DD is playing basketball in middle school and really enjoying it! She's a wonderful defender and the third highest scorer on the team. I love sports photography and lately I've been thinking about why (maybe it's because of the Olympics). I do two types of sports photography: action shots and portraits. For the action shots, I really enjoy freezing that moment of athletic competition when two players are putting forth all their effort, trying their best, and one succeeds. There's always such emotion in these shots. In the photo at left, DD is off the ground and stealing the ball. Love it.
In the next photo of a player jumping on home plate after hitting a homerun, you can't see the pitcher he "defeated," but Sterling hit the ball off someone:
Other times, a great action shot can capture the moment when players don't know what the outcome will be, like this photograph where both the third baseman and runner are looking to the umpire to make a call on whether the runner is safe:
For the portraits, I love trying to capture the spirit of the athlete. Here's one which I like (and I just noticed that the angle helps a lot):
One thing I'd like to do more of in my sports photography is capture negative, as well as positive emotion. This famous photo of Olympic speedskater Dan Jansen (who fell in a race, shortly after learning of his sister's death) is a great example. The photo is from Getty Images:
And how wonderful to be able to use sports photography to capture an important, historical moment, like this famous photo of black athletes giving a black power salute (again, not my photo):
Do you take sports photos? Do you admire any in particular? Are there any enduring images from this year's Olympics that stick in your mind? NBC has a nice site with lots of photos here.
Speaking of competition, the winner of the Alice challenge is DEB! I asked DS to choose a number between 1 and 11, and he chose 10. Deb, send me your address, and I'll pop your houses in the mail. Can't wait to see what you do with them! And thanks to everyone who participated - there's a wealth of artistic inspiration in response to the challenge. You can see them all at this post. Thanks again!!!
And, speaking of challenges, I posted this week's challenge over at the Scrap Weekly Blog. You can see it (and a couple of my poorly photographed layouts) here.
Although not into sports at all myself....and never take sports photos....I do enjoy looking at yours.Love that first photo of your DD....captures the moment perfectly.
ReplyDeleteHmm, my sports photographs are not very good. I have managed some better shots since I got a new camera, as there is very little of that pesky "shutter delay" that the original digi cameras had. My DS enjoys gymnastic trampolining and I have taken a few nice "action shots" of him.
ReplyDeleteI like your photos - especially the first one of your daughter and the portrait of the lad in his baseball outfit, which looks fairly un-posed and spontaneous. I like it when the subject looks relaxed and not uncomfortable and "posing for the camera". You're right that the angle really does make this a special shot. And the action in the first photo is great - you really can see the effort of the players.
I think you're a pretty good sport photographer Rinda - keep practising and maybe you'll be able to get more shots like those you admire so much!
We're not a very sporty family, so I'm not asked to photograph action shots! (except for cricket, and it tends to be slower) but I love what you can do. Capturing the emotion in a sporting moment is a very special talent to have.
ReplyDeleteWell done Deb :)
Not much into sports myself, but your photos are magnificent.
ReplyDeleteHey! What do you know!!! I'm the winner?!?! :o) [doing a happy dance] I'm so excited - just sent you an email with my mailing information. Thanks, Rinda for having the contest, and thanks to DS for choosing #10. Hooray!!!
ReplyDeleteThe only sports I participate in are on the Wii console - and I'm not very good on there either! Your shots are great and you really capture the atmosphere. It's so hard to get the shutter to close at just the right moment but you have taken some great shots.
ReplyDeleteCongrats Deb! x
ReplyDeleteI've never tried sports photos, no-one in my family is particularly sporty so I haven't ever thought about it! Your pics are great, Rinda :-)
I'm not so good at fast moving action shots. Fortunately my kids are only into tae kwon do at the moment so the action is manageable. Love the second shot you have here
ReplyDeleteReally great pictures!
ReplyDeleteGreat action shots Rinda :) and congrats to the lucky winner! I loved all the Alice floating around last weekend in blogland!
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