The CRAZY world of a sports photographer

Crazy English guy wearing a kilt....

2011-02-22T13:55:00.000Z

Ok so some of you guys and girls are probably wondering what the hell was I doing wearing a kilt on the piste at the last day of the alpine world championships in Garmisch Partenkirchen. Well for those of you that have not heard, the race was my last ever ski race as a freelance photographer. So I thought I would go out in style wearing the Gunn tartan.

I have had to give up sports photography now due to the fact it just is not financially viable. So I shall return to London and get a full time job probably back in the security management area. I will not work as a part time photographer, as this is one of the reasons that makes it hard to work as a full time photographer, when you get bank managers, IT guys etc etc, the guys with too much extra money and no life at a weekend that they have to go take someone else’s job, and then giving their photos away for free or posting them on social networks etc without a watermark so people that may have purchased images in the past can just get a free copy. I may sound bitter and quite frankly I am, I spend hours in freezing conditions trying to get good shots only to find that clients have used a free photo which is of piss poor quality or shot from the finish area and heavily cropped into.

I often think I should go to their main place of work, do a sub standard job so they have to quit, just so they can see what it feels like....

You may see me again on a race piste but that will only be if I manage to secure a full time job as a photographer, and as there are only 3 agencies that cover all the races, this is highly unlikely to happen, but I can but hope.

Over the past 4 seasons I have had a great time, and now have some fantastic memories which will stay with me til I go senile!! My favourite memory has to be 2 years ago during the Val d'Isere World Champs, I was meant to cover them but due to my mum getting rushed to hospital I had to miss it, the young Swiss ski racer Lara Gut emailed me most days asking after my mum,

and Ana Jelusic the Croatian skier also emailed regularly.

On the race courses I have also had some fun moments, like the time I had a yard sale in Semmering a few years ago, Lindsey and Thomas Vonn skied off to pick up my ski's camera gear etc, even though they were in the middle of a course inspection. Last week has also been good because I got to see a friend become a world champion I am chuffed to bits for Ted Ligety, and I think there is lots more to come from him.

Life on the tour can be long and lonely at times, especially when travelling around in a motorhome, I have been lucky to occasionally have pretty cool neighbours like Bode Miller, Julia Mancuso, Marc Berthod, Daniela Cecarelli. On the piste I have always tried to make the working environment a fun place for me and my fellow photographers, I am always ready to play the fool, or even sometimes the dumb Englishman!!!!!

I will let you guys know what happens

Cheers

Mitch

GAP World Alpine Champs race day

2011-02-08T18:14:00.000Z

Day 1 of the races is now done and dusted. This race piste is going down as the iciest I have ever had to ski, in the end I had to take my skis off and walk down parts of the course with crampons, safer for me, and everyone else on the course as I didnt fancy becoming a human missile, and I was not the only one that struggled. I had skied the piste a few days ago and it seemed fine, but that was without an large backpack with about 30kgs of expensive camera gear, especially seeing as I have already destroyed a camera and lens this week (fell out of a locker)

It's really hard shooting speed races and having to try and get a different shot from the main agencies so I can try and sell some, it gets even harder when they come down and stand next to you at the last minute!!

For today I tried 2 shots one was a traverse

And the 2^nd was a more general Super G type shot with a gate in either the foreground or background.

Not really happy with either pictures, but hey tomorrow is another day... For those of you that like to know the technical side of it I was using a Canon 1d mk4 with a 400mm f2.8 lens and a 1x4 converter.

Tomorrow we have 2 races to cover, a men's super G and a ladies downhill training, so I shall be editing and sending from the piste in between runs, which is always interesting!!!

You can see the races on Eurosport (UK) and ORF (Austria) ZDF Germany and Universal in the US

Catch you soon

Mitch
www.sportsphotographer.eu

The 2011 FIS Alpine Skiing World Championships.

2011-02-04T14:20:00.002Z

I will try and blog each day from Garmisch Partenkirchen and the FIS Alpine Skiing World Championships, I know I have neglected the blog lately but as most of the readers follow my business site on Facebook I did not feel the need to blog.

This is my first major skiing championships, having had to miss out on the previous one in Val d'Isere France 2 years ago through a family illness and then the Olympics last year despite having accreditation for both. This time around I made darn sure I would be there. I arrived a few days ago to (1) relax and take some time off having been on the road since the start of December and (2) as this may be my last sports event I cover as a photographer I wanted to savour it.

For those of you that do not already know, I am a freelance photographer, which means I have to pay for all my expenses, arrange all my own accreditations, arrange my own travel and accommodation, and rely on getting my invoices paid on time to help me sustain the trips.

Life on the road has been good to me this year but the cold weather has started to take it's toll on my poor old motorhome, which needs some serious TLC to get it back to a fully operational state. Staying in temperatures of -20c and doing daft things like forgetting to top up the propane tanks for heating, obviously does not help. But enough about that and onto work stuff!!

Garmisch Partenkirchen for those of you that have never been here or heard of it, is a small town (I come from London so everything is small after that) in Bavaria a region of Germany. I first came here over 20 years ago on a skiing trip with the British Army, we may have also visited a bar or 2 in those days! I have since been back on a number of occasions both as a ski tourist and also 3 times to cover the world cup races. If I ever win the lottery this is one place I would like a place. The history of it is as varied as the people that now call it home. The skiing is not the most difficult in the Alps and there are nowhere near as many runs as you would find in some of the large resorts of Austria and France, but what this place offers is beauty just makes you want to come back, be it the amazing view of the Zugspitze mountain, Germany's highest which is part of the resort, or the lovely Bavarian style buildings.

I have spoken with residents and other Germans about the World Champs being here, and the general consensus is one of disappointment that the old stadium from the 1936 Winter Olympic Games was not knocked down and replaced with a new building. Personally I like the fact it has remained, otherwise it would feel like they were trying to sweep part of the history of the town, region and country under a rug and pretending it is no longer is there. I lived in Berlin for a few years when serving with the British army, and the old Olympic stadium complex there were our barracks, so for me it's sort of like coming home to a familiar place.

