Nottingham has one of the strongest sports heritages in the UK. Many people would actually consider it the capital of sports. It’s my pleasure as a sports photographer to often attend events in the city or its surroundings.
Nottingham is a superb place to spend time when it comes to sports; there is everything here from archery and squash through to the roller derby. It’s also home to two football teams including the oldest professional club in the world, Notts County and there are also the ice-skating events as well as cricket and National Water Sports.
All this is music to the ears of any sports person – and equally so any sports photographer. There are of course not just the famous clubs and athletes but also many as yet unknown players, who may still be attending school or just starting out on their sports careers. In addition there are a plethora of more seasoned amateur sports people who are completely dedicated to the sport of their choice.
If you’ve never hired a sports photographer you might think it’s a very expensive business but nothing could be further from the truth. For a reasonable outlay you can have a professional sports photographer Nottingham come to cover your event and promote you and your players or athletes.
How does it work? First of all I will need to have some kind of brief from you. I will need to know about the venue, the players and the nature of the event. As someone who is interested per se in sports I know the rules of most games and activities, but not all. So if your event features an activity that I’m not familiar with, I will need to study the rules long before I arrive. It’s very important that I know where I can stand and where I can get the best shots from. The vantage spots are all important and I need to be able to work out all kinds of angles.
Thanks to my experience I’m able to capture shots of action that is lightning fast. These shots all have to be able to tell the story of whatever is happening at the event and appear homogenous when the photographs are viewed as a whole. I often have to contend with poor lighting and sometimes with over intense flood-lighting; this is all part of a photographer’s work and as often as possible I can turn it to my advantage.
Very often I am called upon to photograph individual players and/or teams. The style of these photographs is of course completely different to the action photographs that I have taken during the match or event, but they will play a very important part in the social media coverage, or the team website and may even feature in printed material. When discussing the brief I need to find out exactly what kind of photographs are needed, think where they are to be taken, and where they will be viewed.
Of course when the event is over for me as a sports photographer Nottingham I still have a large part of my work to do. This consists of checking through perhaps hundreds of photographs and selecting those that stand out. Next, I have to edit them so that they look their best. Often with sporting events the deadlines are very tight and it’s a question of getting out the pictures into the world as quickly as possible. I’m able to work under pressure and always ensure that the deadlines are met. And should the customer require it, I also need to have the flexibility to further edit and retouch any photos that have been chosen. I always ensure that my customer has the opportunity to review the photographs before they are officially delivered to him or to her.
Life in Nottingham is very fast paced and sports are even faster paced so when you hire a sports photographer for your event in Nottingham you need to think of someone like myself who has experience of working in a very competitive environment where the best is required from everyone on the team. Support services, such as photography, may not make or break an event, but they can have a crucial import – and can influence players’ morale and even have an impact on the future. Your photographs of the event act as your ambassador, introducing your team, promoting it and hopefully sealing the renown that it deserves.
I have over 30 years’ experience as a professional photographer and I am based not far from Nottingham so I’m often called to cover events here. If you are holding a sports event in the city or the region and are interested in having it covered, I invite you to get in touch with me, Paul Currie, and we can discuss your requirements. You will find me approachable and friendly and I will be able to give you considerable assistance when it comes to the relationship between photography and social media and how to promote yourself and/or your teams.