# @perryknotts on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DUT0stED8TO
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/75981301-perryknotts-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/b4d036cb70.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-02-03T20:48:38.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Perry Knotts (@perryknotts) — https://gondola.cc/perryknotts

## Caption

Seventeen years ago, I had no idea what my passion for photography could become.

I graduated from Flagler College in 2004 with a degree in graphic design and found myself working at a screen-printing shop, but something inside me knew I wasn’t done yet. Photography had my heart. So I went back to school at Daytona State College, chasing a feeling, not a plan, trusting that curiosity would eventually lead somewhere.

Around that time, I spotted a tiny, non-descriptive ad in Sports Shooter magazine looking for an assistant in Tampa for the first Sunday in February. I checked the calendar.

Super Bowl Sunday.

The Super Bowl was in Tampa.

Could it be?!

I took a leap of faith and applied. That leap changed everything.

My role wasn’t glamorous. I was a Card Runner, sprinting from the field to the media workroom with memory cards, downloading images to send to editors in California, then racing back out with fresh cards for photographers Ben and Newman. Over and over again. It was exhausting, chaotic, and intense… and I loved every second of it. My only goal was simple: work as hard as I could and prove I was meant to be there.

In an act of generosity I’ll never forget, I was allowed to wear my own camera around my neck. Those photos weren’t for anyone else—they were just for me. But in the middle of all that motion, I got to experience what it felt like to stand on the sideline of the Super Bowl as a photographer. Not just to witness it, but to capture it. Those are memories I will cherish for a lifetime.

When Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band took the halftime stage, the crowd blocked Ben from getting a clear shot. Without thinking, I sprinted back to the workroom, grabbed a folding chair, and ran it out to him so he could stand on it. OSHA would probably shut that down today, but thinking on my feet and giving him a literal leg up may have been the small moment that opened the door to what became an incredible NFL career.

Sometimes the moments that change your life don’t feel big when they’re happening.

Sometimes they look like running as fast as you can, doing whatever you can to help, and showing up like you belong, because you do.

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 317
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 18

## Credits

| Name | Username | Profile | Role |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Perry Knotts | @perryknotts | https://gondola.cc/perryknotts | Photographer |

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