by Gary Fong
Photographer: Jonathan Henderson, www.jpaulphoto.com
Click photos to enlarge
Many photographers enjoy doing sports coverage, because they are fans of the game. They understand it, can anticipate the plays, and know the zones where the best action may take place.
The action, at some of these events, can be predicable. However, after a few predicable moments, the action all starts looking the same. The arms and legs can be seen in the same compositional positions; only the faces and jerseys have change.
Jonathan Henderson, covering the 2010 FIBA World Basketball Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, faces the action predictability question every game. He must combat the sameness issue with a variety of images that advance the story.
Now for the Nit Picking
Henderson’s action image is nice…but compared to the stream of action images he’s shooting, they’ll all start developing a general sameness. Many basketball photos are vertical; shot under the hoop, of players mixing it up…it’s predicable. The “armpit” shot is known throughout the photo community as something to avoid, (Figure 1 - above).
Unfortunately, that’s the first position young photographers try when covering a basketball game. Jonathan is not as seasoned in sports as he is with other subjects he covers. But stretching his photographic knowledge is good. He should stretch more.
I’m pleased Henderson doesn’t stop shooting as the game ends. Off court, after the game, different photos, perhaps more unique photos, can be captured. Viewers don’t usually have an opportunity to see off court material (Figure 2 - right), because other photographers stop dong coverage. Off the court images add a different perspective to the game. It’s always refreshing, as opposed to the predictable action.
Now, I’m not saying a good action photos doesn’t have merit…I’m saying don’t limit your coverage vision to something everyone else is shooting.
But one must realize after a while, even the non-action photos start looking the same. In each game, the photographer needs to contemplate what unique ways he or she can do coverage, looking for images that are unique.
Uniqueness can be found in the angle of coverage, high, low, long lens, short lens, remote cameras, etc. Combine these techniques with the action and non-action coverage, a photographer accumulates images that are different from every other photographers.
If there’s competition from other media, ones material needs to stand out among a crowd of photographers. The best way to standout is to produce images that are different from the next photographer. It’s uniqueness of the image that will cause the readers to take notice, not to mention editors who’ve “seen it before”.




















