Not all sport is exciting

Canon Bob

Loves the Enemy
Messages
9,754
Name
Bob
Edit My Images
Yes
My local airfield has just hosted the national championship for paramotors.......suspend yourself under a big, banana shaped hanky with a 2m fan strapped to your jacksie and fly around the countryside. Off I went to fight through the crowds and shoot the action! It's as dull as ditchwater and the only spectators are the long suffering other halves of the 67 competitors from 4 or more countries. How do you instill some excitement into the photos?

I have an open invitation (request really) to shoot a petanque tournament...same problem....how to convey tension or excitement with a shot of one little metal ball and 6 or 8 big metal balls clustered together on a bed of gravel? I'm not into motorsports but I can appreciate (and take) shots that show some semblence of action but there are sports where it's hard to know what to offer.

So, what's your approach to shooting the mundane (or things that you find mundane)?
 
The result will be important to the players and their supporters. Maybe their expressions are the answer?
 
......Maybe their expressions are the answer?
Facial expressions are akin to teenagers skateboarding and I have 67 versions of 'nonchalant'....even the competitors didn't seem excited.
 
It is what it is.. I cover crown green bowls now and then.. just look for the odd smile or the wait for the measuring.. pretty much same type of thing... show the sport as it is.. you cant make stuff up that doesnt happen.... fingers crossed someone trips up and you grab it :)
 
It is what it is.. I cover crown green bowls now and then.. just look for the odd smile or the wait for the measuring.. pretty much same type of thing... show the sport as it is.. you cant make stuff up that doesnt happen.... fingers crossed someone trips up and you grab it :)
That's the point...Folks who want pics of crown green bowls are probably not expecting back flip celebrations when the player scores a strike (Or whatever they do in bowls.)
Photograph what happens and the reactions. (In short...be a photographer. :) )
 
Re the paramotors: like any form of flying, it's the take-offs and landings that can be "interesting". Those are the bits to catch, especially if they have the paramotor equivalent of a spot landing competition. Pulling the canopy in to expel air on v short final and touchdown ought to get some puckered faces and good background from a fairly head-on viewpoint.

Petanque: I guess a bit like fielding at short square leg - you need to be down with the balls shooting wide angle with big aperture maybe? (but possibly dangerous given they are metal balls)
 
Clearly a sport that doesn't captivate me but if Amazon were to sell Sidewinders I could spice things up a little bit next time perhaps.
Here's a couple of representative shots......
p3506855709-4.jpg
p3506856325-4.jpg
 
Clearly a sport that doesn't captivate me but if Amazon were to sell Sidewinders I could spice things up a little bit next time perhaps.
Here's a couple of representative shots......
p3506855709-4.jpg
p3506856325-4.jpg

Nice shots.
 
Does anyone have experience of photographing american football?


A couple of hours watching men talking which is broke up now and then by a bit of the sport that seems to be everyone pretending to have the ball when they havent.. Worse field sport I have ever covered..
 
Back
Top