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With the\u00a0Summer of sport\u00a0underway, Canon (www.Canon-CNA.com<\/a>) Ambassadors\u00a0Molly Darlington,\u00a0<\/strong>Eddie Keogh (https:\/\/bit.ly\/2VUhCEz<\/a>)\u00a0Martin\u00a0Bissig\u00a0(https:\/\/bit.ly\/3yFgRgG<\/a>) and\u00a0Richard Walch\u00a0(https:\/\/bit.ly\/3yLCxaW<\/a>) offer advice for aspiring, young\u00a0sports photographers.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n As a young photographer, just getting started you should lean on the community of photographers around you to help develop your skills.\u00a0Canon Ambassador Molly Darlington found that contacting people within the industry for help and feedback helped her to improve her work.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/em>There are a lot of photographers out there to advise you. When you start out it can be daunting, but people are willing to guide you.<\/em><\/p>\n “Put together a portfolio and build a network of contacts,”<\/em>\u00a0she continues.\u00a0“Most sports photographers will reply if you ask for help \u2013 it might not be straight away, as we’re not the best at communicating, but they will reply eventually and give good advice. Even if you just want someone to look at your photos, know there are plenty who will.”<\/em><\/p>\n Award-winning action photographer and filmmaker Richard Walch\u00a0also advises teaming up with young athletes of a similar age, so that you can grow together.<\/p>\n He says,\u00a0\u201cThey might have a small sponsor at the beginning, but in a couple of years, they get bigger\u00a0sponsors\u00a0and you can build your career with them. When they’re young, they also need photos and will be willing to spend time with you. If they want to use your images for their autograph card or website, then you’re helping each other for free. If their sponsors want to use the images, it becomes business. If you’re friends with the athletes, they let you get close, so it’s not a problem if you don’t have the fanciest equipment.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Its\u00a0easy to assume that young photographers are born with a natural talent, but the reality is that they have likely already put in years of hard work. For instance, Molly Darlington began photographing her local club at the age of 16.<\/p>\n “I saw an advertisement for my local non-league football club, 1874 Northwich F.C., asking if anyone wanted to be a photographer, just for experience,”<\/em>\u00a0she explains.\u00a0“I did that for nearly four years, following them at home and away. I loved it. So that’s what I carried on doing<\/em>.\u00a0I was rubbish when I started. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I often messed up, but I kept practising my settings.”<\/em><\/p>\n Veteran sports photojournalist Eddie Keogh mirrors Molly\u2019s advice to young photographers, saying\u00a0\u201cA lot of people just want to get to big league football matches as quickly as they can, but you can learn so much more by photographing football, rugby, hockey or tennis at your local park. Get out in all weather \u2013 not just when it’s sunny, because rain can make pictures more atmospheric \u2013 and practise, practise, practise.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n “When a football team wins a big championship, it’s not the images of the game that stand out, it’s the shots of the team celebrating, standing on a bus surrounded by thousands of people\u201d<\/em>, says\u00a0Richard Walch.\u00a0\u201cYou have to shoot around the sport: the emotions, the politics, the celebrations and the disappointments. If you shoot a marathon, you don’t shoot the start, you shoot the finish, because that’s where the emotion is. Look for peak action and peak emotion. If you can combine those in one image, you’ve got it.”<\/em><\/p>\n Eddie Keogh recommends knowing the story of the day, whether that\u2019s a player going back to a former club or a manager who has lost four games on the trot and may be fired.\u00a0“You have to tell the story of each game. Sometimes that’s hard, especially mid-season. If a team is going to get promoted or relegated or is going for the play-offs, there’s way more emotion than in a game with nothing resting on it. You have to create emotion there because people can relate to that \u2013 fans can think ‘that is how it feels during games’.”<\/em><\/p>\n A crucial factor for success as a sports photographer is knowing the sport you’re shooting.\u00a0Martin\u00a0Bissig,\u00a0Swiss outdoor action photographer,\u00a0and Molly Darlington agree that having in-depth knowledge of the sport you are capturing, gives you an edge.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDetailed knowledge of your sport is vital, because you need to know how people move and what looks good,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0says Martin.\u00a0\u201cIf I were to take pictures of skateboarders, I might think they look good, but if I showed them to skateboarding fans, or to pros, they might say, ‘The hand doesn\u2019t have the right angle’. I don’t know, because I’m not a skateboarder, but I know exactly how mountain biking is meant to look.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Knowing the sport\u00a0is the only reliable way to capture those game-changing, split-second moments, claims Molly.<\/p>\n “I’m a football fan. My dad’s a football fan. My brother’s a football fan,”<\/em>\u00a0she explains.\u00a0“Because I’ve always watched football, I know how the game works.<\/em>\u202fIf a player runs down the wing you\u00a0have to\u00a0think, ‘Will they cross it this way, pass it that way?’ You have to be aware of what’s happening, know the game and be able to judge what will happen next.”<\/em><\/p>\n The pros agree that it\u2019s important to charter your own course in sports photography \u2013 whether that\u2019s in your training or finding your own niche.<\/p>\n For Molly Darlington, she went through higher education but still believes you can succeed as a sports photographer by choosing a different path.\u00a0“A lot of university courses aren’t geared towards sports photography,”<\/em>\u00a0she explains. “In the end, mine was fine with me doing it. They tailored my degree and my modules as they knew I was working a lot outside of the course.<\/em><\/p>\n “But remember, there are other routes \u2013 a lot of it is about who you know and learn from. It will seem quite scary going it alone, but it’s not actually that bad. When I was 16, I thought the industry was petrifying. Now I’d tell you it’s absolutely fine.”<\/em>\u202f<\/p>\n It\u2019s also important not to feel like you need to shoot what everyone else is. Finding your niche is key to success and will help you to stand out against other photographers, says Richard Walch.<\/p>\n “The more commercial the sport, the easier it is to sell images. I was\u00a0really lucky\u00a0because, when I started, snowboarding took off, as did demand for images. I quickly became one of an elite few shooting the sport globally. If you want to shoot soccer, or track and field, there will be 50 other photographers with you, and it’s a big challenge to better them.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
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