For the Championships I am lucky enough to have one of the 40 allocated on-piste photo bibs, which means I get to shoot action shots and not get stuck in the finish area which I hate, the bad thing is that my young apprentice was not granted accreditation, apparently there were over 600 applications from around the world, for only 140 positions, 40 on piste and 100 in the finish area. I will be sending my images all over the world from either my laptop on the mountain, or back in any of the sub or main press centres. Hopefully a few will get used in newspapers and magazines so that can help top up my petrol tanks....

I mentioned earlier on in this epic piece of writing that this may be my last event. When I return to the UK after this I am going to have a serious think about if I want to continue doing this or go back to my previous profession of security management, where I can at least make a decent regular wage.

Well that's about it til the next issue of Mitch's blog.

www.sportsphotographers.eu

The 2011 FIS Alpine Skiing World Chgampionships Garmisch Partenkirchen. - Images by Sportsphotographers.eu .

Val D'Isere France, the Men's FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup Races

2010-12-14T17:30:00.000Z

After packing up my motorhome with everything to survive for 4 months in the Alps, I departed London, and headed to the first set of races I would be covering in Val D'Isere France. This would be the first time in my 4 seasons of covering the world cup that I would be shooting a race in France My original plan was to go to St Moritz for the women's races then on to Val Gardena for the men's, however this season my budget is not as great as it has been in the past so I decided that with 3 races in France it would be cheaper to cover them.

I arrived in Val D'Isere about 2.30am on Thurs 9th Dec, after strange drive up from Geneva, having picked up a colleague on the way, and the first thing that struck me was the roads were a bit icy!! in fact you could probably skate on them!! On a couple of occasions the back of my van attempted to overtake the front, but eventually I got used to driving a rear wheel drive vehicle on the ice! I found a place to park up, next to a well known racer who often travels in a motorhome!! The following morning accreditations had to be picked up, lift passes arranged, and other boring bits that we have to do so we can cover these events.

I had a chat with a few of the racers about the course and decided that I would not risk going down it on skis as it was very slippery due to the injection process, and I did not have the confidence to ski down with a 30-40kg backpack with all my camera gear and laptop, as I had no chance of getting some runs in to get my confidence up on the skis. I may be a little crazy at times but breaking a leg or my gear on the first race would just be stupid, damn I must be getting old and sensible now!!

For the day of the first race which was a giant slalom race, I was in the press centre for 7am so I could reserve a spot in the finish area photographers position in the finish area so I could shoot the second run there and hopefully get some emotion shots! As with all races photographers have to be in their position on the course one hour before the start so that the Chief of the Race, can check it to ensure you are in a safe position. I have my usually problem covering a race of having to try to find a decent position that none of the other main agencies have seen. For Val D'Isere the best shot is a blue sky shot like this.

Image by Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom/Getty Images

however with 4 of the main 5 agencies covering this shot it would be absolutely pointless me getting the same shot as it would not be able to get it used in newspapers etc. So after walking up and down a large section of the course I eventually found this shot

(shot on a wide angle lens) that I quite liked, and no other agency around me meant I would have a unique image on the market. Which often means that newspapers looking for something other newspapers do not have will use the image... well that is the theory! The Chief of the Race allowed me to stay in the position, even though it was a little bit on the fall line, probably because I was alone and also the fact I have shot enough races to know when to move quickly to avoid a wayward racer!

For the race I decided to use a zoom lens rather than my usual fixed focus 400mm lens (The Big Boy) so I opted for a Canon 100-400mm pro series lens, which would then give me an extra option of trying different shots during the race.

After shooting most of the racers I made my way back down to the press centre to edit caption and distribute them before heading to the finish area for the 2nd run. I hate doing finish area shots but sometimes you can get some great emotion from the skiers.

Eventually the race was won by Ted Ligety from the US which is good for me as my main sales come through a US agency so I hoped that I would get at least 1 picture in a paper over there.

The following morning it was time for the men's slalom race, I do enjoy covering slaloms as you can get some fantastic action images and catch ski's or control gates bending into strange shapes in that split second when we press the trigger!!

I got the chairlift up with Mike Janyk the Canadian slalom specialist, and on the way up we discussed the course, it's always interesting hearing a racers view of a course which is entirely different from our view, for starters they face down the hill so are looking for turn locations, we are faced up the hill looking to avoid ugly backgrounds as well as looking for a gate that will give a good action shot. As per yesterday it was a case of find a position that no body else wanted or had seen. So I stuck myself on the steepest part of the slope (read my last blog about standing on the steep) which gave me 3 good gates,

after the chief of the race confirmed I could stay in position another photographer walked down to my position as he had been moved, it turned out he was from one of the big agencies so bummer I fear no sales from the slalom... I did manage to capture a nice shot of Austrian racer Manfred Pranger as he crashed out.

After shooting all the racers it was a case of run down the hill, edit caption and distribute before the 2nd run.. Not helped by the fact the internet connection went down in the middle of an image upload!! For the 2nd run I was in the finish area we had a raised platform but I also stood on my Peli case which is an almost indestructible camera case, I like the extra elevation because sometimes it can get you a cleaner shot avoiding the advertising that is plastered all around the finish area! Although it did not quite work at this race.

The race was won by Marcel Hirscher from Austria,

but the man of the day has to be Steve Missillier from France who on his birthday jumped from 26th position to 3rd by killing the 2nd run.

The ladies arrive later in the week for 3 events, so I will blog about them after.

FIS Alpine World Cup races Soelden Oct 2010

2010-11-01T13:36:00.001Z

So the first races of the season are done and dusted, the women's race on Saturday being one by Viktoria Rebensburg from Germany and the men's race on sunday being cancelled after the first run due to thick fog.

I had been in Soelden for most of the week, doing some training, mainly training how to ski with a huge heavy back pack!! When it comes to skiing with my equipment I tend to be a little cautious, after all it can weigh in excess of 30kgs and costs in excess of £20000.

This week I had wanted to try out an on ski camera, however the rig would not work out due to the soft snow conditions, this will be something I will look at fixing before I meet up with the teams again in December. In the world of sports photography you constantly have to try something different, be it a different angle or shot. When it comes to shooting the races, and especially in Soelden, there are the regular shots, which get covered every year by the agencies. This is both a good thing and a bad thing, it's good because whilst the agency boys and girls are churning out the same old shots, I get to experiment and try something different, but it is also bad because if a paper or magazine wants the main shot, then they will obviously go with one of the agencies, with whom they have deals to reduce costs. This year there would be no blue sky shot on either of the races.

