm excited to be here.

Russell Ries 5:49

I am gonna start out by asking you some of the questions that I ask everyone that comes on the show, uh, starting with what is your earliest sports memory?

Christina Moore 5:59

My grandfather was um an avid golfer, like did pro am tours, the amateur side of pro-am tours, uh, always had golf on. Um everything was was around golf. And when I'm trying to think about my earliest sports memory, it would be him taking me to Two Rivers, not the golf course, it was always like the parkway outside of the golf course. And he would give me a quarter for every golf ball that I found. And so I would go up and down right outside the golf course and just collect as as many golf balls as possible to uh to get some some spending money. That's all random.

Russell Ries 6:44

I love that. I'm reminded of a time when my parents decided that they were gonna give us a penny for every dandelion we found in our backyard. And um, after we hit about a thousand, they were like, you know what? I think uh I think we're good here.

Christina Moore 6:59

Yeah, I think I think we're all good. He had so many golf balls. I was relentless.

Russell Ries 7:04

That's awesome. Based on that answer, I think I have an idea of what you're gonna answer to this one, but how did you end up in Nashville?

Christina Moore 7:10

Yeah, that one that one's actually an interesting tale, I think. Like, so my dad's family is from Nashville. Like my my grandmother was born and raised. Um, my grandfather was worked at Ford Glass, retired from there. Great-grandfather was a mail carrier. So that that side is like solid in Nashville. But my dad actually joined the military and I was an Air Force brat. So I moved around, I think we moved 17 times by the time I graduated high school.

Russell Ries 7:40

Oh, wow.

Christina Moore 7:41

Yeah. So my grandfather ended up passing away my right before my senior year of high school. So I moved back to the area to help my grandmother, and then left on my own adventure for a good long while. And uh job opportunity opened up in 2018, and I found myself back here, and I've been here ever since. So, you know, left and came back and looks totally different.

Russell Ries 8:12

Right on, yeah, it's crazy, isn't it?

Christina Moore 8:14

Yeah, totally different.

Russell Ries 8:16

Man, I I still reference things that are no longer there, like uh oftentimes telling people in Green Hills like turn where the turn where the blockbuster used to be, and it's becoming less and less effective. People go, what what are you talking about?

Christina Moore 8:30

It's it's funny because like my uh my boys are older now, and um, you know, my dad will try and tell them stories about Opry Land, and and they have no concept. Like to them, it's just a mall. Like they have no idea. He'll tell stories about jumping Tim Lizzie's off of the track when he was in high school, and and I can remember riding rides over there, and and that's gone. And but then there are things that are like still there, like the construction on Highway 65. I remember being a teenager in high school, and still the same stretch is under construction. So that's so true.

Russell Ries 9:08

Yeah. You know, I learned recently that a lot of those old Opryland rides got disassembled and moved other places. So you could theoretically go. Apparently, chaos is now somewhere in Germany. So you could actually like make a pilgrimage to some of the old Opry Land rides, apparently.

Christina Moore 9:25

Well, I'm gonna have to research that because that would be so cool.

Russell Ries 9:28

Well, if you go send some photos, because right, yeah, yeah. So, what is your favorite Nashville sports memory or moment?

Christina Moore 9:36

Oh, okay. So before I um was photographing Nashville SC, I was a or we still are season ticket members. And my favorite moment has to be, I think it was August 2023 Leagues Cup, and it was a round of 16 game. We tied it late, Dax McCarty, and it went to pens, and Jack Mayer was the last one to go up, and his pen is saved, and Club America is going on, right? And like we're all devastated, we're all just like, oh gosh, it's over. And we left. We went out of the stadium, we went down the crazy staircase, and we get we get around the corner, and there is this mass of people, this just grouping of people. Geodis is behind us, somebody's got their phone out, and they're saying V A R, V A R. And we're all outside, and we're we're just like, What? What's going on? What's happening? And so if there's a VAR review, and I take my phone out to record what's happening because it's just this gaggle of people, and we're all looking at our phones, and it gives me chills now to even just think about it. It turns out, like Mal, I think his Malagon is off his line. So Jack Mayer gets to take his PK again, and of course, this time he makes it. And then the next guy up for Club America misses, and then Lovitz scores the winner, and we move on. And all the while we're just outside the stadium. Like, we're we're not even in there anymore. We are outside the stadium with all these other people that were like, uh, I guess we're leaving. We're gonna try and beat traffic. And we just had this like community moment for for that like eight minutes that we're we're standing there, all just looking at our phones, all just like fingers crossed, toes crossed, everybody's just waiting to see what's gonna happen. That that for me is like one of those magic moments that it gives me chills now, even still to this day, thinking about it.

