A Lesson in Sports Photography

monkeyleader

monkeyleader

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Nigel
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Hola,

Was back on the mainland this past weekend covering a few games and happened to have an hour or so looking at the most excellent book from Bob Martin (1/1000th) .... goodness me such a fantastic book. The production as well as of course the images. Each and every one tells a story and many transported me back in time to the event when I would have been watching on the tele-box .... If you haven't had a chance to look at the book and are interested in being inspired then go hunt it out .... Certainly on my wish list now to own personally ...

On the flight on the way home managed to listen to an interview with Mark Leech, which in turn led me back to his online portfolio ... Once again fantastic stories, advice and of course images ....

Both experiences however left me feeling a mixture of inspiration and feeling flat ... Inspired of course as it would be impossible not to be in the company of two legends in the sporting photography world. However flat as from a commercial side of things it would seem we are being squeezed more and more to get the standard shots as that is what sells ... Managers shaking hands, the goals, the celebrations ..... I understand this but similar we also need to be careful that we are not just turning up and shooting the same old same old .... The challenge is meeting commercial obligations but continuing to grow as a photographer and trying to build a portfolio which hangs together such as Bobs or Marks ... ie not just the standard Managers, shots and celebrations ....

The longer version of my musings can be read here ...

cheers,

Nige
 
Nice read Nigel, some great images on your website also. been looking for something to read regarding Sports photography and will definitely purchase the 1/1000th .
 
Good points, well argued. I used to enjoy shooting League 2 for this very reason - more flexibility on positioning to create more interesting images, and less pressure to zap in images really fast. Perhaps the thing to do is mix up the big games with a few smaller ones and get your "fix" that way. It's very tricky to be creative when you're in the pit with everyone else, but you could try shooting wide when everyone else is long for example. Or go and shoot some weird world championships...
 
Agree entirely re the book.

Getty seem to have quite a few "arty" sports photos on their site.

Maybe we just all need to work for them........Sorted lol. :D:coat:
 
Totally agree. Good read mate. That's what I was trying to get at the other week about being bored of seeing same old same old, and bored of shooting same old stuff. Fortunately I'm employed full time as a commercial photographer so shooting the National League is just a bit of fun for me at the mo. I can cover decent standard games and shoot what I want/see.
 
There's an article in the Soccerbible magazine this month that interviews one of the Bournemouth AFC photographers, Amy Maidment, who is employed specifically to try and get "different" photos. Not sure if theres an electronic version.
 
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Lardyc7 said:
There's an article in the Soccerbible magazine this month that interviews one of the Bournemouth AFC photographers, Amy Maidment, who is employed specifically to try and get "different" photos. Not sure if theres an electronic version.
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I've ordered that issue, looking forward to reading it. She takes some great photos, definitely worth checking out her stuff if you haven't already.
 
On Monday i went to tha Photography show at the NEC. After spending most of the day there i was about to leave and realised Bob Martin was doing a seminar on the Nikon stand, So (video) camera in hand i stopped and listend and recorded him. (Did anyone else go and listen to him??) A very experianced photographer and i wasnt sure what i'd expect to hear from him? As it happens he spoke and showed slides from his book and spoke how he captured this "artistic" shot and why?

As he flashed up the next image from his powerpoint slide he explained how he caught that shot and considering a few pictures were taken remotely from the camera hanging high up he suggested phototgraphers need to think out the box. Action shots are OK but for example get yourself postioned so when Usain Bolt crosses the line and looks at his race time(as he does) you'd be there waiting to capture that moment. Most people there looked a little baffled as some will never get that chance to capture a moment like that but he has made a name for himself capturing what other people dont see. The picture he took of the man surfacing shaking the mud off his head for example took him several attempts to capture until he got .... that one.

A talented man who just see's that little bit extra i left thinking of him
 
Cracking photographer. He's a good friend of one of my Dad's sisters. His nickname is 'Bubbles' for some reason.
 
I'm surprised the 'creative out the box' shooting has took this long to reach sports photography. It's been in motorsport photography for ages now.

I wouldn't have a clue how to incorporate it into a football match for example though.

Wasn't there a thread a while a go regarding panning players etc? Did that fall into the dark depths of the TP archives?
 
minnnt said:
I'm surprised the 'creative out the box' shooting has took this long to reach sports photography. It's been in motorsport photography for ages now.

I wouldn't have a clue how to incorporate it into a football match for example though.

Wasn't there a thread a while a go regarding panning players etc? Did that fall into the dark depths of the TP archives?
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Most of us sports guys are Neanderthal David, we need someone like rookies to come in and spark our creativity
 
minnnt said:
I'm surprised the 'creative out the box' shooting has took this long to reach sports photography. It's been in motorsport photography for ages now.
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I am hoping beyond all hope that this isn't a serious comment :(
 
minnnt said:
Absolutely 100% serious. Why wouldn't it be?

I'm not a sports tog so educate me further with regards to your comment.

:)
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Shooting out of the box hasnt just reached football..someone just wrote about it thats all.. its been done since shooting football started.. its a mind thing not a camera thing... some of us look for an out the box shot every chance we get...some make a living from only doing those type of shots.. some club hire extra photogrpahers to only do that sort of thing..

its ludicrous to think out of the box photogrpahy has only just arrived in football :(

If you read the OP correctly nobody is saying its a new thing.. the point is to remind some photogrpahers to get back to doing it rather than just action..
 
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Perhaps I've just never seen any. Like i say, it's not my field so I'm not up on all the kind of shots but from what i have seen it has very much been 'same old same old'. It's what sells though. Motorsport is the same. Frame filled panning shots are what seem to sell and get publicised... Boring as hell though.

Sorry if I've caused offence, consider me 'back in my box'.
 
I was photogrpahing a football match when a rainbow appeaerd.. which isnt anything special accept it was getting late and the grounds floodlights where on.. rare floodlights and a rainbow.. so i had to change to a wide angle and get myself towards the middle of the end.. ie near to goalposts as i could while game being played to get this shot

rainbow.jpg
 
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KIPAX said:
Google
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=c...fe=off&tbm=isch&q=creative+soccer+photography

or this guy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ryusha/

theres probably thousands about :)

Burnley fc near me have at least one or two guys wandering about the whole match taking pics of anything and everything but not action unless from an odd angle..
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Ryu (flickr link) used to shoot in Scotland when Shunsuke Nakamura was at Celtic - he's cracking photographer - I thought he might be back this season as one of the Japan squad is playing for Dundee United but it appears there's just a video crew covering him
 
My crack at being creative this weekend. Our new american import for basketball.

head.jpg
 
Vladimir Rys and Darren Heath are two very creative sports togs that i follow, Vladimir covers a selection of sports though mainly i know him for his F1 coverage but he certainly gets creative with his footy shots as much as his f1 and Darren Heath again i know mainly due to his F1 photography, again very creative guy.
 
Took these a few weeks ago and noticed the rim lighting effect due to the lights being particularly non-league!!
Obviously messed about with them in PS & Nik Silver Efex and had to remove a white sponsors label on the shirts, but pretty happy with how they've turned out.
 

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snapzz said:
I've seen many "out of the box" shots by sports photographers but you hardly ever see them in print unfortunately.
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exactly.. had the odd couple in my local but they use them as space fillers not as part of original report... as in the rainbow/floodlights above.. had a few other quirky ones as seperates.. end of day there nice to look at but not what sells hence why we spend more time on the bread butter stuff... yes we should get the out of box pics when we can ...but..
 
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