CHARLOTTE — Jonathan Stewart has what he likes to call an "art brain."

If the Panthers all-time leading rusher hears a song on the radio he likes, he goes home and picks it out by ear on the piano, adding a twist to make it his own version. If he sees something inspiring in the world around him, he likes to paint it or draw it.

And when his daughter was born back in 2018, he wanted to be able to capture every moment, looking through the lens as a father.

So he bought his first camera—a Sony A7R—and realized he'd tapped into a new artistic expression.

"I've grown up just always being amused with the arts of a lot of different forms," he explains, excitement tinging his voice at the subject.

"Obviously, taking pictures and photography is art," continues Stewart. "And so I got it because I started wanting to take pictures and photos and traveling off-season and stuff like that with my friends, just, you know, taking photos and capturing moments."

Fast forward seven years. Stewart admits he hasn't picked up his camera as much as he'd like in recent years, but two things happened in a short window of time: one, he saw fellow former running back Marshawn Lynch spending time on the sidelines as a photographer, and football players are nothing if not competitive.

"If (he) can do it, I can do it for sure," laughs Stewart. "Yeah, give me a camera. Make it a competition amongst people."

Secondly, the Panthers partnered with Sony for the "Shot on Sony" program with teams during the Week 2 game against the Arizona Cardinals.

"To be honest, I've actually been wanting to do something like this," Stewart explains, "(so) the Panthers asked me to be a part of what they have going on with Sony, 'Shot on Sony,' and so the Panthers reached out to me and said, 'Hey, we thought you would be a good fit for what they're looking for,' you know, me and my art brain, I think that's it's really fitting."

The partnership put Stewart back on the sidelines for the first time since he retired in 2019, but in a way, he's never seen the game before.

"I was way more prepared to take photos during the game than I was pregame and all that because it was kind of—I didn't really know what I was supposed to shoot (pregame)," exclaims Stewart, continuing with a chuckle, "It's like, you want me to shoot these guys just sitting around? You want me to take pictures of the moments?

"But I learned quick that there are some really cool moments before the game that I think—people enjoy showing up to watch pregame. Like, what does Chuba Hubbard look like when he's dialed in and trying to focus in on the details of his assignments and alignments and warming up and get lathered up, what does all that look like?"

It also created a new way for fans to see the players they love and those moments they treasure. With Stewart behind the camera, players saw one of their own, coaches and front office, like general manager Dan Morgan, recognized a friend, and the result was an intimacy unique to Stewart's photos.

"Yeah, we saw each other before, we were laughing at each other, him taking pictures of us on the JUGS machine and stuff," shares Hubbard. "So it was cool to be able to see him do that.

"I can't necessarily say that's something I'd do (after retirement), but seeing him do it definitely puts some perspective that'd be something fun to do."

Once the game kicked off, though, Stewart—who played running back for the Panthers from 2008-2017, plus one year with the New York Giants, and made the Pro Bowl in 2015—was in his element. Combining his love of photography with his institutional knowledge of the game helped him see when and where the play might be.

"During the game, being able to see kind of like frustrating moments early on and seeing how the certain guys' facial expressions were, and I got some really cool photos of T-Mac ( Tetairoa McMillan) on the catch that he caught across the middle," says Stewart.

"(Then) it was T-Mac on the opposite side of the field, on their sideline. I knew that he was going to run some type of curl or come back, and try to get up the sideline at catch, cause they ran it before and that seems to be kind of like, he has a good knack for that and and so he caught it, turned that field, ran a guy over, gave him the the forearm, kind of stood up over the top of him.

"It was really cool that playing the game allowed me to be able to understand down-and-situation, where guys are lined up on the field, what coverage it was, if it's the middle of the field closed, middle field open, more than likely, you know, third-and-long, you might be able to hit a guy across the middle if you have that route available."

And despite having dabbled in photography over the years, kneeling on the sideline with cameras designed to capture every second of a sporting event, like the Sony A6400 and Sony A9iii that Stewart shot on Sunday, was a step up in this artistic field.

"I was going through my lens and just kind of zeroing in on what their facial expressions were seeing, if they were sweating, are they warmed up yet, so it's almost kind of like I'm like a spy. I'm over here like spying on these guys, just peeking in on them, on everything," says Stewart. "And being able to look back at that and see how crazy this technology is that it allowed me to follow and zoom in and focus in on a guy moving at, you know, top-notch speed."

This was the first opportunity for Stewart to take photos during a game. But for the man who is always looking for the next way to stretch his artistic muscle post football, he hopes it's not the last.

"I enjoyed being able to have access to the game in a way that I never really imagined, And I also like the idea of maybe getting to a point where I can have my own touch to shooting photography from different angles and things that I see that are different as opposed to what you typically see, I mean, and that's kind of how my brain works," expresses Stewart.

"I mean, if there's ever an avenue down the road to be a part of something like that again, it was really fun."