"high risk" photos comment by Reuters chief photographer at Olympics

Bob Michaels

Bob Michaels

nobody special
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"Good photographs won't cut it, I am competing with a 1,000 photographers here" said Adam Pretty, the chief photographer at the Olympics for Reuters in a TV interview this morning. He used the term "high risk" to describe his work. He told how he used extreme close ups with very long lenses, ultra thin DOF, attempting to place a moving athlete perfectly in a complex background, or shooting with an ultra wide as techniques to differentiate his work. Essentially what he said was that a total failure was no worse than a merely good photo as neither would be used. I think this logic applies to almost all photography, not just sports.

This quick loading group of 62 Olympic photos bears out that thinking. The majority of these photos are high risk, the ones that even the best pros could not deliver consistently but where they took a flyer hoping for something special.

Of course I like this because it supports the way I believe in shooting although I do not do sports.
 
some very, very good work. i am not usually one to pay attention to sports photography but i was quite struck by that stuff.

i am also curious to see what Burnett provides.

(he uses a Holga on occasion)
 
I really enjoyed the photos -- emotion and action seen from various perspectives. Thanks for sharing.
 
Same photographer won the National Press Photographers Assn 2012 1st place award for sports story. Interestingly of the 11 photos in the series, the camera was pointed directly up or down in 8 of them, only 3 level shots in the bunch. One was a silhouette and one was a slow motion blur. Lead photo is of two water polo players but it is an overhead of them and they are not even in the pool. Not a normal photo that most would shoot in the bunch.
 
One of the best interviews with a photographer I ever saw - short and to the point. They even brought back Ann Curry, who shoots an M8, last time I saw her with a camera. She knew what to ask.
 
kehng said:
bet these weren't shot with a rangefinder!
Click to expand...


Actually, a number of them could have been with a rangefinder.

Having done sports photography for years, it is always nice to see these excellent results! Sports photography is a lot of work with VERY expensive specialty equipment and these photos are not done by hobbyists...makes the daily rant about the supposed high price of Leica products rather silly IMO...:p

Thanks for the link, Bob!
 
Bob Michaels said:
Same photographer won the National Press Photographers Assn 2012 1st place award for sports story. Interestingly of the 11 photos in the series, the camera was pointed directly up or down in 8 of them, only 3 level shots in the bunch. One was a silhouette and one was a slow motion blur. Lead photo is of two water polo players but it is an overhead of them and they are not even in the pool. Not a normal photo that most would shoot in the bunch.
Click to expand...

Holy $%#$!! Those are incredible!!
 
Very nice shots.
But.......it's also street photography.

No it's not the street but just the same : going for the decisive moment, anticipating the reactions and beeing there with the right gear at the right time.
 
Stunning photos.. when I see such shots I do not believe that still photography would be a thing of past in photojournalism. Thanks Bob..
 
Bob Michaels said:
Same photographer won the National Press Photographers Assn 2012 1st place award for sports story. Interestingly of the 11 photos in the series, the camera was pointed directly up or down in 8 of them, only 3 level shots in the bunch. One was a silhouette and one was a slow motion blur. Lead photo is of two water polo players but it is an overhead of them and they are not even in the pool. Not a normal photo that most would shoot in the bunch.
Click to expand...

Yeah! Dedicated to those who claim that B&W photography is dead for photojournalism..
 
Bob Michaels said:
"Good photographs won't cut it, I am competing with a 1,000 photographers here" said Adam Pretty, the chief photographer at the Olympics for Reuters in a TV interview this morning. He used the term "high risk" to describe his work. He told how he used extreme close ups with very long lenses, ultra thin DOF, attempting to place a moving athlete perfectly in a complex background, or shooting with an ultra wide as techniques to differentiate his work. Essentially what he said was that a total failure was no worse than a merely good photo as neither would be used. I think this logic applies to almost all photography, not just sports.

This quick loading group of 62 Olympic photos bears out that thinking. The majority of these photos are high risk, the ones that even the best pros could not deliver consistently but where they took a flyer hoping for something special.

Of course I like this because it supports the way I believe in shooting although I do not do sports.
Click to expand...

Maybe photography has gotten on the card, this Olympics..
 
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