Blink and you miss it...the art of capturing Norwich City’s greatest Carrow Road goal
Jonny Howson's volley against Nottingham Forest was one of the best at Carrow Road. Picture by Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd - Credit: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd
It will go down in history as one of THE iconic Norwich City photos.
Paul Chesterton's picture of Jonny Howson's wonder-strike against Nottingham Forest sent social media into meltdown on Saturday afternoon.
The man himself didn't know the impact of the image at the time – he was too busy trying to capture the rest of the demolition job Norwich were staging.
'I didn't have a clue how good a goal it actually was until after,' admitted Chesterton, who follows Norwich City home and away taking pictures for the EDP and the Evening News.
'It was only when I checked my timeline on Twitter that I saw I was getting quite a lot of love for it that I had an inkling of how good it was.'
The art of being a sports photographer is anticipating moments like Howson's goal but Chesterton thought the former Leeds man had ballooned his shot initially.
'I could see the ball was dropping towards him and because the ball went so high it gave me a bit of time to position myself for it,' he added. 'After he hit it, the ball actually went out of my view finder and I just thought 'that's gone over'. I actually took my finger off the button.
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'I turned towards the goal and I saw it had gone in. I didn't know how it had gone in at all – I didn't know if it had taken a deflection or what. All I did was have a quick look at the picture on my screen, saw it was sharp, and I wanted to get it sent as soon as possible.
'Once you've done that then you don't think any more about it. It all happens so fast and you have to make sure that you don't miss anything else.'
Howson's goal has since been voted for by fans in a pinkun.com poll as the greatest goal ever scored at Carrow Road. Chesterton admits the picture will go down as one of his best covering the Canaries.
'I just felt lucky to have got the moment. I suppose over time it will be one of those iconic photos people associate with the goal,' he continued. 'It would definitely be in top three, probably the best. It would only have taken another second or two and the photo would have been ruined by the Forest defender but those are the margins. I know one thing...I would have been gutted if I had missed it!'
