Hardest sport you have covered..

KIPAX

KIPAX

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KIPAX Lancashire UK
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The sport you found most demanding for getting a decent picture.... I ahve sat in pouring rain and snow at football and thats hard work.. But I mean in normal conditions.

I would have said Basketball first as it's indoors. Its very fast and your close to the action so a shorter lens means faster movement wiht camera/lens required. Also the lighting (at venues I go to) means shutter speed isnt great even at very high iso.. Capturing a good shot at basketball can be hard work.. however there are that many baskets scored your bound to get somehting by the end of the night :)

But Ice hockey is probably the hardest for all the above reasons but even darker arenas and less points/goals scored to get the chance of grabbing one..Plus its cold ...
 
That's probably the dullest sport I've ever seen Phil. And to think somebody thought it was worth filming and putting on YouTube.
 
netball they were built like brick privvies but tarted about the ball and refused to do anything strenuous/ sporty looking
 
purpleclouds said:
Goalball. Slow, not much action, indoors.. the list goes on! See here
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Where on Earth do you go to play such a game? This was funny, on many levels. Can't figure out if this is serious, or a joke :thinking:

But I can understand, shooting that dull has to be very painful :bang:
 
KIPAX,

Taking on from your other thread, about the sports that you shoot. It would be very interesting to see how you'd rate each of them. Say, on a scale of 1 to 5 with a one line comment as to what you think is the factor that makes each difficult.

Just as a quick reference for those curious.
 
Goalball, well what can you say, looks like the blind leading the blind.

I am painting my walls over the weekend anyone want to come a watch or take photo's?....entry's free including refreshments.
 
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Wail said:
Where on Earth do you go to play such a game? This was funny, on many levels. Can't figure out if this is serious, or a joke :thinking:

But I can understand, shooting that dull has to be very painful :bang:
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I shot an exhibition match during the BT Paralympic World Cup that was on in Manchester earlier in the year. It was certainly a challenge! Results can be seen here :shrug:
 
purpleclouds said:
Goalball. Slow, not much action, indoors.. the list goes on! See here
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Thought it was strange at first.............. but then realised its actually designed for "blind athletes", which puts a different perspective on it. - Amazing how they can perceive where the ball will be purely from the sound or keep the ball within the boundary of the court.
 
david1701 said:
netball they were built like brick privvies but tarted about the ball and refused to do anything strenuous/ sporty looking
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Ah yes, netball...sport of champions.

That is a tricky one, at least with Basketball there's a bit more dynamic movement that takes place.

I don't mind Ice Hockey or Basketball actually, tricky as they are, I still enjoy shooting them!

I'd have to say my hardest sport covered is probably Netball actually. I've been racking my brains, but I think that was it...even bowls was better for some action shots (and I'm not joking there either)!
 
Wail said:
Just as a quick reference for those curious.
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would only be my opinion though.. for example I find cage fights and boxing very hard work because of the different angle i ahve to contort my body into in order to get the shot.. as i am the wrong side of 50 and as fit as a bar stool I end up with back pain after half an hr... young uns like phil/purpleclouds would ahve a better insight haha :)
 
Skateboarding!

Hard to make something technical look good in a shot, and unless they are able to do harder tricks, hard to make anything look good. Also add to this the high risk of getting your stuff hit by a board, and the fact that it can take 30 plus goes to get a trick, you are left with many pained days and nothing to show.

Used to shoot a bit back in the film days. 36 exposures, not made, pull out roll and in bin, not even worth developing. Or 1 good shot on the roll and the expense of developing it all for one shot!
 
I have to agree with Kippax that Ice hockey is very hard to shoot, some of the rinks that I have been to are really dark and cold and horrible, Whitley bay comes to mind lol terrible place
 
I found Netball difficult followed by fencing although that was more boring than anything.
 
does mud wrestling count?

that was my hardest sport I've ever photographed. serious.
 
P-E said:
I found Netball difficult followed by fencing although that was more boring than anything.
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Fencing was great for me...I got a good chance to get some unusual shots!