Russell Ries 11:34

I love that. That's such a beautiful memory. Well, you mentioned photographing Nashville SC, and a lot of the reason that I wanted to invite you in was to discuss sort of some of that. But I did root around in your website, and you mentioned on there that um you've had a camera for more than half your life. And so I wonder sort of when did you start to know that photography was something you wanted to do more than just for fun, or when did it become kind of more of a craft than just an interest?

Christina Moore 12:04

One of my favorite photographs as a kid was sitting at the dining room table, and there's a picture of my grandfather was a Shriner clown, and he was putting his makeup on for the day, and he has his red wig on, and then he's putting on his white makeup, and there's just this photo of me just staring at him in awe. And I have that memory locked, and did not, I knew the photo existed, but it wasn't until oh my gosh, my kids are 22 and 19 now, and it wasn't until they were born that I was really like, photography has this place, like this, this moment, this this ability to to freeze time and freeze these core memories and moments for us. And that's when I I really started to pursue taking photos and wanting to take really good photos. The shift to to sports ended up happening with my youngest. He played travel soccer for many, many years, and we were at a tournament, and we bought the tournament photos as a team. Like we all pitched in to get the tournament photos, and I remember the very first photo that came up was one of him, and he was gliding just he was mid-stride on the pitch, both feet off the ground, carrying, dribbling the ball. And there was this moment where I just thought that's magic. Like watching your child play a game that he loves, that you love in the moment, freezing time, that's magic. And that's where it shifted for me, where I just thought, okay, like you don't have to be in sports illustrated to have photos like that. Like, there is a skill and a craft behind that that I want to study, that I want to learn, that I want to invest in. And so that's what I did. Like, I started taking classes, I started taking my camera everywhere it went, every practice, every game. I mean, so much so that like my very first professional lens, like the 70 to 200 that you see everybody use on the sidelines, that first lens was actually in part paid for by parents on his travel team. Like they raised money to help pay for that lens because they believed in me and they they saw the switch and they saw the the images I was trying to cultivate. Yeah.

Russell Ries 14:34

That's really cool. That's really cool. So presume it must have changed how you started watching sports, even your son's matches. Did you find yourself like roaming around the field more or yeah, absolutely.

Christina Moore 14:47

I think when I'm on the ground uh for his games, especially, like I'm an anxious sports mom. Like I was, I was an anxious sports mom. I was just like, oh my gosh, what's gonna happen? Oh goodness, like yeah, I could track like my blood pressure on my Apple Watch. But putting the camera in my hands really just honed that. Like I could lose myself in trying to make the best image possible. And so even now to this day, like if I'm watching sports, just now when I look at it, I'm I'm chasing, I'm chasing the light, I'm chasing the backgrounds, I'm chasing the the what I think it could be in my head. So it's changed probably for uh at a more granular level. Like when I even even TV, when we're watching games on TV, sometimes I irritate my husband because I'll be like, man, that light is spectacular, or ooh, I wouldn't want to shoot in this, like the way the everything is washed out or the white balance is off. Like it it becomes about much more than just the sport, I guess. Like irritatingly so.

Russell Ries 15:53

Yeah, I um I was at the Columbus match last week and uh some friends invited me, and we were on the eastern side, so you could see the sun setting out to the west, and then the storm came through, and you know, I've now got this sports podcast, and I'm like, I need to get some images, and I think they were kind of like, okay, like this is enough, but I totally I totally understand where you're coming from, because I kept being like, Yeah, but look at that sky, like it's so gorgeous. Yes. So I wonder though, Geodis Park seems like it's set up really well for light, but are there particular angles or or locations in the park that you would say are like the primo spots?

