Audio
What is the most underrated
form of photography? If you
couldn’t tell based on this,
it’s sport photography, more
specifically football
photography. Don’t believe
me? Watch this.
But firstly, what is sports
photography?
Oh, one second.
Well… That’s sport
photography. Now I’m sure
that looked easy but let’s
say I messed up that shot or
didn’t anticipate him coming,
I wouldn’t be able to retake
it would I? That’s why sports
photography takes such skill.
This man, Henri Cartier-
Bresson was a photographer in
the 20th century who believed
in something called “the
decisive moment”.
This is the idea that the
moment that a photographer
decides to take photo is this
“decisive moment” and he
believed that if you could
see the action with your own
eyes, you could not capture
it. This ties heavily into
sports photography since once
Visuals
First shot is a handheld shot
set in a field on a sunny day
where it shows a path and the
trees behind it. Enter
Harvey, who is presenting the
documentary, holding a 2016
Premier League football with
a film camera around his
neck. He has a LAV microphone
clipped to his shirt for
audio.
Harvey volleys the football
whilst the camera tracks the
ball going into the air. This
will transition into a shot
of Harvey catching the ball
in the next shot.
Harvey gets distracted by a
bicycle off shot about to
cycle in.
The bicycle rides past and
Harvey takes a photo of the
bicycle as it rides out of
shot.
Harvey takes a folder a4
piece of paper out of his
pocket whilst finishing off
that previous sentence and
holds it up to the camera, it
is a photo of Henri Cartier-
Bresson.
Harvey raises his hand above
his head. The previous
quotation is edited above him
as the camera pans up.
a moment of action is done,
it’s gone forever. An example
of this is during the 2021
Champions League final where
Kai Havertz scored the only
goal in the 42nd minute to win
the game for Chelsea and from
this game, an iconic
photograph was taken.
A video of the champions
league final fades into the
screen showing Kai Havertz’s
goal against Manchester City
when I start speaking about
it. The camera then fades out
and back to me speaking.)

This photo was taken just
before the goal went in, yet
it has a greater impact than
other photos taken after the
goal. This is because it
provokes you as the viewer to
feel the anticipation and
tension from the crowd even
though you’re not there as
you know due to context what
is about to happen in the
game. This of course isn’t
just true for photos before
the action, it can be for
after too. And an example of
this is during the year of
1986 and it’s Argentina vs
West Germany in the world cup
final.
The camera pans down to the
ground where another printed
image is placed. This is of
Kai Havertz dinking it past
Ederson in the Champions
League Final. Harvey picks it
up and continues to speak
about it whilst showing it to
the camera.
World cup final footage from
1986 is overlaid whilst
speaking below. More of a
voiceover part here.

Argentina are 2-1 up in the

82nd minute and then Rudi
Voller scored from a corner
to make it level. Now, lets
rewind it just as Rudi Voller
scored. Take notice to this
defender here and you can see
as it goes in, he smashes it
into the goal in frustration.
Pretty insignificant right? Show this image on the
No. From this goal a photo screen.
was taken from one of the
photographers behind the goal
showing this contrast between
the defender’s anger as they
conceded and the jubilation
from the German squad who
just scored.

The photographer for this

photo was David Cannon and
you would think that he’d Overlaid footage is now faded
have been focusing on Rudi back to me in the field.
Voller as he celebrated the
goal but no, he had the
intuition and skill to take
that photo instead.

Argentina went on to win that

game 3-2 but nonetheless I
consider that photograph to
be one of the most difficult
sports photos ever taken. But
nowadays, sports photography
is accessible to almost
anyone with a phone. You
don’t need fancy equipment to
take these photos and all
these photos were taken on an (Harvey walks up to the
Iphone X. Not by me but it screen whilst saying this
just proves you don’t need whilst looking at his phone.
fancy equipment. However, He’s getting up this, this
unlike now, not everyone had and this).
a camera in their pockets all
the time 50 years ago you’d
have something more like
this.

This is a Pentax ME Super SLR

Harvey holds up his film
camera with a 49mm prime lens
camera that’s been around his
which was released in 1979
neck this entire time to the
but football photography goes
camera as they’ve walked away
even further back than that,
a bit
to around 100 years prior,
all the way to the 19th
century. It simply wasn’t
possible to get sports
photography before this since
cameras needed multiple
minutes to take a photo where
everyone was dead still and
since football is a fast-
moving sport, it simply
couldn’t happen without
staging a photo. But as soon
as this hurdle was conquered,
they were more able to get
actions shots like the one
you can see on this tree
here.
This photo is from the early
1900’s but there isn’t that Camera pans over to this tree
much of a difference between where this photo is pinned to
this and photos that are it. Harvey then grabs it off
taken now. Other than making the tree to continue speaking
it for accessible for people, about it
technology hasn’t really
improved sports photography
in many ways at all. The only The cameraman has put me into
possible difference is the a rule of thirds on the left-
ability to now use longer hand side in order for me to
lenses to get closeups of edit in this photo in post-
footballers on the other side production. This will be
of the pitch and Tom Jenkins, maintained for this next part
who I’ll go into more detail
about later, called auto-
focus “the biggest game
changer and development in
technology over the last 30
years”. This allows sports
photographers to not have to
worry about focusing on their
subject too much since
there’s so much movement and
they’ll still get the perfect
shot with the subject sharp
due to the modern autofocus.

