L'Équipe — Soccer Culture in Kansas City
A city-wide photo essay on soccer in Kansas City, from pro stadiums to pickup games, ahead of the World Cup.
Client: L'Équipe
Role: Photography / photojournalism
Deliverables: Photo essay for a soccer-culture feature ahead of the World Cup.40 edited images over 3 days.
Location: Kansas City
The brief
L'Équipe reached out to tell a story about the World Cup in Kansas City — soccer culture across the whole city. They wanted the full picture: the games and matches, the players, and everything around them, from the barbecue to the museums and the places people visit. The goal was a piece on soccer in Kansas City ahead of the World Cup.
The approach
We mapped out all the locations across the city we wanted to cover. That meant CPKC Stadium and Children's Mercy Park, where Sporting KC plays, along with youth soccer leagues, their facilities, and a handful of youth games. We added barbecue spots like Q39 and a few others up north, then went after the more hidden corners — indoor soccer and a couple of local pickup games — to capture the full spectrum of soccer players in Kansas City.
I covered the photojournalism and my counterpart handled the writing, and we combined the two into one cohesive story for L'Équipe's readers.
Challenges to navigate
Scheduling was the hardest part — squeezing that much content into just a few days. As it happened, a lot of the women's and men's games overlapped, so we ended up dividing up responsibilities and I covered CPKC Stadium about a week later, after the journalist I was working with had already left town.
L'Équipe — The WoodHalls at home
An embedded, at-home portrait of two gold-medal Olympians — as a couple and as athletes chasing what's next.
Client: L'Équipe Magazine
Role: Photography / photojournalism
Deliverables: At-home photo feature of Hunter & Tara Woodhall. 40 images over 2 days.
Location: Manhattan, Kansas
The brief
L'Équipe Magazine reached out to do a story on Hunter and Tara Woodhall — gold-medal Olympians living in Kansas. We covered them at home, as a couple and as athletes working toward their next goals. The plan was simple: lunch at their house, hang out, have real conversation, work alongside a journalist on the story, and I'd cover the photojournalism. That meant a lot of candid looks at the couple living in their home with their animals, plus some lighting setup work out in front of the house, at their gym, and in other parts of the home.
The approach
The idea was to spend time with the couple and embed ourselves with them for the window we had — to blend into whatever they had going on rather than stage it. One thing I was really happy we did was let their animals be out. They weren't sure that was something we'd want, but of course the pets are part of their life, so they belonged in the frame.
Challenges to navigate
The training day threw us a curveball. As we were walking up to shoot, they told us their dog was giving birth — so we'd need to reschedule. To keep the training section in the magazine, I drove back to Manhattan later in the week to cover it, and we were able to make schedules work!