I walked up and down a large part of the course trying to find an angle that no body else had either seen or wanted. Eventually I settled for a slightly side on view with a clean background of a mountain, this required me to be very low almost laying on the snow on a very steep section, so I could clear an advertising board. People often think I am crazy laying on the snow, but once they see the difference in a photograph from a standing position they soon realise why. Like most sports these days alpine racing gets it's fair share of bankers, teachers etc that come and take photos. I often wish I had the balls to go into their workplace and do their job for a day or two!! Especially when you find out that they have given their photos away to people, or newspapers. It makes it even harder to make a living out of covering sport.

Sometimes you see things on the hill that are different to other races, and Soelden I saw one of the forerunners wearing a weird device on his helmet...

Putting it off as some new funky head cam I forgot about it until I was chatting with one of the FIS officials Hans Pieren when I mentioned it. Apparently in an effort to reduce injuries scientifc tests will be carried out on both a forerunner wearing a biometric scanning device and also along the course at various spots the snow consistency will be tested... He did go on a bit and as I was cold and in need of a pee I glazed over and didnt pay much attention!!!!!! However it looks like I shot myself in the foot over that as none of the journos seemed to be aware of the tests not even the FIS journalist.. so this may well be an exclusive on breaking news....

Saturdays Race the ladies.

So anyway back to the nitty gritty of the races. As always the main agencies head off to their usual positions to get the same shots as they do every year, generally a nice shot but no thought or effort involved. On Saturday for the ladies race I trot up and down a slightly steep mountain trying to find something no one else has seen or wants to cover for the difficulty!! I found myself a nice spot, and as it was a cloudy day I decided on a mountain background with a slightly side on shot so the skier and gate would be in the same frame (hopefully)

I was fairly happy with my position, and as I looked down the hill I could see batches of photographers huddled together getting the same pictures!!

I covered all the racers on the first run. Then sat on the slope and started editing images whilst they prepared the course for the second run.

This year I had an assistant working with me covering the finish area shots so I did not have to go back down and do that, leaving me almost alone on the hill for the second run. Generally on the second run you get slightly better action shots as the racers attack a gate trying to reduce their run time and get the win.

I got myself a fairly nice position with a face on shot.

After the race finished its a case of pack up the gear and get down the mountain as soon as possible to wire the images to agencies, newspapers magazines etc etc. My assistant Christina covered the prize giving ceremony for me and I went through her images and picked out relevant ones to add to the stuff I was wiring.

Generally a race day for me starts at 6am and will finish about 9pm or even later if international clients email asking for images of their skiers.. Long tiring days, but it's the best job I have ever had and would not swap it for anything else.

Sundays race the men

Sunday in Soelden is the mens race day, We set off up the mountain at 6.45 as I needed to get a shot of the guys doing their pre race course inspection and especially needed a shot of Bode Miller with his new helmet. When I got up the hill and whilst waiting for the racers to come down I did a quick check of the online editions of some newspapers to see which images have been used from the previous day. I found that USA Today had used my image of Viktoria Rebensburg the race winner so I felt happy and justified that my choice of position had been correct.

The racers come down for the inspection and I got the shots I needed, most guys say hi or stop for a brief chat with me which is always nice. I did a few shots with Tim Jitloff from the USA ski team as he was wearing a specially designed helmet for the race to raise awareness of breast cancer. (Cancer charities are always close to my heart so I told Jit that when he auctioned off the helmet they could also get one of my photos of him wearing it) I am not a fan of photographers that give away their photos especially if its to an event organiser just so they can get a free entrance. But as I know Jit and know the story behind him wearing the helmet I made an exception.

After the guys inspected I did my usual walk up and down to find a nice spot, the weather was not that great and the sky was cloudy, this time I settled on standing on a steep pitch so I could get a shot of the guys as they attacked a gate at the same point as the slope dropped away, normally this shot would not be possible as I would have been shooting directly into the sun but as their were big ugly clouds in the sky I new all I would get was a white background. With alpine races you have to be in position an hour before the race starts and then the FIS officials and head photographer ski down and check your position is safe and if not they move you. One of the advantages of being on your own on the hill in position is that it makes a smaller target should a racer crash out and come hurtling toward you.. I was allowed to stay in my position which to be honest did surprise me but I guess they thought I have been doing this long enough now to know what is and isn't safe! (I have never been hit by a racer or their equipment when they have crashed... But I have hit some with my gear when I have crashed and as my American colleagues call it have a yard sale, for us that speak normal English that means your kits goes everywhere!)

The main problem I had with my position was the sheer steepness I was wearing crampons on my ski boots and constantly having to dig them into the snow and ice for grip, when you follow a racer with your camera going from right to left (we call it panning) your balance and weight is always shifting and sometimes you get the sensation that you are falling. After 2 and a half hours of standing in this position I was knackered (tired) if you can imagine standing on one of thos giant balance balls that athletes train on for 2 and a half hours you can imagine how I was feeling, but again I was happy with my shots and worth the suffering, especially when guys who have been doing this a long time compliment me on the shot.

Christina was again covering the finish area for me so I could stay up on the hill for the second run, I sat down again and started editing my images and chatting to a friend about if we were likely to get a 2^nd run as the fog had moved up the valley, after about 30 mins I could barely make him out and he was sitting about 10 feet away from me. I knew it was not going to happen so I packed up and went down to wait for the inevitable cancelation.

So the weekend finished in a slight downer with the cancellation. But I was happy with my work and hopefully so were the picture buyers for the newspapers!!

I always like to try and get something different, so here is a shot of a guy who trod on my assistants foot and failed to apologise....

This will teach you how to say sorry, as I can capture you looking like you do not even know how to ski!!!

My images can be found at www.sportsphotographer.eu

If you would like a print of your favourite skier for your office / bedroom etc wall, please email enquiries@sportsphotographer.eu with the image details.

A new season is about to begin

2010-10-18T10:35:00.000+01:00

Wow it has been a whole year since I last blogged, I am a bad bad boy!! This season I will blog from each race I cover or training session.
With the World Cup starting in just 5 days I have already been up on a glacier in Austria to get some practice, both on skis and taking photos!!
I was quite lucky in the fact that members of the British ski team were training so I not only got to catch up with the guys and girls, but also managed to get some ok stock action shots just in case the British newspapers require them

British Alpine Ski Team 2010/11 season - Images by Sportsphotographers.eu .