Christina Moore 16:32

Yes. So there are some some go-to spots. There, I guess I should start with like there's not a bad spot at Geodis. Like it is beautiful, it is one of, and I know I'm slightly biased, but it is one of the best stadiums I've ever shot at, period. Even when the sun is coming down straight on you, like you can make it work. You can still make it dynamic, you can still make it beautiful. Um, for me, supporter section, shooting across from the supporter section when it's full is one of the most energizing things that you can shoot. The flags going, the the fans jumping up and down, the smoke from goals happening. Like that is so fun and so dynamic. But on the flip side, like I almost always start on the supporter section side and shoot the opposite way because we typically attack that way. Um, that side lends to some beautiful uh photographs as well. The way the seating is at Geodis, the the seats are the colors are um staggered. So the different blues and yellows and everything like that. So when you're shooting, uh especially at like a wide open aperture, when we don't have a full stadium, you can't really tell. Like that's one of those things that's like magic about that side. When you're shooting supporter section, if it's not full, you start to see like the silver gaps. So I do have some favorites for sure. Um being freelance as well, like we're limited to just the end lines, like we can't go on the sides. So that that in itself, like you're stuck on the on the end line, so you have to use what you've got. But I will always uh position myself right on the top of the 18 so that I can get any attacking coming straight on, I can get uh the goalie in his box across the field, and then I'm just I'm just looking for whatever I can find.

Russell Ries 18:28

Cool. So when you get ready to go shoot a game, do you come in with sort of like an idea of the shots you want to accomplish, or is it more of a go with the flow? How do you approach, how do you prepare? What what's that like for a photographer?

Christina Moore 18:44

It's a little, it's both. Like I would say, like my preparation for the next game happens as I'm turning in the final edits for the the game we were just at. I am my harshest critic. So I'm gonna look at all the photos that I turned in and I'm gonna go, oh, I could have done that better, or oh, that would have been better at a different angle, or oh, I should have should have had my shutter speed up for this one, I should have froze that a little bit better, or oh, that group was really dynamic. I wish I would have gotten more shots of them. So my preparation for the next game is always immediate. Like what I could have done better and what I want to take into the next match. There's one part of it. And then I work with some pretty incredible people. Like the guys at 615 Soccer are just the most charismatic but nerdy people you will ever meet. Um, any kind of data point you could possibly want for the game we're going into, they they've got. They are researching, they are figuring out, they are talking about it. Our Slack is always busy. And so I'm going in knowing Schwaki is close to breaking a record. So I know, okay, I'm gonna focus on Schwaki. If he gets a clean sheet, perfect. We've we've hit it, we're we're ready to go. If he doesn't, I still have some great images of him. I'm gonna go in knowing, oh, Hani is about to hit his 200th game. These things have already happened. But you know, just to say, like, we're going in knowing that Patrick Yazbek is coming back after months' break. So I'm gonna want shots of Patrick Yazbek. So I'm going in knowing already what I should have done better or what I feel like I should have done better, what the storylines could maybe be. And then the ultimate goal that's happening as I'm prepping is one great photo. Like that's what I'm looking for. At the end of the day, I probably turn in 50 to 70 per game, but I I want one that I look at and go, holy crap, I did that. Like I made that image. That that's something I did. It doesn't happen every game. It's it's not uh it's not a guarantee, but that's where my prep goes is just what can I do better? What do we need to fulfill? And then how can I how can I tell a story of this game?

Russell Ries 21:08

You mentioned working with the guys at 615. Do they ever ask for specific images or is there more direction that comes from them, or is it sort of like get in there and go wild?

Christina Moore 21:18

Yeah, it's more get in there and go wild. And sometimes I wish it was more, hey, we need this. Like, don't don't get me wrong. They are when they need something, they'll say, Hey, can you please make sure you get the Schwake, for instance? Like, we focus so much on the attack. A lot of times we don't get the defenders, or we don't get as great quality shots of the defenders. So if they have something specifically in mind, they'll say, Hey, please try and get shots of this. But otherwise, no, they they really trust me for some reason. Uh, but I just trust my judgment. And it's uh it's a little wild sometimes. Uh like sometimes I want those guardrails and I want them to say, Hey, get stick shots of behavior. Doing these things, but they they trust um my read of the game and how I how I do what I do, which is a little it is scary for me sometimes. Yeah.

Russell Ries 22:12

I have uh two siblings who are artists and you sound very much like them in the sort of self-deprecation, but you know, for those of us who aren't visual artists, when we see people who create work like yours, it's like I wouldn't deem to tell you what to do. Or so I imagine there's some reticence there. That being said, can I make a request? Yeah. Uh I have always wanted to know what kind of gum Schwake is chewing. And I've tagged Nashville SC on uh all the socials, and I I get no response. So if you ever get a chance to photograph his brand of gum.

