This weekend, Doug Mills will be in a familiar spot: on the sidelines of the Super Bowl. As a seasoned sports photographer — first with The Associated Press and now with The Times — he is the envy of the masses who have to watch from their La-Z-Boy recliners.
I selected 107 of my favorite images from the 2011 inaugural season. I shot 24,521 images on 31 total assignments from January to October.
Because now anybody can publish, and anybody turns out to really mean “anybody.” That includes teams, leagues, athletic organizations, agents and athletes themselves – all those who used to speak through sportswriters. As a result, the rules of the game are swiftly being rewritten
Photographer and picture editor Pawel Kopczynski of Reuters explains how a combination of astute planning and specially developed remote camera technology produced a compelling series of photographs from the World Athletics Championships in Seoul, South Korea.
One day last fall, photojournalist William B. Plowman got a call from a friend, fellow photographer Nick Whalen. “He said, ‘you’re not gonna believe this,’” Plowman recalls, “and then he told me there’s this underground fight club in New York City.”
While mainstream sports photography has become blunted by the controlling instincts of administrators and the ubiquity of same-brand digital SLRs, a select band of shooters – often focused on “adrenalin” sports that offer greater co-operation and freedoms – are finding new perspectives on the action. Diane Smyth talks to six of the best.
I shot the USA Track and Field Championships over the course of four days in Eugene, Ore. June 23-26, 2011. The first three days I was on my own and on the final and most hectic day, Oregonian intern Tyler Tjomsland joined in. It seems like every other big meet I’ve shot, the weather has always been extreme. This year, we had perfect weather which makes a long meet much more tolerable and enjoyable. I always like seeing old friends from around the country like Bill Frakes, Laura Heald, Kirby Lee and whole Register-Guard crew.
I think I’ve said this before (like everything), but when I’m asked what’s my favorite weird sport, Kaiju almost always comes right to mind.
Link: Oh, Kaiju. I Do Love You. » THE WILD WEIRD WORLD OF SPORTS
To find out what makes the best basketball photos, LightBox spoke with Marguerite Schropp Lucarelli, a picture editor at Sports Illustrated.
Link: What Makes a Great Basketball Picture? A View of the NBA Finals from Sports Illustrated – LightBox
I had the day off, but the Timbers were playing DC United in a day game. I took the opportunity to load up the Holga and Hasselbad with film. I haven’t had the five rolls of 12o processed yet. I also had the 5D Mark II around my neck with a 50/1.2 in addition to the film cameras.
Link: Timbers and a 50mm » Mark, Even, Hasselbad, Holga, United, Timbers » Thomas Boyd Photography