With a new season comes new challenges, which races do I cover, logistics finding out who the new racers are stuff like that. For the main part of the season I will probably concentrate on the women's races because Lindsey Vonn (USA) is still big news, and my American clients are always after new pictures. Also this season I hope to be submitting articles into a race magazine about things I see or do on the tour, not in a paparazzi way though.. My first article will be about a young Russian skier I met recently who at the age of 17 was a national champion, but by the age of 20 is consigned to training with the childrens team after 2 seasons off due to horrific injuries.

Some blatant self promotion coming up!!
you can follow me on Twitter @ESPAsportphotos or facebook www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Sportsphotographereu/182264059113?v=wall

Also for this season some of the images can be made available to purchase as a print, either on paper or canvas. All images can be found at www.sportsphotographer.eu and if you see a photo you like email me through the website and I will see if that image can be printed (image rights dependant)

Soelden or is it Solden? Alpine Skiing World Cup opening races of the season 2009

2009-11-11T20:08:00.001Z

The ski race season has started up again, so I jumped in the motorhome and headed to Austria and the resort of Soelden, where the annual opening races for both men and women take place. Due to the fact a few days before I went my grandmother was rushed to hospital I didnt quite prepare myself properly for the trip! I had been sitting by her bedside for 5 or 6 days instead of getting my stuff together properly. So when I arrived in Austria, it dawned on me that I had left behind my main sports camera the Canon 1d Mk3 my flash units (or strobes as they are called in the USA) also my stock of spare memory cards, spare batteries for my Macbook pro my tripod and a few other bits and pieces of camera gear. I also left behind my ski trousers. I use the Spyder Coach Pants as they have padded knees which means my old bones do not get so cold when I am kneeling on the snow.
For the races press conferences etc all I had would be a Canon 5d mk1 a Canon 20d with a built in flash, luckily for me both cameras had 8gb compact flash cards so I could at least shoot in raw (CR2) and download my images after each event.

I went up to the glacier on the Friday to have a bit of practice on my skis and to try and get some of the head and shoulder stock shots of some of the skiers, it also meant I could catch up with a few that I know. At some stage during my skiing I crashed out, nothing unusual about that as I always crash and fall over with a heavy camera bag on my back 40kgs or more sometimes throws your balance out! that's my excuse and I am sticking with it... I had not fully zipped up my bag and good old sod's law took over which meant that one of my lenses escaped and rolled down the mountain into a crevasse great!! all I could do was just lay there and watch a £1200 lens go to it's death.

On the Friday night I went to the womens USA ski team hotel as I had arranged for some of them to cut my hair and shave my beard off, to raise funds to help the ski racer Cody Marshall from the USA in his rehabilitation following a serious head injury. Lots of Cody's team mates and coaches from the mens team came over and also helped out.

Picture of me getting my hair shaved off by Olympic Gold Medal winner Julia Mancuso.

Saturday was the ladies race I was up the top of the mountain by 0730 the aim was to get shots of Lindsey Vonn, Julia Mancuso, Resi Stiegler, Chemmy Alcott, Nikki Hosp, and Kathrin Zettle doing their course inspection. But the fog put paid to that idea!! It had also snowed a fair amount the previous night so we had to wait for them to clear the course before the race could start!! For this event I was working for US Presswire, and also ActionPlus a UK agency. the best shot from Soelden is the one I shot last year with the skiers going past a gate and blue sky in the background.

Julia Mancuso (USA) during the 2008 race.

This year because I was working for a news agency I would have to look for a different position away from the other agencies. I settled for a back lit shot (where the sun is behind the main subject) I had 2 control gates covered from my position a head on shot,

Lindsey Vonn (USA) Canon 5d 400mm f2.8 lens set to manual ISO 400 aperture F5.6 exposure 1/4000

and a more side on shot.

Kajsa Kling (SWE) Canon 5d 400mm f2.8 lens set to Manual ISO 200 Aperture f5 exposure 1/4000
Shooting with the Canon 5d posed a few problems firstly the cold sucks all the life out of the batteries, secondly you only get 3fps or 3 frames per second in theory! for a fast paced sport like skiing that means you are lucky if you get 2 frames in the tight area you are focused on. The other problem is the auto focus is not as fast as a specialist sport camera like the 1d mk3. I found however that by using the back focus button and pre-focusing on the middle of the control post on the post the skier would attack on the first gate I was getting a good percentage of my shots sharp enough to use.
I shot nearly all the racers before my batteries gave out I had used 4 batteries to shoot the same amount of pictures I normally use 1 battery for.

For the second run of the race I stayed in the finish area to try and capture the skiers emotions as they crossed the line, and then also to get the podium shots. Last year I had the Young Apprentice Aislinn working with me and she did the finish area but due to her University studies she could not make this set of races. A real shame as she is Queen of the finish area and always managed to get the top shots..
The race was won by Tania POUTIAINEN (FIN) with Kathrin Zettel (AUT) 2nd and Denise Karbon (ITA) 3rd

Sunday was the mens race and again I had all the same problems as the previous day with batteries etc. Position wise I managed to get a spot in front of the TV cameraman so I could get a nice action shot with a mountain for background, again this was a back lit shot so I was constantly tweaking the camera settings, the race started in cloudy dull light but that changed to bright sunshine about the moment Didier Cuche (SUI) hit the gate I was covering, so my shot got horrendously over exposed. This is where shooting in RAW format (CR2) comes into it's own as you can retrieve a lot of information from the image that you have lost for good with shooting JPEG

Didier Cuche (SUI) Canon EOS 5d 400mm f2.8 lens Settings: Manual, ISO 500 aperture F4.5 Exposure 1/2500

Tommy Ford (USA) Canon EOS 5d 400mm f2.8 lens Settings: Manual, ISO 400 Aperture f6.3 Exposure 1/4000

Just after the last American racer passed me on the first run, I got a call from my sister to tell me my nan had passed away. So I walked off the hill and went back to the press room, I then shot the second run from the finish area the same as the womens race but my heart was not in the shoot.

Tha race was won by Didier Cuche (SUI) with Ted Ligety (USA) 2nd and Carlo Janka (SUI) 3rd

British Touring Car Racing

2009-09-26T14:31:00.000+01:00

I recently had the chance to shoot British touring car racing at Rockingham Motorspeedway track in Leicestershire.

