FC 24 Cover Shoot // EA Sports
Project Scope
Photograph the first ever "FC 24" cover, post-rebrand for the most popular sports game in the world, Electronic Arts "FIFA".
This cover shoot will also be the first cover ever to have the image taken in a live game scenario. The client believed that with the rebrand to FC, the approach should feel "200% football", meaning they wanted to bring the fans as close to the real world as possible. This means capturing the cover photo in a real live environment.
Approach
"This is what I do"
Starting Eleven founding partner and lead photographer Devin L'Amoreaux, was hired to photograph eventual cover star Erling Haaland and another high-profile player over the course of 2 football matches. The agency was already big fans of Devin's in-game photography and trusted he was the right photographer for the job.
Before flying to Manchester to photograph Manchester City vs. Red Bull Leipzig in a Champions League match-up, Devin consulted with the managing agency on his plans to maximize his chances of getting "the shot". Trusting his years of experience, he placed himself in a position on gameday where Haaland scored and celebrated in front of him multiple times.
At the end of the day, Devin was confident in his photographs that surely one image would fit the cover. Even though none of Devin's preferred selects were chosen for the cover, we are still incredibly proud that the cover photo was ultimately one he captured on the game day and is now being displayed all over the planet and on the screens and game cases of football fans worldwide.
Credits
Photographer: Devin L'Amoreaux
"Photographing the FC 24 cover is a dream come true, simple as that. As a kid, I grew up playing every version of EA's FIFA ever to exist. I would run to my local Walmart or Gamestop in the days before social media just to see who could be on the cover, and I'd speculate with my friends and teammates at training. Honestly, I always dreamed that one day, it would be me on the cover… I guess I will have to settle for shooting it now."
"I think it's also relevant to say that when I first looked at the cover photo, I thought "that's not so special". I felt that it was a cool achievement, sure, but staring at a single photo didn't feel like an amazing achievement… and then I had to tell myself that it's not just that one cover photo that should feel special on its own, but rather the millions and millions of photos I took before this one; all of those photos that helped earn the opportunity to be selected to take this cover photo, those are what I'm most proud of… and this cover photo is just the culmination of that."