John Enman — Photographing sports activities

John Enman — Photographing sports activities

Published 11:00 am Tuesday, August 25, 2026

This previous week I talked with a photographer with a brand new digicam who was deciding on a lens to make use of to {photograph} sports activities.

I’ll begin by admitting that I’m not a sports activities photographer, although throughout my years as photographer for the University College of the Cariboo (UCC) I produced many pictures of basketball, soccer and hockey video games for publications.

When I first began working within the unfamiliar UCC campus areas, underneath inconsistent lighting with fast-moving topics I rapidly realized that I wanted extra than simply an understanding of pictures fundamentals. And there was additionally the query of what viewers of sporting occasions have been searching for.

At that point the web wasn’t that good of a search software (there wasn’t Facebook or Google) and pictures magazines have been extra geared to promoting merchandise than giving usable instruction.

The greatest schooling I might get was by trying via magazines like Sports Illustrated and making an attempt to determine how the pictures I noticed have been made. I believe different photographer’s work continues to be an effective way to study.

Talking with aspiring (and struggling) native sports activities photographers who’ve proven me a number of enjoyable point-and-shoot, machine gun model images didn’t assist in any respect. I needed pictures that visually talked about school athletes and the vitality of the game.

I nonetheless have this quote by photographer Jerry Lodriguss, “Sports photography is one of the few remaining pure forms of documentary photography. The moment happens and it is gone. You either capture it in an image or you don’t.”

My method to photographing sports activities was to pick a taking pictures place, a topic to look at and work from there till I had what I needed. Then I might transfer place, change the topic and begin once more. I questioned if skilled sports activities photographers would give that method a lot credence, however Lodriguss made me really feel higher when he wrote, “Don’t think that your shooting position will somehow stop you from getting photos. Good pictures happen at every focal length and location. You just have to be ready to take them when they do.” Anyway, that was just about my method and it labored nicely for me and gave my employer a number of usable pictures.

I might start by learning the sunshine throughout the sector or court docket, so I might make a very good publicity when my topics moved there. I chosen the very best usable shutterspeed and shot within the shutter precedence mode. My selection of kit to start with was fixed-focal-length prime lenses. However, I rapidly adopted fast-focusing, vibration-reducing lenses like my 70-210mm.

I’ll proceed with extra recommendation by skilled photographer Lodriguss: “Photography is not totally about equipment, although having the right equipment can be important at the highest levels of sports photography. Photography is really about seeing, and light, and composition, and most importantly, content. Only gearheads and equipment freaks care more about what camera was used to take a picture than about the content and aesthetics of the image itself. No one cares what typewriter Hemingway used to write with. Mastering your equipment is just a first step in mastering your craft.”

I additionally suppose that these sports activities photographers which are probably the most profitable know the sport they {photograph} very nicely and in lots of instances are capable of anticipate the fast-changing motion of a selected athlete.

These are my ideas this week. Contact me at [email protected] or Enman’s Camera at 423 Tranquille Rd. in Kamloops.