It was my first attempt at car racing of any description, I chose British Touring Cars to shoot as NORMALLY there is heaps of action crashes etc so I thought I may get some decent shots that possibly ESPN would be interested in but alas it was not really my weekend ;-) no matter where I went accidents did not happen the nearest I got was when I had set up my camera to do what we call a pan shot, so slow shutter speed to make the background look blurry and the cars going fast, so I didnt get anything really worthwhile.

Motor racing poses it's own problems different to shooting the usual sports, for starters it's bloomin loud plus due to safety reasons you are limited to where you can and cant shoot from, obviously all the places I looked at that would give me a good clear shot was poo poo'd by some jobsworth marshal another problem with motor racing is the distances you have to walk with all your kit and most times you are stuck in that position until the end of the race, which means fighting your way through the crowds after to get to the podium... luckily I am king of speed walking and tapping people out the way using the base of my monopod...

At first I got a typical frosty reception from the other photographers there, this is so typical of shooting sports in the UK where everyone is guarded about their shots and dont like outsiders!! However it soon became apparent to me that 99.9999999% of these alleged photographers were weekend warriors most shooting on semi automatic or even automatic mode.. I ended up given a few advice about camera settings and picture composition, then a problem developed... I had a trail of photographers follow me where ever I went to get the same shot so they could compare!! That soon fizzled out after I went to stand in an area full of stinging nettles to get a good angle.. Always dress for extreme conditions is my theory so long socks and heavy duty trousers means no stings for me ;-)

As always when I shoot a new sport I try various different cameras and lens combinations I am always tinkering on the training runs somethings work some dont. for instance the shot below I wanted to get a different view of the finish line as everyone was the other side of the chequered flag getting a head on shot so I went wide and from behind to incorporate the car, flag, crowd and also an advertising for the racetrack (for future sales opportunities)

All in all after 6 days out of 7 shooting sport (3 cricket 1 football and motor racing over 2 1\2 days) I was very tired and happy with the results. Next stop is the British Superbikes at Silverstone so stay tuned for the next riveting read ;-)

Motor racing BTCC 19 - 20/09/2009 - Images by Sportsphotographers.eu .

The good the bad and the ugly.

2009-09-25T17:55:00.000+01:00

Well following my trip to the home of cricket Lords I was off in my motorhome to Nottingham for 2 more of England's cricket matches against Australia... needless to say the Aussies creamed us but again I had some good shots.

Ricky Ponting scored a century in the 1st match, again I was playing with various focal lengths and lens camera set ups, a 7 hour match means you have a bit of time!! I also decided to do some old school stuff with manual focus.

After the match I drove up to Liverpool as I had managed to secure accreditation to cover their Champions League match with Hungarian team Debreceni VSC. As a school kid I had been a bit of a fan of Liverpool with Kenny Dalglish my hero. So to actually stand on the pitch as 60000 people sang the Liverpool Anthem "you'll never walk alone" was possibly the highlight of my sports photography career so far. Prior to the game I had a brief chat with a guy called Michael Reagen from Getty Images, he is also the official FA photographer, and possibly the best football photographer in the world. He gave me a bit of advice about best position which was nice of him.

I chose to shoot facing the KOP with the away fans behind me, and about midway between the goal and the corner flag. For the first half Liverpool attacked the goal my end, the match was fairly boring Liverpool eventually winning 1-0 with Dirk Kuyt scoring the winning goal.

I didn't get a good shot of the actual goal as a big Hungarian arse was in my way.. these darn players are so inconsiderate at times... I was working on the wires for this match (images going direct to newspapers etc from the agency) so speed was of an essence in getting images out, what you have to do is shoot some shots then change memory cards download what you have taken to your laptop, then edit / caption and then FTP (send) them to the agency, you do this constantly during the game so sometimes you are relying on things like crowd noise to let you know when something is happening. The big agencies have either editors for their photographers or something called shoot live where the cameras are connected to the laptop and within a second of the image being taken it's transferred to the picture desk back at head office.. As yet I have not worked for an agency with this system but it means no onsite editing so cant be a bad thing ;-)

My workflow was basic for this, shoot the action, chimp (check the screen see if images are sharp and good) then ingest to the laptop using photo mechanic, add a caption, transfer to photoshop to crop adjust colours, and then ftp. I shoot in RAW 99.99% of the time which may be a bit slower but means if you have a good image but it's slightly under or over exposed then you can sometimes save it. This is handy when you shoot on manual settings and suddenly the light may change mid shot.

After the match I returned to my motorhome to find it had been broken into, the police were on scene and waiting for me, luckily I had all my important gear with me and only lost an old pentax slr camera a point and shoot camera, and some tools, the worst thing though was all my clothes had been pulled out of the wardrobe and cupboards and trampled on the floor, also my travel pillow had split with millions of tiny polystyrene balls all over the friggin place. I was gutted but life goes on the door had virtually been ripped off it's hinges so a Mitch repair job with some string a bungy and some gaffer tape secured it for my trip back to Nottingham and the cricket the next day.

Football Champions League Liverpool vs Debrenici - Images by Sportsphotographers.eu .

What a week so far..

2009-09-23T17:48:00.000+01:00

I have managed to realise 2 childhood dreams so far this week, one was to be on the pitch at Lords cricket ground, and the second was to be on the pitch at Anfield, home of Liverpool Football Club. For Lords I was tasked to shoot an England one day international cricket match against Australia.

Cricket is not the easiest sport to shoot owing to the fact you are a long way from the centre of play, even using a 400mm lens with a 2x converter you still have to crop into the image, also using a 2x converter means your images are generally not as sharp as using a prime lens.

Lords is a funny place, so many old traditions, you cant get into certain areas unless you have a suite and tie, is one of the strangest. photographers positions are not in the best places. for the England innings I was stuck in a gap with a constant stream of people walking past getting in the way!! Like most events I cover I have to try and find a position away from the major agencies like Getty Images, Associated Press, Press Association, Agence Francaise Presse, because for sale purposes why would an newspaper pay for my image if it was the same as they get anyway!

