Sports and fitness photo shoot
Sports and fitness photography: athlete portraits from a shoot. Sports portraits on a streetball court at dusk. The player stands at the fence with the ball…
Sports portraits on a streetball court at dusk. The player stands at the fence with the ball, chain-link and a steel arch behind him; in the wide shot the whole court lies in the last of the light with a bridge behind it. Athlete photography works on anticipation rather than reaction — press the shutter once you can see the movement and you have missed it — so the emphasis here is on stance and gaze rather than the jump.
The portrait at the fence works on three planes: ball and hand in front, the face turned upward, the chain link behind as a grid. The look goes where everything in basketball goes — to a hoop that is not in the picture at all.
Evening light on a concrete court is soft and directionless, and for sport that is a disadvantage, because muscle needs an edge. So the camera is low and close, and the contrast comes from color instead: black shirt, red ball, gray ground.
An athlete portrait also has to work without a game. No opponent, no clock, no crowd — what looks like effort here is a decision and not a coincidence.
- Discipline
- Sport
