sports

Summer Hockey Memories

No Comments

The plexiglass around a hockey rink in Toronto is scarred by hockey pucks. This is another view-from-my-office photo.

NHL hockey players from various teams used to practice together each August. These casual practices helped the players get in shape before the start of their respective team’s training camps in September. These Toronto-area practices were organized quietly so as not to attract public attention. But if you knew which ice rinks were being used, you could go and watch some top-level NHL players.
Continue reading →

Editorial Sports Photography Is Dead

4 Comments

If you’re thinking of becoming an editorial sports photographer, don’t.

 

 

Or at least first read this 2015 interview with five veteran sports photographers.

This short article describes what has happened over the past dozen years in editorial sports photography.

Basically, the deal is, editorial sports photography is completely dead as a market for a photographer to make even a modest living. Dead. Kaput. Over. Flatlined. The best action photographers in the world, who freelanced or were staffers at the major sports magazines, are all out of work . . .

– Robert Seale, photographer

Continue reading →

Why you need a professional sports photographer

No Comments

If your company is organizing or sponsoring a professional sports event then you know that you need photography. The photos can be used for your social media, press releases, event programs, annual report, and to market next year’s event.

Look at the following pairs of photos. In each pair, one image was shot by an employee with a cell phone or a cheap camera, and the other image was made by a professional photographer. Can you figure out which is which?

 


Continue reading →

Choosing Cheap Photography

No Comments

Toronto Chooses Cheap

The City of Toronto’s web site has a page promoting its new Pan Am BMX course used in the recent 2015 Pan Am Games. The photo shows a number of female competitors lined up at the starting gate.

The problems with the photo are that the event shown is not from the Pan Am Games. The track is not the city’s new BMX course. The location isn’t even in Toronto. Oops.

Some sports web sites in South America assumed this was a Pan Am photo and used it in their news articles about the Pan Am BMX event. Those South American web sites were probably confused because the Toronto Pan Am Games itself initially used the same picture on its BMX pages. Oops.
Continue reading →

Let the Games Finally End

1 Comment

Over the past 17 days, I drove 1,554 kilometres, ate 9 lunches and 14 dinners, paid $124.50 for parking and shot just over 7,000 pictures. I was covering the Pan Am Games in Toronto.

As expected, the Pan Am organizers, politicians and various Pan Am sponsors are claiming that the event was a runaway success and they’re now giddy with anticipation of hosting a Summer Olympics and even a World Expo. The Pan Am Games were a success only in that no disasters happened (not counting the billions of dollars spent).
Continue reading →

Corporate Photos Are Like Sports Announcers

No Comments

Effective photography for corporate marketing has two general types of images: those with story appeal and those that demonstrate something. The former is used to convey an idea or emotion and the latter is used to deliver a fact. The two types can overlap.

Pictures with story appeal are said to have human interest. These images are usually editorial because editorial photography is considered by the public to be more interesting and trustworthy. Conveying a message through human interest is always persuasive because this photography creates an emotional response in the viewer.
Continue reading →

Make Me An Offer I Can Refuse

No Comments

Earlier today, I received an offer to photograph a sports event next month. A US photography company is seeking a few photographers to cover an all-day athletic event. The photographers just take pictures and no editing is required. Does this sound like a good assignment?

The job pays $225.

Does this still sound like a good assignment?
Continue reading →

css.php