This man, Tom Jenkins, is one

of the most famous sports Harvey pulls out a photo of
photographers of this Tom Jenkins from the other
generation and he’s worked pocket, much like he did with
for The Guardian and The Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Observer for over 30 years
covering 7 world cups with 21
awards in his name. His most
iconic photograph is an image
which I’m sure you’ve seen at
least once. (Off camera) Can
you just pass me the
newspaper please? Cameraman hands Harvey this
newspaper.
When England lost the Euro
2020 final, this image of
Gareth Southgate consoling
Saka after he missed the On screen, images of
final penalty was plastered newspapers and headlines
everywhere on every flash on screen showing how
newspaper’s front page across far this image went.
the entire country. This is
the impact that one
photographer can have on the
news. It shows that Tom
Jenkins is so skilled and
iconic as you can feel the
emotion that’s involved. You
have anguish from everyone in
the stadium and particularly
Saka, but you also have
Southgate’s attempt to
console him even though he
himself, is probably feeling
that anguish. It’s a powerful
image. Tom Jenkins isn’t the On screen go through a
only famous sports slideshow of this image, this
photographer, Richard image, this image
Heathcote is another who
similarly to Jenkins, has
worked on many FIFA
tournaments and other
sporting events alike. I am a
personal admirer of Richard
Heathcote’s photography as
his work appears much more
creative and innovative than
Jenkins in my opinion. This
is evident in his use of
beautiful camera angles and
harsh shadows to create
images that impress and
create awe from those who
view them.

I think this shows why sports

photography is so underrated.
The fact that I had never
seen any of these images
previously shows that people
don’t care for them when in
my opinion, it takes extreme
skill and experience to
create them which just isn’t
recognised by people, so I’ve
decided to change that. If
you didn’t know, the best way
to master a skill is by
learning about it and then
doing it yourself, so I’m
going to be attempting to
take photos of my friend Camera cuts to a shot of
Brian playing football to see Brian waving
how difficult football
photography really is. But
 first, let’s go home to do
some research. (The shot cuts to me sat at
my PC looking at this
I’m home now and if you look website)
here you can see that I have
“12 tips for awesome sports
photography” by MUO so let’s (When I refer to something in
have a look at them. the source, the camera will
zoom into it on the screen. I
will then edit a highlight
over it for the viewer to
read).
So, it says here that I
preferably need a long lens
which thankfully I have this
200mm lens for the camera
which is currently filming (Holds up the Lens which is
me. It recommends that I use placed on the table
anywhere between 200mm and currently)
400mm which should be
perfect. It also says that I
should be using a high [This may have to be shot multiple
times in order to get the different
shutter speed with burst mode shots and closeups]
on my camera which makes
sense since you need the
subject to be sharp and since
they’ll be moving rapidly, a
high shutter speed will help
me achieve this; the burst
mode will mean I can select
the best from the bunch I am
also going to be
experimenting with different
angles and composition like
it recommends here since
it’ll make my images more
interesting. Anyways, before
I start taking any photos
I’ve got an interview to
attend with my photography
lecturer at college to see
what he thinks about sports
photography, as he will have
some experience with it and
can help me further.

[This is the interview section where I don’t currently know what his responses will
be, I can write the questions however the responses will be edited in. I will
voiceover my questions as I’m not actually present]
Audio Visuals
 [This is the interview section where I
don’t currently know what his responses
will be, I can write the questions
however the responses will be edited
in. I will voiceover my questions as
I’m not actually present]

Filmed in my own bedroom with

So Steve, I know you yourself
a blank black cloth behind me
have done sports photography
to mimic the darkness in the
previously so how difficult
studio recording for the
do you think Sports
interview. I can cut between
photography is and would you
the shots so it has the
consider it possibly
illusion of us being in the
“underrated?”
same room)
Since you’ve done it before,
what do you think the key
skills are for sports
photography and how can you
achieve the best photos
possible?

Did you ever feel an

emotional connection to any
of the photos you took or
were they just photos for
you?

Did you ever consider

specialising in sports
photography?

That’s all, thank you Steve.

(Voiceover)
That’s it! I had done it, I
had collected everything I
needed in order to try it
myself so it was time to take
some photos.

The idea was to take the best

(Voiceover with background
sports photography photos I
footage)
can of my friend Brian
kicking a ball around in
Poole Park. I originally
wanted to go take photos of
professionals playing
football, but since there’s
no games on today, Whitecliff
FC’s finest will have to do.
(Cuts to an interview type
situation with Brian)
How do you think this is
going to go?
(Voiceover with background
Having my camera equipped footage of me taking photos
with a 200mm lens, a high of him in the background)
shutter speed setting, burst
mode and my own creative
ability, I got underway with
taking photos of Brian
playing football. Doing this
allowed me to gain even more
respect for sports
photographers since I can
tell you first hand, it’s
difficult – and that’s with
the ability to tell Brian to
do something again.
Nonetheless, I kept going and
after around 25 minutes, I
had something to work with
and ended up with photos I
was for sure proud of.
(Camera shot shows my photos
printed off and I place them
These are the photos I ended down on my desk either in
up getting earlier this week. frames or as they are).
From this I have learnt a lot
about sports photography
which has made me gain an
even higher respect for those
who specialise in it. I hope
that you too have been
convinced that it is an
underrated form of
photography which is
underappreciated by many and
that next time you see a (Holds up newspaper)
newspaper or see any sports
photography, you appreciate
it a little bit more.