Christina Moore 22:47

I actually know this and I will text you afterwards. I just have to go find it. But there is a in the 615 um soccer discord, someone found out and got uh got him a couple packs and gave it to him. So yeah, I I've got that knowledge somewhere, I will find that and get that to you.

Russell Ries 23:06

Awesome. Okay.

Christina Moore 23:08

Yeah.

Russell Ries 23:09

That's really cool. Maybe I should join the Discord. Uh you talked about sort of following the action of the game. How much does having that knowledge and anticipation of of how the flow works, how much does that serve you or potentially hinder you from catching shots?

Christina Moore 23:29

I don't know that it it hinders me at all. In fact, it you can take a a sports photographer and put them in any sport and they will be able to give you workable images. They will they will be able to match their shutter speed, their they'll be able to match their settings to the the rate of play. Absolutely. But I think what sets beautiful imagery apart is the anticipation of that game and being able to read the flow of that game. If I am just following the ball and I'm not anticipating, I'm I'm already kind of late. If I'm reacting to what's happening as a sports photographer, I'm already late. Does that make sense?

Russell Ries 24:19

Yeah, I think it does.

Christina Moore 24:21

So being able to know the the game and and have study the players and understand their like nuances and their quirks, um, I I feel like it's almost like a a a learning curve on a test or you know, a grading curve on a test. Like you you you can just do a little bit better because you can anticipate. Like I I don't remember where I heard it. Some but there was something about sports photography being like half skill, half luck. But knowing the game and being able to anticipate the action is is a big chunk of that as well. Don't get me wrong, luck does play a huge part of it, but putting yourself in the right position, knowing where to look, anticipating the that action is a big part of it. Yeah.

Russell Ries 25:09

I want to touch on something you just mentioned about knowing the player's nuances and quirks. Can you give some examples? Maybe some specific players on NSC. What would that look like? Knowing somebody likes to go left, or is it more just an intuitive understanding of their playstyle?

Christina Moore 25:26

I think it's the little little bit of both. I know that when Andy Najar is on the pitch, you are going to get some dynamic runs, you are going to get pushing to the line every single time. If it looks like it's about to go out of bounds, you don't drop your camera when Andy Najar is on the pitch. Because if that man can find a way to one touch that ball down before it goes out of bounds, he's gonna do it. Christian Espinoza, you know when he is on the pitch and he is coming straight for you, you don't drop your camera. Like he's he's just so dynamic and he's so fun to watch. And you you also know you have a split decision uh to make, whether you keep that camera on him or you go ahead and you pan to the box because the cross is coming. Like he's he's coming, he's he's going to shoot it. You find Sam, you find uh whoever, Hany, whoever you think he's go about to cross that ball to, and you just make a judgment whether or not you're staying on him or you're going to the mid of the box. Like it's I wish I could articulate it better, but there are just things that happen in the midfield when you're watching, like you'll see this kind of quick pass bounce back that a few of them do. Like Eddie and and Hani, they'll they'll quickly pass back and forth to each other, or Corcoran does it a lot too. They're just there are players that they just have certain habits, they have certain ways they like to play the game, and you just kind of watch and you know something special is about to happen with them.

Russell Ries 27:07

Your point about Andy Najar, like I desperately want to get you just got Najarred. Like, you know, I feel like at least once a game, like he Najars someone, you know, and it's yeah, it's just a brilliant thing. Uh so I totally understand what you mean there. And you were talking about skill versus luck. I am the annoying person in my family that that does all the photographs and you know shares them with everyone. And my theory of it is I'm gonna take as many as possible, and then maybe one of them works, you know. Is that sort of part of you know, just snap away? Obviously, you you're getting your settings, you're getting your your focus and your aperture and stuff. It's a little bit more than me with my iPhone, but does that play a role in in sort of how you approach?

