Before my move to Colorado a few months ago, I had the exciting opportunity to work with France Football, a renowned French magazine that is devoted entirely to the world of soccer. As a publication, France Football has a rich history and reputation for covering all things related to soccer, including the latest news, interviews, analysis, and rankings.
However, what makes France Football particularly unique is that they are also the creators of the prestigious “Ballon d’Or” award. This award is given to the best soccer player on the planet for that particular year, as determined by a panel of international journalists. The “Ballon d’Or” is considered one of the highest honors in the soccer world, and its presentation is a highly anticipated event every year.
As a photographer, it was an incredible experience to be able to work with such a prominent publication and capture images that would be featured in their pages.
What the mission was
My wife and I used to live in Dallas, TX until April 2022.
France Football wanted to write about Peter Luccin, a former pro soccer player who played for big teams like Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint Germain. He was very famous in the European Soccer world in the late 90s and early 2000s
Here’s the interesting part – Luccin ended his playing career by joining FC Dallas and is now an assistant coach there!
So France Football sent a journalist and asked me to capture the photographs since he has a unique story to share with the French soccer fans.
When this opportunity came to me, I was so excited! Being a soccer fan watching games when I can, following the stats of multiple teams and the transfer, etc., I was so happy that I got that job to photograph for such a prestigious magazine and meeting a player I used to watch on TV as a kid.
Day 1 Photographing for France Football
I got to meet a journalist at the FC Dallas stadium early in the morning to write an article about Peter Luccin for France Football. The FC Dallas team was super nice to us and we watched their practice on the field.
That’s when we finally met Peter. He even played with the team during practice and could keep up with the squad! Later that day, we followed him to his second practice where he focused more on coaching.
After practice, we saw a high school soccer game going on in the stadium and Peter went to watch it with his son. It was a cool moment to see how close they were and how they talked about the game strategy.
Day 2 Photographing for France Football
On day 2, we had a much different schedule than the previous day. We started with morning practice just like before, but then we went to one of Peter’s favorite restaurants for lunch. It was during this time that the journalist conducted most of his interview.
I really appreciated how friendly the journalist was. He even encouraged me to ask Peter some questions if I had any. One question I asked was which players impressed him the most. He mentioned some big names like Aguero, Messi, and Zidane. It was also fascinating to see Peter demonstrate some of his coaching strategies using a salt, pepper, and parmesan container. It showed how passionate he was about soccer and coaching.
After a long lunch, which is typical for French people to take their time at restaurants for over 2 hours, we headed to the town to take portrait photos of Peter for the magazine.
The Publication
Spending those two days with Peter was absolutely incredible! I was thrilled to see how friendly and approachable he was with us. He even offered to let us know when we could attend a FC Dallas game.
The magazine was published a couple of months after our time with Peter. I purchased it on the app, and my entire family bought copies as well. When I visited my family in France last winter, they were even kind enough to give me a physical copy of the magazine.
As a photographer, I’ve been published in many magazines for my portrait and wedding work. But being featured in a magazine that created one of the most well-known trophies in the world, for a sport that I’m so passionate about, was an entirely different feeling!
Now that I’ve moved to Montrose, CO, I love photographing the high school soccer teams. It brings back memories of my time with Peter, and I enjoy sharing those images with the parents.
If you want to see the full gallery, CLICK HERE
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