One of the key parts to sport and news photography
is your timing. This is not a technical post that talks about ISO
settings and shutter speed but it talks about being at the right place at the
right time.
Last year I was in Durban, South Africa, for the boxing day cricket
test match where South Africa took on India. There were quite a few milestones
that took place and most of them would have made the newspapers on any other
test match but in this particular match there was one photo that I missed out
on that was a key photo.
Jacques Kallis, one of the greatest South African’s to play the game
and some would say the greatest player of his era, was playing in his final match
for his country. Going into the match, the photographers new that they had to
take as many photos of the chap as possible. There were other important events
that took place like South Africa winning the match and by doing so winning the
series but before the game we did not know that it was going to happen. We had
the Kallis brief.
Day 1 and Day 2 were easy photo opportunities for all the photographers
because they could take photos of whoever they wanted to. Kallis did not bat or
bowl so all the photos of him were just of him walking on and off the field and
fielding.
On day 3 the first photo opportunity came when Kallis came onto the
field for his final appearance. The Indian team formed a tunnel and they all
applauded him as he walked on. I did not have access to the field so I could
not get a photo of the man walking through the tunnel. Opportunity one missed.
From there onward there were many action shots that I took but none of
them would have made the papers because up to then the picture that they all
wanted was of Kallis coming onto the field.
Kallis batted brilliantly and finally I had an opportunity to take a
newsworthy photo, he got to 50 runs and signaled the crowd as they applauded
him. He got there quickly and quietly and hardly made much of a fuss of his
milestone but I got a good shot that might have snuck into some of the
newspapers and maybe a magazine or two. I was saved in the second opportunity
of the day.
The day finished with Kallis being of 78 not out and he was going to
bat again on day 4. I went home that night happy with my picture and believing
that if I ever published a book of my photos I would have a picture of the
great man getting his 50 but I would be back the next day in case he got a
century. Little did I know that I would not be able to go to the game the next
day.
Day 4 came and Kallis proceeded to get to his hundred and I was not
there. He had played 166 matches, 280 innings, faced 28903 balls and scored 45
centuries and I missed out on that one ball, that one run and the last century
that the man scored. That was a photo that could have made the front cover of
my book. It is also the photo that all the newspapers and magazines would have
wanted to remember the match and to remember the legend and I missed out on the
final opportunity.
Day 5 came and South Africa won by 10 wickets and Kallis did not get a
chance to bat again. Once again the main photo that was used that day was the picture
from day 4 of Kallis getting his century.
What does this long boring story have to say about photography? If you
have to be at an event make sure that you are there from beginning to end. Take
the photos that you need to take but also keep yourself up to date with the
situation at hand and take photos accordingly. People would prefer a slightly
out of focus, overexposed or underexposed photo of a newsworthy item than a
perfect picture of nothing interesting.
I have heard many stories where a photographer left an event early to
file before other photographers and they missed the photo for the day. Don’t be
that photographer.
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| Jacques Henry Kallis |