Christina Moore 27:50

When I first started out, absolutely. Like it in this day and age with digital cameras uh and burst settings, you can a hundred percent burst your way through a game and pray it works out, but then you end up with 10,000 photos, and who has time to to go through that? Who has time to do that? And I can't, I I like laugh because that was my approach early, early on when I first started was just um I'm gonna hold the shutter button down and pray, and like we're gonna get something. We are gonna get something. And then hours and hours later of just calling, you would hate yourself. It's like that whole like fix it in post mentality where you're like, yep, I'm just gonna uh run and gun and pray and hope it all works out. And you know, I think there's there's still a little bit of a uh a measure to that with technology today where you're holding that shutter down and you're hoping, but now I find myself relying more on um being able to read the game, being able to know when to hit the shutter, when to release to minimize the amount of work I have to do later, if that makes sense. Like I I am not trying to cull 2,000, 3,000 images. I'm I'm not, I don't have time for that. Um so I want to get it right as quickly as possible with very few images to try to pick through when I am trying to make those choices.

Russell Ries 29:17

You mentioned the age of digital now, and something I've always been drawn to is the stories behind photography, you know, and you'll often read, particularly back in the day, like, oh, I didn't know I got the shot until I, you know, made the contact sheet later on, or I sent the photos to my editor and they circled it. Or are you tempted when you're in the game? Are you tempted to like kind of refer to some of the digital screens and see what you got? Or do you know sometimes, like, yeah, I've just nailed this and you want to go look at it, or is that a temptation for you while you're working it?

Christina Moore 29:51

Absolutely, and it's something that um you have to watch. Like, I did this workshop once in New York, uh sports workshop, and I was sitting there with Sports Illustrated, a former Sports Illustrated editor, Steve Fine, who he was the one who found the miracle on ice shot. Um put that out. And yeah, he was talking to us about uh they call it chimping, when you take a shot and then immediately look at your camera, and then you take a shot and you immediately look at your camera. And he's talking about, you know, how back in the day you didn't have that luxury, and the modern sports photographer, that's all they do is chimp, chimp, chimp, chimp. Ooh, ooh, ooh, look what I'm doing. There's a time and a place for that. If you let yourself get caught doing that, you're gonna miss something. And it's happened to me. It happened to me last game. I don't remember what happened. Somebody scored, and I was too busy checking my shots from a previous interaction, and I completely missed it. And I was so mad at myself because it's such a it's just human nature. I think you think, oh, I got the shot, let me just check real quick and lock it in camera and move on. But it it can take you out of that storytelling mindset, and so I try to only do it during those natural breaks. If there's a a whistle blown halftime, definitely I go back and I mark anything that I think um was was worth marking. And but there are times too where I will take a shot and I will think that had to be it, and I will instantly mark it in camera so that I can go back and review when when I have a moment to review. It's easy to get caught up in the back of the screen and then forget that you are in it and you need to be in it.

Russell Ries 31:42

Yeah, I I think it would be so hard for me not to just like want to um yeah. So I am curious though, what is sort of the what is your process after you mentioned marking out photos and then calling them down? What does your editing process look like and how do you kind of approach that once the game is over?

Christina Moore 32:03

My goal is to get images to the guys as soon as humanly possible so that they can get them posted or sent out or do whatever it is that they need to do. Um you know, Ben and Valer are are usually live tweeting the game or or anything like that. So anything that I can help with, I'm trying to do. So there will be editing on the field as it's happening in those moments. Like I know everybody hates a water break, but man, does it give you a couple seconds to just get that image sent? So during the game, images are being sent, and they're not, you know, I try to get it right in camera, but sometimes there are some tweaks that need to happen that don't happen at that time. So I'll send them content during the game, and then afterwards, I load images. I I use three cameras, three different lenses. I will load all of the images I saved, not all the ones I took, all the images I saved, I locked, which usually ends up to being around maybe 150 total for the night. And I will I will get those loaded, I will get myself packed up. And usually my husband is with me because he still has our season ticket seats, and so I will edit in the car. And when I'm editing, I'm just correcting exposures. I am old school in that I like straight horizon lines and uh and I'm cropping down if I need to crop images and correcting any kind of exposure issue if there's an exposure issue and that's it, and then it all gets uploaded. The next day, usually you know, Saturday or Sunday morning, I will allow myself second, what I call second edits. So anything that I think, oh, this would be really cool if I did a little bit more zhuzhing, if I did a little bit more, maybe dropped a black point on there or put a mask on there or something that's more artistic and just kind of fulfills my soul. And that's the time too where I will allow myself to go back to anything that wasn't locked. If I know in my brain, this is a really good example. Last week's game, Andy Nahar scores the winner, right? And it's across from where I'm at. And so I don't, I don't think I have any of it. I'm just like, oh dang, I think I missed all of it because it happened so flipping quick that I didn't think I got I got anything. And so I thought, okay, let me just let me just go check. Let me just go look. And sure enough, I have the whole series. I I got him striking the ball and him watching it go in and turn away, and then Hani reacting to it going in. So I I did get, I did get it. And had I not allowed myself that second edit, I wouldn't have known the Miami game. There is a uh it's like a meme now, a viral meme, where Dan Lovitz is standing over Suarez, uh, and someone had shared an image of that from the TV. And I was like, I know I took that picture. Like, I know I got an image of that. So the next day I was like, yeah, let me let me just go check what camera it would be. And sure enough, I got a great image that is now being shared everywhere. Um that was yours. Without, yeah, that was mine without credit, but but it's being shared.

