Eddie Keogh
Eddie, what’s the story behind your number 1 photo?
On December 11, 2016 I was being sent to Southampton to cover the Premier League game between Southampton and Middlesbrough for Reuters News Agency. The match was due to start at 4pm so I searched Google to see if there were any local games on nearby. I’m shooting a private project on grassroots football so was happy to see that there was a Sunday morning match close by between Yacht Tavern and CDA. I arrived nice and early but there was a lot of fog so it wasn’t certain the game would even take place. After a while the fog lifted slightly and the referee decided that the game could in fact go ahead.
Within ten minutes the sun really started to break through and the light was absolutely perfect. The expression that springs to mind is “make hay while the sun shines”, which for a photographer means “fill yer boots when it’s magic light time”. I took a lot of photos in a short period and knew I had something special.
Grassroots football is where my life in football and photography began and that image is my absolute favourite. It’s timeless and reminds me of my early days in photography when I couldn’t put the camera down. Football is such a big part of our social fabric in the UK and for me it’s lovely to bring the photography skills I’ve learnt over the years back to where it began to document a little piece of British life.
Eddie Keogh
Eddie has over 35 years of experience photographing sport.
He is currently the official photographer for the England football team via Getty Images and shoots international rugby for England's main sponsors o2.
Eddie also works with Canon as part of their Ambassadors.