Matt Murray
Earlier this month Chuck Beard, the art director of Pittsburgh Magazine, asked me to come up with a concept for the December issue cover featuring Pittsburgh Penguin goalie Matt Murray. For Pittsburgh, Murray is a bittersweet hero. He replaced the beloved Marc-Andre Fleury, (I wonder if Fleury misses Pittsburgh when sun tanning pool side at his new home in Las Vegas), yet no one can deny that Matt Murray’s presence in goal was a major contribution to Pittsburgh having 2 consecutive downtown summer parades on Grant Street… So my idea was to make a close-up portrait of Matt showing off his 2 gaudy Stanley Cup championship rings and for him to emote an expression that read, “do you love me now, Pittsburgh?”
Because we had only 15 minutes with Matt, we had to set-up the shot long before he arrived. After shooting a few frames with Matt on the ice holding his paddle (goalie stick) we went to another location off the ice where the Zamboni enters and exits for the cover shot. I used a blue backdrop to match Matt’s eyes, and fortunately that day he happened to be clad in a blue shirt. Initially, I shot digitally until I knew I had covered myself, then I pulled out my 25 year old Hasselblad with a 60mm lens: wide enough to accentuate his ring fingers, but not too wide to distort the perspective. Using that camera and lens allows me to get closer to and better connect with my subject. When I brought the camera out Matt asked, “What kind of camera is that?” I answered that it shot medium format film and was the same model camera that NASA took to the moon. Ironically, as I began shooting with the Hasselblad, Matt seemed to become more engaged. Perhaps he realized, as is he, that I am very dedicated to my craft…
It wasn’t long before I sensed Matt has a quite stoic confidence about him, such that he lets his play and 2 rings speak for him. About half way through my second roll of film I directed Matt to imagine being in net, and that Washington Capital forward Alexander Ovechkin was skating toward him on a break away. His resulting expression is that which is now on the cover of Pittsburgh Magazine.