Sports Photography How To

Photographer Simon Bruty first came to Zambia in southern Africa in 1993 on assignment for Sports Illustrated. The story, unfortunately, was a sad one.

Sports shooters live for moments of key action; they also cherish players’ reactions to those moments. Mike Corrado caught the latter at the start of the third game of the World Series, as New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard sent a message to Kansas City Royals leadoff hitter Alcides Escobar, who is known for crowding the plate and swinging at first pitches.

I travel to take pictures, but sometimes I just happen to be in an interesting area, like last spring in Lexington, Kentucky. Let’s see: Lexington, horse country, the Keeneland racetrack nearby, and me never without my camera gear. Photography was bound to happen.

Scott Serfas is one photographer who likes to get in on the action. In fact, he thrives on it. There is a certain amount of serendipity involved, but there is also a certain amount of passive control, in the sense that Serfas knows what to expect and expects the unexpected.

What’s the biggest challenge about photographing a dirt bike jumping into a swimming pool? “Aside from not dying by either being hit by the bike from landing so close, or being electrocuted by the lighting power pack since the area around the pool was only about two-feet wide, the hardest part was to understand how to send a signal underwater to fire off the strobes above to get the necessary lighting,” photographer Jean-Paul Van Swae said about this spectacular shot.

Professional sports photography for the editorial market is an endangered species. Unfortunately, a lot of it has to do with editorial clients turning away from the professional photographer to sports enthusiasts who are willing to trade their photos for season tickets.

Megan Rapinoe captured the World Cup this year with the United States Women’s National Soccer Team and photographer Simon Bruty captured her in this heroic black-and-white image. The photo is actually from 2011 and was shot for Sports Illustrated as a preview of the women’s team for that year’s World Cup in Germany.