I love anything where you get that sort of opportunity
 
Octopush or underwater hockey. Just very very silly really. I still find football very tricky due to the speed and relative unpredictability of the game.
 
i would say speedway is the most difficult thing to photograph, i know its motorsport but still.....
other than that its icehockey!
 
can able bodied people play it?

only I was the crap nerdy one at sports when I was at school. But I reckon I could be a bit good at this game...
 
adsayer said:
can able bodied people play it?

only I was the crap nerdy one at sports when I was at school. But I reckon I could be a bit good at this game...
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I guess so if you're blindfolded (which the blind athletes were anyway!) :)
 
They should make it a lot harder to play and blow the ball up fully.
Gravy wrestling wasnt easy but that was becasue I was in the crowd and the many official togs deemed the best place to stand was between me and the paddling pool full of gravy. I had got my spot based on the lack of stuff in the background and they went for the same shots as well.
 
For me the hardest is the easiest as I've done so many. Problems are dark arena's, tricky exposures, trying to make competitors look good (when they are not!), long days (and sometimes evenings) and cold environment. What is it?


Ice skating!
 
I really struggled to get decent pictures of cycling at a veledrome
 
Class 3 Powerboat racing - boats going everywhere on the bends, very difficult to predict where you can be and not end up in the middle of a load of boats doing 80+ mph, so you end up hundreds of meters away trying to hand hold a 400mm lens in a small boat...
 
Snooker! They hate the shutter going just as they take a shot:lol:

But no seriousley some of this stuff sounds hard. All i've done is 2 football matches and the first of em was a bit low on light. Made it tricky with a 400d and tamron 55-200 4-5.6.

This Tuesday evening i've got floodlights, should be a learning curves adjustment.:lol:

Oh and that goalball thing, that looks boring to play not just watch. I think the blind football with the bell inside the ball is much more interesting. That and binocular soccer......and 10 man blindfolded boxing!

:thumbs:
 
purpleclouds said:
Goalball. Slow, not much action, indoors.. the list goes on! See here
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Hi. Goalball is one of those new 'sports' that means sight impaired people can play alongside sighted, so its a bit of a leveller. True, its a bit 'slow' but it does make you use other senses than sight. I shot this for some voluntary work with the KAB. The kids did have fun. I can't say I would want to do it, though. Fancy, world championships!
 
To answer the original question, I found shooting gymnastics pretty challenging. Not the Crystal Palace international stuff, but the local, grass roots. Awful lighting, horrible backgrounds, lovely kids that I found it hard to do justice to.
 
High Peak Mountain Marathon.

Start times 9-10pm and covering the derwent watershed (boggy Peak District) in the dark.
 
Combat Sports (boxing, kickboxing, MMA, Muay Thai, wrestling).

Not only does one have to have extremely accurate timing to capture it properly, but also the ability to work under adverse lighting conditions.

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Generally speaking the pay is very poor (and sometimes non-existent) considering the skills, time, and dedication it takes to learn the trade properly.
 
SnapLocally said:
Generally speaking the pay is very poor (and sometimes non-existent) considering the skills, time, and dedication it takes to learn the trade properly.
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The few MMA jobs I have done has been the lowest paid of any sports work.. The fact that I also supply to the local papers makes the money up to what I require.. but without the papers it wouldn't be worth it as a business deal.. you would think with the amount a ticket costs that there is plenty of money about..
 
The sad fact is that most promoters are cheap people.

I was covering any and all Combat Sports available to me in my area- I had covered 40 events in the past 12 months. Some of those were hired gigs, but I mostly shot on spec. Part of the problem with shooting on spec is there's no guarantee of making sales, regardless of work quality. But now- particularly with MMA- there are many "photographers" involved in my local scene, and while they by and large aren't very good, they are practically giving all their work away just to be noticed. I can't compete with free, so I've elected to only cover events that I'm hired to shoot from here on out.
 
I've covered a hand full of these events over the past few months and all on spec (selling to the fighters). Not the greatest of earners but ok filler jobs.
 
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