Éric Desjardins is a season ticket holder since Stade Saputo opened in 2008. His love for the Bleu-blanc-noir, combined with his passion for photography and editing has helped him develop a special relationship with many players from the club.
“I got into an accident,” explained Éric Desjardins. “I have not been working since 1999. Since the arrival of the club in MLS, I started taking graphics classes and in my personal projects, I would edit some photos of Impact players.”
When the club was training at Centre Claude-Robillard, Desjardins was a regular at practice and took the opportunity to ask for autographs on posters he created so he could give them to his kids or friends.
“Over the years, players started looking at the posters and asking me if they could have some,” said the season ticket holder. “They were ready to pay me, but for me, it was out of the question to ask for money from the players. As a collector, I preferred doing an exchange with them. Players would sign their game jerseys and give one to me from time to time, and I would make them posters. Today, I have 27 jerseys. My first one was Nevio Pizzolito who was captain of the team back then.”
Éric Desjardins has his season tickets, but he often buys a ticket closer to the field to take photos. Being someone who cares about details, his editing process can take him many hours. He is especially meticulous when it’s time to crop the player out of the photo.
Here are two anecdotes about his experiences with the players.
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<span class="s1">“This one is of Marco Di Vaio and his daughters at the pregame ceremony when he was playing his last game. Over time, we started to learn about each other. He even introduced me to his father once at the Centre Claude-Robillard. Marco really liked my photos, even if they were not of the same quality as the ones the Impact official photographers would do. When it was time to capture this precious moment with his two daughters, there were about ten photographers in front of the players. Marco looked in the crowd and when he saw me, he asked his daughters to look at my camera. At the end of 2013, he gave me his jersey when he came back to pick up his gear at the training centre and he gave me his cleats. These are two collector items I will keep forever. He’s a great man and a great player. Didier Drogba seems like the perfect candidate to replace him.”</span> |
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<span class="s1">“Patrice is an awesome player, a gentleman and someone really patient with the fans. He really liked my photos and he decided to use one on his Facebook profile page. It was a photo montage I did in one of my graphics classes. Like the other players, he wanted a copy of my poster and, as a thank you, he gave me a jersey. Against the Vancouver Whitecaps in 2013, I waited a while to get his jersey. It took about an hour. He got out of his car, apologizing for the delay, and gave me his jersey, still warm. He had it cleaned before giving it to me. Class. Later, towards the end of the 2014 season, he gave me a pair of cleats.” </span> |
