10/06 — Al Pereira is comfortable in many worlds. He is a pioneering photographer in the realm of rap and hip-hop performers. He's also trained his lens on Paul McCartney, The Who, U2 and Cold Play. He'll rap with you about the culture of the new millennium one moment, then hip-hop back in time to discuss the merits and demerits of the Beatles in mono and Monty Python, Mr. Ed and Groucho Marx, lasagna and lagniappe.

And one more thing — in my book, Al is the best photog shooting the New York Jets these days.

I'm biased, of course, but I felt that way well before I joined the Jets in 2007, a decade after Al became the team's photographer. These days there are many media in which to capture an athletic team such as the Jets, but I've always been a fan of still photos from the football field, the instantaneous capturing of the truth of the moment.

And Al does it every week for me and all you mutual aficionados of football photos. In a way, "still photography" is an oxymoron when applied to Pereira, who's always moving a mile a minute, looking for the perfect or unusual vantage point from which to snap an event or a game. When you see others' photos of a Jerricho Cotchery catch or a Mark Sanchez pass or a David Harris rush to the ballcarrier, you'll often see Al in the background, shooting the action from the other direction.

Pereira's photos go live on newyorkjets.com as soon as humanly and technologically possible during and after games. And now, after talking for months about a new platform from which to display his talents, we're bringing to you today, for the first time, "Al's Gallery," our landing page of slideshows as either photographed or selected by Pereira, along with Al's glib and informative comments for each show.

Today he is bringing us some 50 classics from the Jets' Shea Stadium era, shots he's pulled together from many sources in his role as the team's photo manager. We're planning on regularly bringing you more themed slideshows. They could be studies on Curtis Martin or Winston Hill, forgotten Super Bowl III images, the Jets' best rookies or best catches or most off-beat moments. (My favorite is James Ihedigbo and the butterfly up at Cortland training camp.)

Whatever the theme, Al Pereira will help bring back the memories and the excitement for Jets