© Getty Images

Hi everyone,

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. I managed to escape the cold in London for a few weeks of sunshine!

This photo was taken after the first Test of Australia's 2003 tour of the West Indies. Australia had a good match, winning by nine wickets inside four days. Justin Langer was Man of the Match, scoring 146 in the first innings and finishing 78 not out in the second.

When travelling with the Australian team I often try to get some photos in the changing rooms at the end of the match, particularly after a win. This can produce some different photos from the action out the field such as the players relaxing or celebrating after the match. I usually try and get a photo of the entire team celebrating together. Also, depending on what has happened during the match, I will try and get photos of the player or players who have performed well.

Sometimes, it is a matter of getting in, quickly getting the photos and the getting out to transmit them to meet deadlines. Other times the players and in particular the captain (Steve Waugh in the case of this photo) are happy for me to stay for a bit longer which can lead to more interesting photos. When time is rushed the photos are often over posed and don't always look as good.

Continue reading "A moment of clarity"

	© Getty Images

Hi everyone, thanks for taking the time to read my last post and thanks again for all the comments.

I’ll start by answering a few of the questions I’ve received from the previous posts.

Firstly, someone said they’d heard on radio I always wear a pink shirt when I’m working at the cricket. Not quite sure where this comes from! The only thing I can think of is the bright vests Cricket Australia give the photographers to wear at the matches to identify them. Most photographers wear yellow, but Getty photographers wear orange to identify them as Cricket Australia’s official photographers. I know orange isn’t pink, but that’s the only thing I can think of! Even so, I’m not in Australia at the moment, so I’m missing out on wearing shirts and vests of any colour to the cricket for the time being!

On to another question, there have been a couple of requests for more technical details of the shots such as shutter speed and aperture etc. Where I still have this information I will try and include it in the future.

For those who do not know a lot about the technical side of cameras and exposure, I’ll try and give a quick crash course. A photo’s exposure is determined by three variable settings; shutter speed, aperture and ISO rating.

Continue reading "The David Shepherd hop"

	© Getty Images

Hi everyone, thanks again for all your feedback.

Today’s photo was taken during the first ODI of the 2006-07 Australian summer between Australia and England.

Kevin Pietersen was batting in his usual aggressive way, making runs at a good rate. Glenn McGrath was bowling and Pietersen had been walking down the wicket to a number of deliveries, hitting through midwicket.

On this particular delivery, Pietersen again attempted to walk down the pitch and pull a shorter ball. He mistimed his effort and was struck a painful blow in the midriff. The result was cracked ribs and while he managed to bat on until being dismissed a few overs later, it was the end of his tour.

This photo was taken from a different angle from the last couple of photos I have posted. As I mentioned previously, the very fine leg or the straight long-off position is the usual position to shoot cricket from, but it isn’t compulsory.

Depending on the state of play, particularly if the batsmen are dominating, it can be good to move to a different position to get a new angle. Batting photos often look better when taken from a position more square of the wicket.

For this photo I was working from deep midwicket. It is a position I often like to work from during ODIs. Due to the nature of limited-overs games, with the batting team often dominating, it can work well. If the bowling team does well, the angle can still work or I can move to a straighter position if needed. Also, working for Getty Images, we often have one or two other photographers at a match, as we did at this one, so it is necessary to find a few different angles for us all to work from.

The position I was in helps for this photo. Pietersen was attempting to play the ball in my direction, so after he was struck, his momentum turned his body to face me. The pain on his face as the ball bounces out tells the story. It is never nice to see someone being hurt, but as the injury meant the end of Pietersen’s tour, it was the photo that told the story of the day.

	© Getty Images

Hi everyone, thanks again for all the feedback from the last update!

Firstly, to answer the question I had about the model of camera I work with, I currently use is the Canon EOS 1D Mark III. For anyone looking to buy a good SLR camera, I would recommend a Canon or Nikon, which is what most sports photographers use. Both brands come in a range of models with varying features and prices, not surprisingly, the more features the higher the price!

However with both Canon and Nikon the cheaper models use a lot of the same technology that goes into their high end cameras, so you still get a very serviceable camera. Another point to consider is that most of the expense in building up a good kit of camera equipment is in the lenses rather than the actual camera body. Lenses are interchangeable between the various models of a particular brand, so if you decide to upgrade the camera body at some point, as long as you stay with the same brand, the lenses won’t need to be replaced.

