WED, APRIL 29 – There have been many NFL teams sharing behind-the-scenes videos of their media staff, and those have always stood out to me.

After connecting with Kourtney Carroll and learning more about her role with the Washington Commanders, I realized more people should know about the work they are doing.

The Commanders have never done a video highlighting their work, and now would be the perfect time to do that. It feels like a new era for the team, and moments like this don’t happen often. This project is about highlighting the people who are responsible for capturing the Commander’s day in and day out.

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Behind the Lens: A Week with the Washington Commanders Photography Team

This project is a short-form documentary-style video following Kourtney Carroll and her photography team for the Washington Commanders during a single NFL game week.

The Washington Commanders already have an Emmy Award-winning documentary series that gives fans behind-the-scenes access to the team. This could be a focused segment within that series, highlighting the photography team and their workflow throughout the week.

The goal is to show Commanders fans the full process behind NFL team photography.

This includes:

• Weekly preparation (equipment/archiving/projects)
• Covering practice (shotlists, requests, what they look for)
• Travel or arrivals (overview of equipment)
• Gameday execution (overview of the team, their roles, and positioning)
• Post-game workflow (culling, editing, delivering)

Purpose

The purpose of this video is to highlight the work that goes into NFL photography and to show how much intention, planning, and decision-making go into every image seen on socials.

Why this could resonate

• It highlights the visual storytellers of the franchise in real time.
• Gives aspiring creatives insight into current NFL photography workflows.
• It surfaces moments, efforts, and creative decisions that may go unnoticed.
• More NFL teams are starting to highlight their staff. 

Structure of Video

• This video would follow the team during a full game week, showing how the photography team operates from start to finish.

Opening

A fast-paced montage of Commanders’ moments from different games, practices, lifts, summer workouts, and events.

Introduce Kourtney Carroll and her team as the people responsible for capturing the visual identity of the Commanders

They can discuss what they look for when shooting and some of their favorite moments and pictures that have been captured since working with the team.

Weekly Preparation

Overview of Kourtney’s week:

Monday: Editing game pictures, delivering images to players, printing and framing captain photos.

Tuesday: Covering Community Day for the Commanders’ charitable foundation.

Wednesday – Friday: Photographing practice, capturing images that match team meeting messages for coaches, delivering photos to the social media team to post,  and sending out the game day shot list form. 

Saturday: Preparing the gameday coverage and photographing team travel. 

GameDay Execution

Showing where photographers are positioned, what they are focused on, and how they deliver their images to the social media team.

Includes behind-the-scenes footage during pre-game, in-game, and post-game.

Post Game Workflow

Following the photography team after the game:

• Capturing locker room celebrations and post-game speeches

Core Segment

Photographers can revisit key images from the game and break down: 

• Why did they choose that exact moment?
• What emotion or story were they capturing?
• How intention shaped the final JPEG image.