NFL Photographer Shares Dizzying View from Stadium Catwalk

Freelance NFL photographer Janaye Johnson has shared a dizzying video of her perch high in the rafters above the field which gave her an incredible perspective of the in-game action.

From hundreds of feet above the field, Johnson — who specifically covers games for the Minnesota Vikings — was able to capture unique perspectives of the action. The footage, which was captured with a 360-degree camera, aptly shows the uncomfortable height she ventured.

According to Essentially Sports, this was only Johnson’s second time shooting for the Vikings and she knew that in order to get more chances to capture games in the future, she needed to impress her editors. While she is afraid of heights, she knew that the aerial perspective combined with her long super-telephoto lenses would give her shots that no one else at the game would get. She first witnessed the technique from another photographer who covered the Atlanta Falcons earlier in the season.

“My legs were jelly, I hate heights more than anything,” Johnson says on TikTok.

Johnson isn’t alone. Many of the replies to her video, which she also posted on Twitter, are from onlookers who are happy they weren’t up there with her.

One of the top comments on her original upload on TikTok claimed that there was “literally no point in shooting from up here,” a stance that Johnson clearly disagrees with as she shared some of her results to back up her stance on all her channels (and she even specifically calls out that comment with a clown emoji).

Unfortuanately, Johnson won’t get another chance to photograph the Vikings until next season, as the team lost that game to the New York Giants in the wild card round of the NFL Playoffs. More of her NFL photography can be found on her website.