I wanted to take a picture of Russell Wilson that embodied a man who, “Any Given Sunday” in the autumn, holds court. This dictated that the narrative be dynamic and full of energy, not some stiff picture of him relaxing on a sofa. That’s not really what I do.

My instincts were to be as creatively bold as possible - it would be embarrassing for this superstar to come all the way to rural Western Montana and finish with a mundane portrait.

I decided to shoot after dark to add some bite to the image and then bring in equipment to create monsoon like rain. The final ingredient was literally to play with fire.

As in every picture I take, there are compromises and my preference was for the LED light panels to be on quite a subdued setting rather than flooding the set. This meant working at the edge of the camera’s capability, but it would add depth to the image.

Of all these decisions, the most important was the rain; it lent textural detail and mood to the image. I understand Seattle is known for its heavy rainfall - no wonder Russell looks totally at home.