On to the photo for today. Given that Sachin Tendulkar is celebrating 20 years in the game, I have selected a photo of him. I have been lucky enough to see some very memorable innings from the Little Master. His century in Melbourne during the 1999 Boxing Day Test and his double hundred in Steve Waugh’s final Test, at the SCG in 2004, are two that immediately come to mind. Another of his brilliant innings I’ve been fortunate enough to see is the innings that where I took this photo; his first innings century in the third Test in Chennai in 2001.

Continue reading "Tendulkar turns it around"

	© Getty Images

Adelaide, Australia, Australia v West Indies, 3rd Test, 3rd day, November 27, 2005

Firstly, thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read my opening blog and an even bigger thanks to those who have also posted a comment. It’s great to hear everyone’s thoughts!

The photo I have chosen for this post was taken in November 2005, at the Adelaide Test during West Indies’ tour of Australia. Despite already being two Tests down and going on to eventually lose the third and final Test, Dwayne Bravo had a very good match, contributing almost 100 runs and taking six first-innings wickets. This photo was the fifth and from my view of things, the most spectacular of those wickets. Having dismissed Adam Gilchrist earlier in the same over, Bravo was bowling to Shane Warne, who pushed the ball back on the up, but well to Bravo’s left. Looking at replays I think it probably would have landed about another pitch width left of the playing strip. Bravo took a couple of quick steps to change direction and then dived full length to pull off a remarkable caught and bowled.

This photo is a good example of the most common way to photograph cricket action, sitting quite straight of the wicket, slightly to the left. To put it into fielding terms, sitting at a straight long-off or very fine leg (depending which end the bowler is coming from), watching a right-handed batsman.

I use Canon cameras and for cricket I generally use a 500mm lens for the action out in the middle. This photo was actually taken using a 600mm lens, as the Adelaide Oval is an unusual shape. It has quite short boundaries square of the wicket and very long ones straight. This means a slightly bigger lens is needed when sitting straight.

I shoot most deliveries, by staying focused on the batsman. The advantage of the working from this fairly straight position is that a right-arm bowler bowling over the wicket will run into frame on their follow through. This makes it easier to switch focus to them for a reaction to the batsman, whether that’s an appeal, a celebration of a wicket, a catch or something else.

That’s the idea, but in practice it doesn’t always work out as planned! There are so many variables that can change. A left-handed batsman facing at the near end means the slip fielders can obscure the view. Bowlers coming around the wicket (or left-handers coming over) will change the angles and not run as nicely into frame on their follow through. A spin bowler’s follow through is not as far as a fast bowler’s. The list goes on!

So when it does all come together, it is all the more satisfying! For this photo, I started focusing on Warne. As he played the shot, Bravo ran into the left of my frame on his follow through. As the ball was headed in his direction I switched focus to him, just in time to photograph the dive and catch. What I like about it is that not only can you see Bravo taking the catch, you can also see Warne to the right. The photo tells the whole story of the moment; Shane Warne caught and bowled by Dwayne Bravo. It is also nice to take a photo like this because, as mentioned, there are so many variables that could have gone wrong.

	© Getty Images

Nagpur, India. 29th of October 2004. India v Australia, third Test, day four.

This is one of my favourite cricket photographs. Australia had just won the Nagpur Test which gave them an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the four-Test series. Ricky Ponting had missed the first three Tests with an injured thumb, leaving Adam Gilchrist to captain the team at a short notice. And India was the 'final frontier' for the Australian team: this was their first Test series win there in 35 years.

This photograph was taken with a wide angle lens as the team celebrated their victory on the field. Gilchrist was a natural subject to focus on, and I shot him while he was gesturing towards a small group of Australian supporters in the crowd.

I love the emotion on Gilchrist's face. It adds to the picture that he is still wearing his sweaty whites, his baggy green and his inner gloves.

It was late in the afternoon, which meant despite being a clear sunny day this part of the field was in shadow. To keep the blue of the sky it was necessary to balance the photo with flash. Camera flash, particularly outdoors, can often be more trouble than it's worth. It can take a long time for the flash to recharge after firing. From memory, I took about 10 - 15 pictures of this moment and the flash only fired twice. Luckily for me, one of them was this photo. My other option, would have been to shoot without flash for which I would have had to set my exposure for the shadows and leave the sky all washed out. I could have got some usable photos that way, but it would not have been as nice.