Russell Ries 35:34

Well, I will make sure I've seen it, I've seen it a number of times, and I'll try and help help call that out.

Christina Moore 35:40

That's so you know, that's one of those things where you're just like in the moment you do you don't realize what what it's gonna become, but those are those are those kind of soft moments, those in-between the action moments that go on to live bigger lives than you expect.

Russell Ries 35:56

Yeah, I I'm so glad you mentioned that sort of in-between moments thing. That was something that talked about on your website. And I wanted to ask a little bit more about what you look for in those how do you find those moments or how do you know where to look for them? Does that just come with experience and instinct?

Christina Moore 36:14

I like to say it's like an ADHD superpower. Like I have this uncanny ability of um back when we were when I was in the stands as a as a ticket holder, I could be standing there with my husband and I could hear five or six different conversations happening in the sections around us where people were in the wrong seats. And I would look at my husband and I would go, oh, they're in the wrong section over there. And then, oh, look, those people over there are arguing because they think they're supposed to be in that seat, but they're not in that seat. And like I could pinpoint these things happening, and he would be like, What how are you doing that? And I I wish I had like some kind of scientific like uh way to explain it, but there there is just this um this energy to it, this you just feel feel these moments, and you're looking around to to try and quantify is not the right word, but essentially that that's what it is. Like you you feel these shifts happening, and you're just trying to capture what helps you tell that story. There was, I don't think I ever published this photo, but I think if you go back and you look in Sam Surge's photos, you can find it. Open cup, we win the championship. We're in the mixed zone where they do the interviews, and I'm just over there taking photos, just living it up, having the time of my life. And I see Sam Surridge come out of the locker room. He's got his backpack on and his slides, and he's going like he's he's going somewhere, but he's also carrying uh the trophy, right? So he's coming out of the locker room, backpack on, he's got the trophy, and he's he stops for a minute, he adjusts his bag, and he keeps walking down the hall towards the exit, and nobody stops him, nobody's doing anything. And I'm just like, that's really weird. And so I I just kind of kind of went that way. I'm like, that's the exit. Like, where's he going with this trophy? Like, no, nobody cares that Sam is walking out with this trophy. And so I followed him out there, and I I get to the parking lot, and he's sitting there on the curb. Jacob Shaffelberg is next to him essentially, and the trophy is down on the on the on the pavement, and they're both sitting there and they're laughing and they're smiling. And I just snapped a photo real quick and I left. And uh I ended up going back, and I think I sent that photo into NSC to say, hey, I got this image, I'm not gonna share it, but you know, maybe Sam would like it. And then I ended up seeing him post about Open Cup, and it was the very last image in his slideshow, and all the players were talking about it, you know, what what they um what they must have been talking about or laughing about, or that moment between them. And I don't know, there's just that's one of those, like, one of those moments that uh it's not it's not the action, it's not the celebration, it's not the the fanfare that you expect out of sports photography, but it's it's one of those real moments between teammates or fans or or whatever's happening that draws and elicits uh an emotion, a magical freezing of time for that moment. Does that make sense?

Russell Ries 39:28

Like absolutely, yeah. You're speaking to something that really uh appeals to why I wanted to do this podcast, which is the world and ecosystem around sports. Obviously, there's the action on the pitch, there's the game, there's the score, there's the stats, but there's so much more that goes into every little bit and aspect of sports, and I find that incredibly appealing. I think particularly having grown up in Nashville when the sounds and maybe Vandy basketball were like the big names in town, and having seen it now evolve to what we have, I just think we have this wonderful world that surrounds it that doesn't get examined enough. So what you're talking about, like with that moment, I think speaks to that sort of same thing.

