The idea of photographing football matches under floodlight has existed in my head for a while now. A few years ago, on a Friday evening, I was on the way to practice and saw the lights of the Sportpark Meezenbroek (which became a lost ground in 2020). I thought it was a majestic sight, took a photo with my phone, and had the idea laid out, but I realized these kick-off times are rare in the tier. So, I gave up on it.
Sportpark Meezenbroek on a Friday night in January 2019
But it made a comeback in the times of COVID19 restrictions. When the season began, many clubs canceled their games, and the association rescheduled most of them to mid-week evenings. This happened to my club's first squad, which had to play a cup match on a Friday night. Unfortunately, it got dark quickly, and my setup didn't allow for good sports photography under these circumstances. So I began editing the photos at home, and I accidentally applied a custom preset, which I use for most of my black-and-white photography. The result was more than acceptable and became the first series for this project.
Since then, I'm trying to bring my photos, which I still make available for the clubs, to the next level.
With UNTER FLUTLICHT (German for Under Floodlights), I want to show the magic of night games. Amateur-level football in the lower leagues usually has kick-off times that will never allow floodlights, but occasionally, there is a game when the third-half athletes can put up a big show.
- Martin Pitsch