The thrill of the moment

She didn’t see him until moments before she held her camera up to take his picture.

As Bright tells the story of the photo of the grinning Atlanta United fan, she was standing near the entrance of Mercedes-Benz Stadium before a match against Toronto. Suddenly, the gentle stream of soccer devotees coming toward her became a mighty torrent.  

“They came in, and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God!’” says Bright.

People of all ages and walks of life from the team’s official supporters’ clubs swirled around her, chanting, banging drums, clapping and cheering, some waving red and black scarves and flags.

The next thing she knew, she stood face-to-face with a fan wearing a silver jersey, wrap-around sunglasses and a broad smile.

“Now, believe it or not,” says Bright. “I’m very shy, very introverted. But when I pick up that camera,” she adds, she is emboldened.

“I was so focused on him,” she says. “I had a wide-angle lens, and I was really in his face.”

She didn’t even notice the “Black History is Atlanta History” team scarf, its fringe fluttering in the air behind him, until later, when she looked at her camera to see the image she’d taken.

The photograph illustrates how sports fan culture is intertwined with African American culture in Atlanta, says Bright. She points out how the fan is making the hand sign for “the A” — a nickname for Atlanta originating in hip-hop.

“It’s just the excitement of the moment, wrapped up in all of that,” she says.

When fans meet players

Another photo puts fans’ relationships with the athletes they love front and center.

Bright snapped the photo as A.J. Terrell Jr., a cornerback for the Atlanta Falcons, signed autographs before a crowd of clamoring fans. The scene took place in July 2025 at the team’s training camp in Flowery Branch, Georgia.

“You see how they’re just gazing at the player, just caught up,” she says. “You see all of the footballs and the hats; everybody is trying to get to him.”

Amid the jostling, Bright chose to focus on the naked awe on the faces of two fans.

To get a shot like this, she works deliberately. “I wait for that moment. And that’s when I click the shutter,” she says.

The result, in this case, says McKenzie, is a composition that reminds her of the work of Caravaggio, the Italian Renaissance painter.

“Look at the sight lines,” she says. “There’s a child getting an autograph, and he’s looking up at A.J., and then there’s another young man in the crowd who’s looking across, and the result is incredible.”

“It’s almost a private moment,” says Bright. Like other photographs in the series, she adds, it captures an occasion of connection in an era when many people feel disconnected.

Bright has found fellowship of her own at Emory’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Books Library, which houses several of her photography collections.

“That [relationship] gives me a sense of, believe it or not, family,” says Bright, explaining that the Rose Library’s successes in preserving and celebrating African American history and culture resonate with her own artistic mission.

“The work they do is so important, and I’m excited about this exhibit at the Carlos,” she says.

Afficionados of Bright’s photography can expect more. The Carlos exhibit has inspired her to continue taking photos of sports fan culture. She would like, eventually, to publish a book on the topic.  

This summer, Bright plans to photograph the World Cup’s Atlanta games as the brand ambassador for Leica Camera.

The photographer who isn’t a sports person says she’s thrilled.

“I’m looking forward to the fans,” she says, “and all the diversity there. What I’m looking to see is this thread of different communities coming together, because even when this noisy event is going on, I feel like the world is stopped in these moments where we gather.”