It took me a while to work out the best setup for me to use, and I settled on using my Canon 5d with 400mm f2.8 lens and a 2x converter for the close up shots, and a Canon 1d Mk3 with a 70-200mm F2.8 and a 1.4x converter for general shots. I also had a Canon 20d with a 24-105mm F4 for wider shots and general views. As much as I am a huge fan of cricket I am not really patient enough to shoot it, I normally have the attention span of a 3 year old so I did find shooting the game hard at first, but the sight of Brett Lee the australian pace bowler ripping through Englands batting attack kept me going.

I was fairly happy with the shoot and lucky for me so were the agency I was working for that day as they asked me to shoot to more England matches later in the week. I will write about them later.

Cricket: One Day International 50 over England Vs Australia - Images by Sportsphotographers.eu .

RED BULL X FIGHTERS

2009-09-06T20:10:00.002+01:00

Well yet again I am slow at updating my blog sorry, but I really hate all this stuff but so many guys tell me I should do it as it not only helps promote my website and business but some of you guys actually are interested in what a photographer does...

Since my last blog I have only done a few shoots, firstly I covered the Red Bull X-Fighters event in Battersea Power Station, Battersea London, this was fun as I had never shot anything like it before. The X-Fighter series is a freestyle Motocross event, where the best riders in the world compete against each other doing stunts on their motorbikes in mid air...

The event took place on Saturday 22nd August 2009, with 2 days practice beforehand. After collecting accreditations etc on the Thursday we were told that due to high winds the training sessions were canceled, so no shooting for me. On the Friday I got there early as I wanted to work out angles and get some decent stock shots. My main camera a Canon 1d MK3 developed a fault, which meant that it could not read or write to compact flash memory cards, luckily the MK3 also uses a SD (Secure Digital) memory card so I was still able to use the camera. I arranged with Canon Professional Services to get my camera in for repair as I would be heading straight up to Scotland for a week of shooting golf, as the camera could not be repaired quickly Canon provided me with a brand new MK3 to use, which was nice of them ;-) anyway back to the Red Bull X Fighters. I spent the day shooting their training runs which meant for the event I would know roughly where I wanted to stand for each shot I had planned.

Friday night was qualifying night, which meant for us photographers we could work out where the best light would be as the event was billed to have an amazing light show... well lucky for me that the Canon 1d Mk3 can handle shooting at high ISO's as the light was not as good as we hoped!! I was shooting on manual mode ISO 3200 on an apperture of f2.8 to get a shutter speed of 320th of a second. Normally for sports I like to shoot at least 1000th of a second to freeze the picture and not get a blurred mess.

I also shoot in RAW not JPEG which allows me to reduce some of the digital noise that you get shooting high ISO's digital noise is like little flecks of a different colour that you see when you blow an image up to it's full size.

For Saturday's shoot I had arranged with one of the riders that I attach a camera to his handlebars for some on bike action shots similar to the ones shot by a colleague of mine in the US Mark Rebilas

http://markjrebilas.com/blog/2008/10/from-the-archives-x-games-handlebar-remote-cam-2006/ check out his other work he is a VERY talented photographer.

I was advised by the orgainsers that it would not be possible to put a camera on the riders bike for Health and Safety reasons!!! my answer was he's going to be hanging underneath a motorbike in mid air, how is that not dangerous.. Oh well lesson learned do it and ask later is my new motto ;-) The actual event shoot was a bit of a let down the general public were allowed into where the photographers were meant to be so none of the action shots I had lined up was possible, if you can imagine trying to fight your way through a tight packed crowd of 1000s of people carryng 3 cameras plus a backpack because it was not wise to leave anything in the press room!! I gave up after a while as I didnt wat to get my gear damaged, and went and sought new locations. here are a some of the images I took at this event.

Red Bull X Fighters London. - Images by Sportsphotographers.eu .

I am bad at blogging

2009-08-19T21:51:00.000+01:00

Ok first of I am sorry to all you guys that like to read about my adventures, I really am not good at this blogging lark. I will try harder next time.. hmm sounds like my old shool reports.

Since my last entry I have covered a few European Tour golf tournaments around Europe, The Fina World Aquatics Championships in Rome, Golden League Athletics in Berlin,I have been mainly working with a company called US-Presswire a USA based sports photography agency, and through them I have had quite a few images in newspapers like USA Today, Boston Globe, LA Times, as well as on major sports websites like CNN and ESPN. I am quite proud of this achievement it's always nice when you find out that people actually do use your images.

My next event starts tomorrow, which is the Red Bull X-Fighters in Battersea London, where the worlds best freestyle Moto x riders will be competing, I am looking forward to this as I dont actually do much work in my home town, plus I am sure the stunts and images will be quite cool. I will try and remember to do this blog again after the event and add pictures.

Sporting images - Images by Sportsphotographers.eu .

ATP Tennis Monte Carlo Masters 1000

2009-04-23T13:01:00.000+01:00

I have just returned to London having spent the past 3 1\2 weeks in France, firstly with the British Alpine ski championships, as the official photographer for SnowsportGB the governing body for alpine skiing and snowboarding in the UK, and then the past week I was in Monte Carlo, Monaco, to shoot the ATP Tennis Monte Carlo masters, this event I was working freelance, with images going to various agencies, including US-Presswire (USA), Action Press (GER) Icon (FRA) EQ Images (SUI) as well as submitting to most national UK newspapers.
One handy thing about shooting the Monte Carlo event is Canon have their pro service team there, which meant I could get my kit serviced, and considering it has been up and down freezing mountains for nearly 6 months it certainly needed servicing, this also gave me the chance to test out some new equipment, like the Canon 50d which I was considering purchasing to use as a remote camera.
I also set myself challenges as I do at all shoots, this time it was to just shoot single shot which was difficult if you take into account the fact the ball is travelling at over 100 miles per hour most of the time. I have never really liked shooting off loads of frames like some guys do, so this gave me a chance to improve my skills and I am very happy with the outcome. my photos can be viewed at www.sportsphotographers.eu

Monte Carlo Masters 2009 - Images by Sportsphotographers.eu .

Ski season

2009-03-31T21:05:00.001+01:00

Well this season is finally drawing to a close, I have been crap at this blog writing stuff, and updating pictures etc. My final event is the British Alpine Ski Championships in Meribel France, which is actually the first time I have shot at a French resort.. This place is a just a little bit too expensive for my tastes!! I will do a full write up soon about the season, and the races I have covered.