Christina Moore 40:12

Well, it's it's that it's hard to describe, but it's like sport sports it's it's this like bridge for connection, right? Like it's it's universal. It it doesn't matter where you are from, what what you've been through, it doesn't matter it we can all relate in in some way, some shape, some form. Like there's whether or not you're uh a fan of of the sport being played, you can resonate with the emotion that people are feeling, or yeah, it's it's magical. That's what it is, it's magic.

Russell Ries 40:46

I completely agree. And I'm gonna have to go hunt down that photo now. I'd love to see it.

Christina Moore 40:50

Yeah.

Russell Ries 40:52

And I'd love to know. I mean, obviously you've taken a large number of photos, but do you have a few that spring to mind as favorites?

Christina Moore 41:01

This summer, I had the privilege of my life photographing the World Cup, World Cup games in Atlanta. And I, you know, I I even got to shoot the the semifinal Argentina in England. And when people ask me what my favorite game to shoot or my favorite moment, it's not it's not any of those games. There was um, it was the Czechia South Africa game where Tori Penso, Brooke Mayo, and Catherine Nesbitt became the all-female team, the first female team to officiate a World Cup game. And I got some great shots from that game, absolutely. But that final whistle blows, and Brooke Mayo comes running across the field, and she and Tori Penso like shake hands for a moment and then they embrace, and you can just see the gravity of what they did, and it makes me emotional just thinking about it. But you just you see their all their hard work and all of the the blood, sweat, and tears that went into that moment, and then this exhale that it happened, and they share that moment. And I I snapped several photos of it, and I ended up sending it to them right after the game before I even got my game shots in. Those were the photos that I went in and um cropped and straightened, of course. But then I I emailed both of them and sent them, and Brooke ended up emailing me back and just well, Tori thanked me as well. But Brooke, you know, she said that that was her favorite photo she's ever had taken ever. And she ended up sending me some ref cards from that game. Like it, it was this whole moment. But when I think about like my favorite images, that has to be one of my favorites. The the Sam photo that that never gets seen, or on my page at least. Uh, that one is one of my favorites. It's I I think it's just those those quiet human moments, not professional athlete moments, but human moments. Those are those are the ones. Yeah.

Russell Ries 43:04

I love that. That's really awesome. And I think it speaks to um your handle on social media, which is uh storyteller, Seymour Storyteller. So I think that's a beautiful thing. On that note, if people would like to look at your photography, uh obviously we've talked about 615 soccer, where else can they find your work?

Christina Moore 43:24

That's a great question. Um, Instagram is probably where I'm most active. Um my Instagram handle is at at Seymour Storyteller, and then half my website is woefully behind. Woefully behind, but SeymourStoryteller.com. Like I I have not added images from probably the last year and a half, two years, I don't think. So I need to catch that up. But those are probably the the most active places to see my work. Yeah.

Russell Ries 43:53

All right. Well, I'll make sure to link those both in the description of the episode when it goes out. Well, Christina, I really appreciate you taking the time to speak with me. I've really enjoyed hearing about the stories. It's exciting for me, as I said, somebody who has relatives who are artists to learn a little bit more about the approach behind it. And uh, I'm very grateful for your time. So thank you so much.

Christina Moore 44:15

Thank you for having me. Like this um this flew by, actually. This this went really, really quick. I didn't think that it I was I was very nervous, so I'm glad. Thank you so much. Thanks for making it easy. We've got through it. Well, I've really enjoyed speaking with you, and I'm grateful for your time.

Outro

Russell Ries 44:43

All right, that was my interview with Christina Moore. My thanks again to her for coming on. I really enjoyed talking to her about her process and her craft. She did end up following up with me about the Brian Schwake gum question. He chews Extra Polar Ice. So thank you, Christina, for following up on that. You can check out Christina's work on Instagram or on her website, both of which are linked in the description below. As always, we would love to hear from you. Reach out immediately below or on social at NSA Support Report on Blue Sky and Twitter. Other than that, hope you have a wonderful weekend and thank you for listening.