Monday, October 21, 2019

Defeated and Down

"Harrison Bader #48 of the St. Louis Cardinals reacts losing in game four of the National League Championship Series to the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on October 15, 2019 in Washington, DC."

One of the hardest things to do is to remember to turn around - literally.

In sport there is winning and losing. And everyone knows the latter will never be easy, nor fun. So when Washington Nationals won the National League Championship Series to advance to the World Series, everyone knew it was historic.

The story was on the diamond and at the pitching mound. Pure excitement and jubilation. Conversely, news for the St. Louis Cardinals meant elimination.

Any, and every, photographer wants to point their lens toward victory. It's an innate reaction. But reality is that with every winner, there is a loser, and that story needs to be told, too.

For our clients, and for history, that loss is just a historic and telling as the win. Often that window of reaction happens much faster than the winners. So it was only a few frames before the moment was over, but sometimes that's all you need.

Best to everyone next season and those still playing.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Run, Jump, Throw...and Fans

"Fans in thawbs look on during day seven of 17th IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 at Khalifa International Stadium on October 03, 2019 in Doha, Qatar."

Sport is so often focused on the athletes. Their actions on and off the field. The big moments that define history.

But we often forget that fans play an important role in sport - and visually documenting them is imperative, too.

What I like is when a picture can give a sense of place. A lot of time images can feel repetitive. Golf is an example where play is in beautiful sunny weather - and everything is lush and green. Pictures can sometimes feel like 'anywhere in the world' without context.

During the halfway point of the 17th IAAF World Athletics Championships, I wanted to try and show viewers where the running, jumping and throwing was occurring.

That was both difficult and easy. Simple in the sense that fans wearing the traditional thawb was easy to spot. But how to photograph them inside the venue was tough.

After finding a large group of men entering a portal, I followed them until I found the above.

A great sense of place for Doha, Qatar - during yet another thrilling world champs.