By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Great Bend native Patrick Heath found himself involved in Super Bowl LIX. In an odd way. During Monday's press conference in New Orleans, Guillermo Rodriguez with ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" presented Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes with a pillow to sign as part of a bit. The comedy? Mahomes was surprised to find a shirtless photo of himself on the other side of the pillow. Heath knew right away it was his photo from last year's championship parade in Kansas City.
"I saw the photo when the pillow turned around and I recognized all the reactions in the faces in the photo," he said. "Mahomes' wife was next to him in the photo. I recognized instantly that that was my photo. I went back and checked and it ended up being the exact same one."
Heath had temporarily posted but removed his photo on Shutterstock, a website where photographers can sell their work. Kimmel's staff thought they had properly purchased the photo until Heath reached out to them.
"The next day, I got a panicked phone call from their team," he said. "It was pretty interesting. Their media director apologized profusely for the mistake and made sure they got the proper license from me so they could use the bit."
The bit aired on Thursday's edition of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Under the licensing agreement, Heath was not named as the photographer. And the signed pillow went elsewhere.
"Unfortunately, the pillow did have prior obligations," Heath said. "I'm not sure if it's a charity event or a producer's kid or something like that, but they compensated me much more than I expected for the pillow. They made sure I was treated right."
Heath called it an interesting week, starting with the excitement of seeing his photo make Mahomes smile. But it was also an important lesson in professional courtesy.
"I just wanted to make sure I got credit for it because, as a photographer, you don't really get opportunities like that a lot," he said. "I think it's really important to have the proper licenses when you're using an image of somebody who goes out and does the work to get those images. It meant a lot for them to care enough to call me and personally apologize for it and make it right."