A Season Captured: From Old Trafford to Selhurst Park
By the time the open-top buses crawled past seas of red at Selhurst Park in May, David Price had already lived this title-winning season frame by frame.
The club photographer was there at Old Trafford in August, there in the bitter cold on the south coast in January, there when the Premier League trophy finally glittered in the south London sun. Now, with the campaign paused and medals tucked away, he has sifted through thousands of images to pick 20 that, for him, define a remarkable year.
This is not just a gallery. It’s a story of a season, told through light, shadow and the split-second reactions of a man who never kicks a ball but never misses a moment.
Behind the curtain
It starts, fittingly, in the quiet. No roar, no whistle. Just “Hello Hincapie”.
Piero Hincapie, mid-signing video, stands under harsh, unforgiving light, flag in hand. It should be unflattering. Instead, the glare sculpts the scene, the flag becomes a prop, and a simple behind-the-scenes frame turns into a statement: new faces, new chapter, caught before the noise begins.
Noise arrives quickly once the season starts.
“Gabi gets away” captures Gabriel Martinelli in full flight, ripping away from two Kairat Almaty defenders. The image is clean, almost clinical in its composition, but the subject is anything but. Power, speed, and that familiar sense that once Martinelli has half a yard, the frame will struggle to contain him.
Not every key shot comes under match pressure. “Competitive edge” freezes Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka locked in a pre-training game that escalates with predictable speed. No crowd, no stakes, yet the faces and body language tell you everything you need to know about why these players refuse to lose when it matters.
When the streets turned red
“Parade day” drags us straight to the heart of it. Price has covered title parades before, but this one hits differently. Every inch of the frame is crammed with supporters, a wall of faces and phones, streaked with red smoke that hangs like a banner over the city. You can almost hear it. You can certainly feel it.
Amid the chaos, he still hunts for clarity. “Let it all work out” isolates the club’s new number 10, waving to Arsenal fans, a simple gesture made difficult by the reality of three cameramen fighting for the same angle. In the end, Price finds a clean lane. The result is calm against a backdrop of frenzy – a single player and a single connection with the crowd.
“The mask” brings us back to the pitch and to one of the season’s recurring images: Viktor’s iconic celebration. Price knew it would appear, and he was ready. The joy is not in the novelty but in the precision – catching it once is luck, catching it clean, again and again, is craft.
Away from the players, “Picture perfect” turns the camera on the supporters. A handmade sign, a window framing two fans as the parade buses roll into view, that split second when disbelief turns into pure delight. It’s a reminder that a season is not only written in goals and tackles but in how people watch them.
Under lights and under pressure
Some of Price’s best work comes when the floodlights flicker on.
“Under the lights” shows Declan Rice before the Bayer Leverkusen game, haloed by a star filter he dug out from the back of his office. The trick only works if you’re close enough and if the player stands just right against the glare. Rice does, and the beams radiate around his face, turning a routine pre-match moment into something almost cinematic.
As the run-in tightens, the emotions sharpen. “What it means” is pure release – Leandro and Cristhian exploding in celebration after Leo’s crucial goal at the London Stadium. The stakes are written not on the scoreboard but on their faces and in the tangle of limbs.
Then there is “Captain’s glow”. Martin Ødegaard stands over a free-kick, unknowingly positioned in a thin shaft of light. The rest of the frame falls into shadow, but the beam catches the number on his back, turning him into a focal point in an otherwise dark canvas. Price admits there was luck involved. The result looks anything but accidental.
Cold nights, hot moments
“Cool customer” is all about contrast. Eberechi Eze pauses, composed and stylish, while the Premier League trophy celebrations erupt behind him at Selhurst Park. Confetti, chaos, noise – and in the foreground, a player who seems to float above it all. One frame, two moods.
“Cold on the coast” strips the colour away entirely. A rare black-and-white conversion for a January night in Bournemouth, the lack of colour amplifying the bite in the air. The image doesn’t just show the cold. It makes you feel it.
“On the board” returns to the London Stadium and to Mikel Arteta. Price had already immortalised the manager’s leap in a previous season’s selection, but this time the focus is different: Arteta celebrating in front of the away support, the scoreboard looming in the background like a verdict. The result is a manager and a fanbase locked in the same surge of relief.
In “Rising highest”, the frame is chaos – bodies everywhere, limbs crossing, defenders scrambling. Out of the tangle, “little Gabi” rises above everyone to head home. It’s the sort of moment you can miss in real time. On stills, the story is obvious: timing, bravery, elevation.
Dagger blows and golden touches
Some images carry the weight of a season in a single expression. “Chelsea dagger” is one of them. Kai Havertz, face twisted with emotion, steam rising off his shoulders and catching the floodlights. You don’t need a caption to know what he’s just done or who he’s done it against.
“Gold dust” pulls away from the main trophy shot and finds a quieter detail. As Stuart MacFarlane tracks the silverware, Price goes hunting for something different. He finds Myles showing off his gold Premier League patch, a small square of fabric that represents months of work. In the middle of the chaos, it’s a still, almost understated symbol of supremacy.
“Winning feeling” brings the focus back to the heavy artillery at the back. Gabriel and William Saliba stride off the London Stadium pitch after a vital win over West Ham, celebrating like two men who know exactly how important their work has been. No trophy in sight, just two defenders carrying the satisfaction of a job done when it mattered.
Rivalries, history and a frozen second
“NLD emotions” might be the purest distillation of what this season has done to people. It’s the north London derby in a single frame: Eberechi Eze covering a huge grin, Zubi throwing a shrug that says everything without a word, Piero Hincapie and Declan Rice on the verge of going absolutely wild. You can smell the tension that came before it and the joy that followed.
Finally, “A moment in time” closes the sequence with a nod to where this all comes from. A simple shot, nothing elaborate, but with the Highbury Clock End clock in the background. Past and present meet in one frame, the club’s history literally looming over its current chapter.
Across 20 images, David Price doesn’t just document a title-winning season. He freezes its heartbeat – the arrivals, the arguments on training pitches, the bitter nights, the blazing afternoons, the trophies, the tiny details that might have gone unseen.
The medals will dull and the memories will blur. These pictures won’t.
