Bills Mafia in the snow

Two women contemplating the Playoffs

An intense blizzard ripped through Buffalo this past weekend, forcing the Steelers vs. Bills game to be moved to Monday afternoon and setting the stage for greatness not just for the players on the field, but for Bills fans (affectionately known as Bills Mafia) off it. Fans were asked to bring their own shovels into the stadium, there were no assigned seats, and snow was seemingly everywhere. Expectations were sky high, and rightfully so, as the Bills were a heavy favorite and Bills Mafia - between Pinto Ron and a proclivity for jumping through tables - have set the standard for NFL fandom & shenanigans, and this game blessed them with an ideal natural environment to operate within.

Both the Bills players and fans came through, as the team won 31-17, and Bills Mafia showed up in force. No scene was more emblematic than the shot of two women in their stadium seats roughly TWO HOURS prior to kickoff, captured by photographer Kathryn Riley.

The image quickly went viral on social media - I first saw it when people started tagging me in Bleacher Report’s tweet featuring the image. I decided to pair it with Bernard Cohen’s ‘Zany Balances’ - he has a number of pieces featuring colored dots, and I thought this worked well (though it’s slightly pixelated on desktop).

As I’ve alluded to in the past, I want to use this platform to go more in-depth on the posts I put out on social media. One of those avenues is focusing in on the artists (more to come on that later this week). Another is learning how a particular sports image that I use came together. Two weeks ago I spoke with Photographer Brian Ray about his shot of Caitlin Clark’s buzzer beater, and yesterday I was lucky enough to chat with Kathryn about the unique game and her incredible shot.

LJ (ArtButMakeItSports)

Do you primarily work Bills games?

Kathryn Riley

I’m part of the NFL Focus team, there are 12 of us spread out around the country. So I'm based in the Boston area; I work some Pats games, Eagles, Jets, Giants, Bills - anything in the Northeast is usually in my wheelhouse. And I do a lot of golf and tennis, and got my start in baseball.

LJ

So being based in Massachusetts, did you have trouble because the game was originally scheduled for the weekend and had to get moved?

Kathryn

I was definitely a little stressed going into it. The NWS was calling it impossible travel, which isn’t fun for a seven hour drive. So I decided I wasn’t going to leave until one o'clock on Saturday - I'd stay in Syracuse and then just head over to the stadium the next morning. And I was watching the Weather Channel when the lady said, ‘Just in, the Bills game has been postponed to Monday.’ I ended up leaving anyways and going snowboarding in Vermont; I made the most of it because most of my weekends this time of year are taken up by football. Monday morning I left at 5:30am and drove straight to Orchard Park. There was some light traffic around the stadium, but overall not too bad. I was definitely worried though and figured I would give myself a big buffer in case it was still terrible out.

LJ

I assume being in Boston, you've shot in the snow, but anything that intense or that big of a blizzard before?

Kathryn

I actually had my first snow game ever last weekend, so back-to-back. I've had snow in pregame and post-game, and games where it’s been 20 below with wind chill, but never a pure snow game.

LJ

Did you have to do anything special with your equipment because of how cold it was?

Kathryn

I've had a lot of success, knock on wood, with my batteries. I shoot Nikon and a lot of my colleagues rag on me for that because they're all Canon and Sony shooters - all three are great, it's just what I happen to shoot with. For whatever reason, Nikon batteries in the cold are rock solid, which is usually a really big issue. You have to have more batteries on hand and replace them more often. But that wasn't the case for me, luckily. My 400 had to warm up though; it was being really wonky for the first 20 minutes or so but finally settled down. It's also really old so that probably played a part.

LJ

So the shot, can you take me through how it all came together?

Kathryn

I finally got my equipment ready, credentialed, past security, all of that around 2pm. And then the Bills meeting room is really tight. So it just took a lot longer than normal to get my stuff organized and gear up. At that point I needed to get outside - I'm in 5,000 layers and it was getting super hot, so I just headed out.

At that point, my intention was for more snow features. I thought maybe someone shoveling, but I also tried to think what could be different about this game, what could I capture that’s unique. I would say not every assignment is like that, but when you have an editor or a client who says just go out and do whatever you want to do, it makes it a lot of fun and tends to lead to the best photos. I love feature hunting, where it's not necessarily game action. It could be interesting fans or a player having a quiet moment to themselves pregame on the sideline or in the tunnel - the in between moments that lend a layer to telling the entire story of the day.

At the time I was looking at this kid who had insane face paint on and a buffalo head hat. And I'm like, oh, I wish you could just come closer. I was trying to wave him down, but it didn't work. I look to my left and I see these two ladies just sitting - I was field level, and they were around three-quarters of the way up in the lower-bowl. Since it was so early, the stadium was relatively empty and they really stood out. Why anyone would show up that early to sit in the snow in that type of weather is beyond me, but there they were. The sun was kind of on point too. I took the shot, did the crop (more on that below), and sent it in, and I told myself, this is neat. And then next thing I know, a little before kickoff, someone texted me and was like, your photo is everywhere. It was, which is crazy.

LJ

That blind dedication ties into the essence of Bills Mafia, which I think is why it resonated with people. Plus, the way you were able to frame it with the lighting was so perfect. In looking through your Instagram, you’re big on monochromatic shots, and this definitely fit your style.

Kathryn

Yeah, I just find light and shadow super interesting, and football, especially in the snow, lends itself to that. You can really make things pop, and I got lucky with the crop to keep this shot clean because I was really close to having to cut off the top of the woman’s beanie, which I didn't want to do. And I also didn't want the random guy's elbow in the very top left corner just kind of hanging in there

The uncropped shot

LJ

What was the camera and the lens that you were using for the shot?

Kathryn

So, that was on a Nikon Z9 with a 135-18. Like a Nikon 135-18.

LJ

And finally, where can people follow your work?

Kathryn

So I know it’s X, but it's Twitter forever in my heart. It's @K__H__R on both Twitter and Instagram. And then I have a really outdated website, but no one needs to look at that right now. And thank you for this, it was really cool. I mean, your account to me is so fascinating. I was like, I've made it. I can retire!

LJ

Thanks for the time, congrats on such an incredible shot, and please don’t retire, as I know myself and everyone else are looking forward to seeing your future work!

(Editor’s note: also shoutout to Jane Burns for coming up with the name of this series - The Shot Behind the Shot)