Frankly (if I may call you that) I wasn’t very sporty at school. I wasn’t anything like the size I am now and can still remember horror of witnessing Scrivens’ knees approaching at speed on the rugby pitch (with Scrivens following closely behind). Scrivens was a big lad, I wasn’t.
So I find myself a little in awe when photographing sporting activities, and yes, I invariably go home aching all over.
With this kind of commission I am of course recording the matches, but I’m also capturing the bigger picture, the commitment and endeavour that goes into these fixtures at Exeter School.
For the techie amongst you I’m a single-point back-button focuser, and my cameras are set to single shutter release rather than continuous. What this means is that every image is tracked for focus manually and every shutter release is a considered individual act. One could argue that I’m not making it easy for myself.
Recently, whilst photographing a fitness shoot, Dan asked me if I thought it would be possible to catch a ball as he throws it. (winky-eyed emoji). The challenge of the sports photography then is about getting in-sync with the action on the pitch or court, for me it’s another example of what someone called resistance training. I would recommend this kind of work as great training for photographers.