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When the siren went at the end of St Kilda's victory over Collingwood in round 4 of the 1993 AFL season, neither the commentators or cameras were watching Nicky Winmar as he made his way to the boundary.
But sports photographers Wayne Ludbey and John Feder were.
What they captured moments later is etched in our sporting and protest history; a powerful declaration against the tirade of racism against Indigenous players.
Even though both Ludbey and Feder knew the significance of the moment, getting the image and the story behind it out in their national newspapers was another hurdle entirely.
"It was important that the truth was told, but it was very close to falling through the cracks," Ludbey told ABC iview's I Was Actually There.
Unrelenting abuse
The match had been a huge upset for Collingwood, which had gone into the game at their home ground Victoria Park undefeated.
The Saints' dominance, including stunning play from McAdam and Winmar, had incensed Collingwood's fans, who spent the game hurling racist and abusive vitriol at the field.
"[The fans were] swearing at you, spitting at you, calling you everything under the sun, which I won't repeat," McAdam told ABC iview's I Was Actually There.
"It was a tool to make you, to upset you."
As Winmar described, the abuse was unrelenting.
"I think a lot of 'em just lost it because we were winning," he said.
"I'm not going to say things that they said, but it just happened all day. It wasn't just bits and pieces, it was just all day."
On the sideline, Ludbey, who photographed for The Sunday Age, and Feder, who photographed for the Sunday Herald Sun, were picking up on the atmosphere too.
"What I can remember is that all day Winmar was being taunted," Feder said.
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Saints succeed
When the game finished Ludbey and Feder sprang to capture the rejoicing Saints.
"Well, the siren goes and I was actually looking for Gilbert McAdam because he was the best on ground," Ludbey said.
"He was closer to the centre of the ground, which was quite a long way away from me, and I noticed Nicky was a lot closer to me in front of the social club and framed my 400-mill lens very nicely.
"So I chose to focus on Nicky and he was in that euphoric state of jubilation, just very happy at winning."
As Winmar came off the field he stopped in front of a Collingwood cheer squad.
Winmar described a barrage of "yelling, screaming [and] death threats".
"Oh my God, we'd just run around for nearly two hours and they want to fight. It's crazy," he said.
"I just got tired of it. I got sick of it. So I just wanted to show them the colour of my skin and who I was."
Through their lenses, Ludbey and Feder captured Winmar's reaction.
"He stops, hesitates, sort of checks himself, and then the next frame he's lifting his jumper and the next frame he's lifting it higher," Ludbey said.
"He's pointing to his skin and he said, 'I'm proud to be black'."
Ludbey knew in the moment the weight of what Winmar had just done.
"I was totally concentrating on him to get the best picture I could, so I'm glad I did.
"I'm glad I didn't f**k it up.
"There's no video, there's no footage of it. The commentators didn't address it.
"It was left to John [Feder] and I to record. As it turns out, a very significant moment in history."
Taking the photos was one thing. Convincing their publishers they needed to be front and centre was another.
Fight for the front page
Ludbey "knew" Winmar's reaction was out of the ordinary and even "spat a few dummies" to make sure it got prime place in the paper.
"I knew that it was a very different message from the normal narrative of a footy game, and it was an important one," he said.
"The narrative around First Nations people wasn't on people's radar. It's very close to falling through the cracks."
He turned to a friend who was the football editor at the time, who backed his call to have it sit on the front page.
"Deadline for the front page at that time was 9:30pm. I think they rang me about 9:15pm and said that it was in the paper on the front page with the quote, 'I'm proud to be black'," Ludbey said.
But when he saw it the next day Ludbey described being "incredibly disappointed" at how small the photo was.
Feder's Sunday Telegraph had run it much larger on the front page but with a glaring error.
"I clearly remember having this conversation with the sports editor back then and the chief of staff and their take seemed to be that he was pointing to his guts and saying, 'He's got guts'," Feder said.
"And I was like, 'No, no, he wasn't doing that at all. He was talking about the colour of his skin.'
"They didn't really go as far in calling it out the racism that had happened that day ... it wasn't exactly what I would've wanted, but to get it on the front page, I mean, it started the conversation."
'It's an amazing picture', Winmar says
Despite his stand, the Collingwood game took a toll on Winmar who stepped off the footy pitch for several weeks.
On the 30th anniversary of the match last year, Collingwood held a healing ceremony at Victoria Park and formally apologised to Winmar and McAdam for the abuse they sustained during the match.
"That was actually good for my soul too because when you think about it, we never had no healing process," McAdam reflected.
"Nothing comes straightaway. You've got to fight for it. Still fighting for it today.
"Without that photo, nothing would've got done. I'll tell you right now."
While the photo captured a moment of defiance, it also speaks to the pain and hurt inflicted on many current and former Indigenous players.
It's something that weighs on Ludbey.
"We were having a beer in a pub and [Winmar] said, 'Wayne, I appreciate that you've changed my life, but I have to relive that moment over and over and over every day of my life'," Ludbey said.
"I hope I haven't ruined his life.
"[When I look at the photo] I see a proud Noongar man who's defending his culture, his people, himself. A very powerful moment."
Despite the mix of feelings the photo conjures up, Winmar still thinks "it's an amazing picture".
"It just felt like yesterday, it's like I'm still there," he said.
"I did what I did and I told the truth.
"Don't be scared of what you are, and who you are. Just get out there and be brave."
Stream the entire series of I Was Actually There on ABC iview, or watch tonight on ABC TV at 8pm.
You can also listen to the extended conversation with Gilbert McAdam now on the I Was Actually There podcast.