Soelden World Cup Races

2008-10-28T10:24:00.001Z

So the first races of the season are now over, with Zettel winning the ladies race and Chemmy Alcott getting a great result of 10th, and Daniel Albrecht winning the guys, GB had no guys competing but hopefully one day, one of the new batch of talented skiers we have will make it on to the circuit to compete, photography wise Soelden is a nice course to shoot, if the gates are set in the right spot!! With the time change a few guys were caught out on Sunday with the sun being behind the skier, we call this backlight and it makes the sky look white instead of blue! I managed to get a shot of Ted Ligety that I am very proud of as he nearly lost it at the top of the steep in run, but somehow he regained it and still managed to finish top 3. It was a really busy week for me as I had a young Austrian student along with me who is studying media studies and wants to be a photographer one day. She could not work on the slopes, but shot the finish area and number draws press conferences etc. It was nice having someone else working with me as it meant I could try something I would not normally get a chance to do, like shoot the start gate for the women's race. I am heading back to the UK soon to find out if my season is over, really not sure if I can follow the whole tour without my campervan as hotels fuel etc all adds up, and the ski photo market in the UK is not that great. Even with Chemmy coming 10th some papers did not even mention it.
My pictures from the races can be viewed here. http://sportsphotographer.spitfirephoto.com/albums.php?albumId=67967

Ciao for now
Mitch

Austrian Open Golf

2008-06-05T07:18:00.000+01:00

This week I am back in my spiritual home of Austria, I love it here and really seriously considering a full time move to Klagenfurt in Carinthia. I am meant to be shooting golf this week however the weather gods have put a dampner on that, quite literally, its bucketing it down.The good news is yesterday I got to shoot and meet one of my all time heroes Austrian skier Franz Klammer, it was watching him ski many many moons ago on tv, that first drew me to skiing. I also managed to get a brief chat with another skiing legend Stephan Eberharter (hope its spelt right)Photographing golf is not that difficult, there are a few rules, basically dont shoot when they are in a swing or putt, and stay out of line of sight, most of the guys I have spoken to are ok, but there are some guys on the tour that always like to shout and scream at photographers for putting them off, personally I think they are just using it as an excuse because they had a shit shot!!! how a little soft mechanical click can put off a professional sportsman is beyond me!!
I will add some shots into a gallery later.
Mitch

This summer

2008-04-16T19:44:00.000+01:00

This summer I will be shooting an array of sports, I have already shot wakeboarding, and a FIM World Championship round of Supermoto, next week I will be in Monte Carlo to shoot the ATP Masters tennis, I will be adding photos to my website www.mitch-photography.co.uk as well as www.sportsphotographer.eu

Mitch

Crans Montana Training run

2008-03-06T14:53:00.001Z

I am in Crans Montana this weekend to shoot the women racing, and what a beautiful resort it is, I will go out in a bit and get some shots for you to look at.I shot the Downhill training run earlier today, and with a gorgeous blue ski and warm weather I could not miss the chance of getting the girls in mid-flight, some of them were getting some great air time, Chemmy Alcott probably had the longest jump!! of course there is always one or two that do not quite make the distance, and get heckled with shouts of TOURIST, from course workers etc.I was testing the new lens I got when I was back in the UK, and it is much better, maybe one day I will make a photographer :-) for the camera geeks that read this I was shooting with a 400mm f2.8 ISO 100 and shutter speed of 4000 it was a very bright day! I hope you like the pictures.
Mitchwww.mitch-photography.co.uk www.skispace.com/mitch

Moving to Austria

2008-02-18T16:48:00.000Z

I am still home in the UK packing up my old place for the permanent move to Austria, the amout of toot (rubbish) you can collect in 40 years is amazing, and I am having to be ruthless in my selection of what to take, as my new apartment is very small.
Saturday I took a day off from sorting out my stuff and went to shoot the international indoor athletics meeting that was held in Birmingham, this was my first ever indoor athletics shoot, and the lack of good lighting caused me a few problems, I have added some of the photos on my facebook site so if you get bored have a look!! I needed to add some other sports to my portfolio,so I can try and get a summer job with an agency.
All being well I should be back in Austria for the weekend, so I can have a few days skiing in St Anton, the next WC race is not until the end of the month and that is the ladies event in Arber. I may have to look at shooting some freestyle stuff whilst in St Anton, or even some of those cool off piste shots which first attracted me to skiing photography.

Mitch
http://www.mitch-photography.co.uk
www.skispace.com/mitch
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=671409873

Garmisch - London

2008-02-13T21:33:00.000Z

The Garmisch weekend was a challenging one, for both the skiers and the photographers, as I approached the course I thought wow this will be a good place to shoot, you can see the whole course virtually from the finish area, and so for once I might get to see more than 100mtrs of a race!!
However once up the hill it did not look so good from a photographers point of view, as you can probably tell I tend to like having a blue sky background on my shots and found a position that I thought would be perfect, I asked one of the locals who was working on the course, where the sun would be later in the day, obviously my German being a little bit pants got the question wrong and I thought he said that it would be ok!! 3 hours later as the race is about to start, up pops the sun and ruins my shot so I had to readjust, thus my pictures are not the greatest from this event!!
The race went well Reinfried Herbst zooming down the quickest on both runs to win, with the eternal bridesmaid Manfred Moelg coming in 2nd, he really will win soon!! Ivica Kostellic taking the 3rd spot. I had to shoot the prize giving in town later that night to help out a colleague, and it was my first timefor getting splattered with Champagne, my bald head was covered in the stuff,and I really hoped a gorgeous German girl would come and lick it all off, like a giant lollypop but alas that did not happen. My next race is probably not until Arber /Zwiesel at the end of the month, as I had to go back to the UK to pack up my house for a permanent move to Austria, I also needed to upgrade some of my equipment, and get stuff in for repair. But I now have a stonking huge lens the canon 400mm F2.8 it weights about 14 kg but is the best lens for sports.
One good thing about being back in the UK and away from the snow is I could take my motorbike out for a good ride, and was throwing it around the streets of London the way I did 100 years ago when I worked as a motorcycle courier!!
This weekend I am hoping to shoot a premiership rugby match, and also an ice hockey match, but I would rather head back to Austria and ski! If only my car repairs would be finished in time!!

Mitch
http://www.mitch-photography.co.uk/
http://www.gamma-photography.com/
www.skispace.com/mitch

St Moritz Ladies World Cup Events

2008-02-04T10:33:00.000Z

I am back home in Austria now having spent the past few days in St Moritz, the playground of the rich and plastic faced people!! I have dubbed it the Collagen capital of the world!The weather for the week has been so varied, Thursday was a gorgeous sunny day, and I was trying to shoot a nice panaramic shot of the racers with a mountain in the background, some worked some didnt, but its just training!! Friday was thick fog! I ski'd the course twice and both times I could hardly see the tips of my ski's, which earned me the nickname amongst some of my colleagues as the crazy English fog rider (cant remember the german name they gave me but that was the translation). I was very suprised and could not understand why they made the girls do a course inspection in Zero visability! Good sense prevailed and they cancelled the training.Saturdays Downhill race was a suprise in many ways, firstly that it started on time! We had heavy snow in the morning but the guys who read the weather forcast got it spot on and all was ok come 12.30. My position for shooting was not the best, as I got moved by the course controller and ended up further away from the action than I like! The race was won by a very late runner Tina Maze from Slovenia starting at 47 by then the weather had completely changed to sunny and windy conditions, even I got cold and had stopped shooting at no 41. Only 1 photographer shot the late numbers and there was a frantic mass of photographers in the press centre all asking him for a copy of the picture! Sunday was the turn of the Super G and with a lovely sunny day being forcast I was looking forward to a good shoot. I was first on the hill again and shot some of the girls doing a course inspection, then staked my claim for what turned out to be the best spot on the course again. The idea was for a nice blue background and a profile of the skier about to turn, I also wanted some shots with the St Moritz gates by the skier. I was very happy with the results of my shoot, and had been given some great advice from one of the experienced pros which can only help me improve. The race was won by Canada's Emily Brydon with the Austrian pair of Elizabeth Goergl and Renate Goetschl coming in 2nd and 3rd. Lindsey Vonn came in 4th and is slowly creeping up on Nicole Hosp for the overall title. Next stop is Garmisch next weekend and the mens slalom, such a shame they are not having a speed event there as I have been told it is a great course to shoot. Check out my galleries for the latest pictures, and coming very soon I will be having an online shop at www.mitch-photography.co.uk where you can buy pictures of your favourite skiers.
Mitch

Ofterschwang Ladies Slalom

2008-01-27T21:40:00.000Z

I have just got home in St Anton after shooting todays slalom race in Ofterschwang Bavaria. The weather was not as nice as yesterday so I really had to work my camera to get the best pictures in the bad light. I managed to secure a great position again for both runs, so hopefully you guys and gals like todays pictures.The race was won by Austria's Marlies Schild, who has the nice habit of winning slalom races these days! 2nd was Therese Borssen of Sweden with Nicole Hosp of Austria coming in 3rd. GB has no female representatives in the womens slalom this year, Non of the American racers made it down as far as me on the course, both Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Vonn going if in a similar spot. I took a picture of Lindsey sitting in the fence, and it looks like she is crying, not through pain but through frustration at not completing a course. I guess it's things like that which define a natural born champion. I wanted to run up give her a big hug and say all will be ok.. But I am not sure she would have appreciated a sweaty, out of breath bald headed snapper, coming at her like that! besides by then the next skier was on course! I have a couple of days off now to catch up on editing and stuff before I head of to the Swiss resort of St Moritz.Oh yet again Bode kicks serious butt when I am not there to shoot it!! It is either a conspiracy, or he should pay me to stay away as I am bad luck!!

Ofterschwang Ladies Giant Slalom

2008-01-27T14:36:00.000Z

Todays event in the Bavarian resort of Ofterschwang, was as much fun to shoot as it was for the spectators watching, the women's races are much more relaxed affairs compared to the men's. Yet again I was the first photographer on the hill, and bagged the best position!!I even mangaged to ski the course without going on my butt!! I had to shoot from a laying down position to get the best angle, and after 65 runners I was a little bit cold in the privates area!!! hopefully you guys will like the pictures! which means it was all worthwhile. The race was eventually won by Denise Karbon, who's smile just lit up the resort when she crossed the line, the Austrian pair of Nicole Hosp, and Elizabeth Goergl finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. Lindsey Vonn was the highest placed US competitor with a battling 6th position. Britains Chemmy Alcott failed to qualify for the second run, coming in 31st position after the first run. Tomorrow it is the turn of the slalom specialists, so watch out for more news and photos! Mitch

Schladming Night Slalom

2008-01-23T21:48:00.001Z

Last night I shot the Schladming night slalom event, a totally mad event with over 50000 fans cheering on Mario Matt to the winners podium.For me it was my first ever night shoot without the aid of a flash gun, I am fairly happy with the results and will add some pictures here. The course did not really last the night and only the first 15 really had any chance of winning, by the time Alain Baxter hit the course with bib no 69 it was more like a mogul event than a slalom!
Mario Matt was the winner with Italy's Manfred Moelg running him a close second and the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Grange third. It seems almost impossible to stop J-B Grange from getting on a podium these days, although Ted Ligety nearly managed that!!
I am off to Ofterschwang next, to shoot the women. I have not been there for about 20 years I actually learnt to ski there with the British Army a long time ago, so it is a trip I am looking forward to.
Mitch

www.skispace.com/mitch

http://www.mitch-photography.co.uk/

Kitzbuhel Super G

2008-01-18T15:23:00.000Z

Today's Super G was great for us over 30's. With the top 3 places all taken by the senior statesmen of the Alpine Ski World. Marco Buechel 1st Herman Maier 2nd and Didier Cuche 3rd. It just goes to show you do not have to be young an fearless to be the best!! I had a fairly good position at first, but the usual over zelous piste staff moved me, then allowed some of the coaches to stand where I had been!! as the Americans say "Go Figure"!!
Tomorrow is the big day here, and the whole place is buzzing after Maiers performance, the ever optimistic Austrians were singing tomorrow he will be better!! I can see it being a nice challenge between Didier Cuche and Bode Miller, watch out for the Canadians though Robbie Dixon had a fantastic run starting at 43 and finishing 6th he has got a lot of tongues wagging in the press office with that performance.
Mitch