When a Mistake Becomes a Favourite Photo
Saturday May 4 2024. So on this day I was shooting a full day of junior rugby league games, some 10 hours across up to 40 games, essentially non stop shooting, bar the walking between the 3 fields that were being used. In general, very simplistic shooting and nothing that really jumped out while shooting as being “a great shot”, and even if it did, it was sure to blend into the 4000 odd pictures taken on the day.
Jump to the proofing and editing stage, trying to cull the blurry and bland from the quality, again a long winded process that involved sorting the photos into matches, so that at least there was some organisation to the madness.
That’s when I stopped dead at seeing an image. The intended image was a covering tackle near the sideline in the somewhat distance. But that is when 2 mistakes on my part combined to make what I think is my current favourite photo. Rule 1, make sure the target is in focus. Rule 2, zoom correctly. The combination of those mistakes however….
See below……
From a Coaches Eye
What makes this photo even more special is the alternate story it now tells. As luck has it, I happen to know the coach in question, and as is almost always the case, he lives and breathes rugby league, always with a ball in his hand funnily enough ! So this picture now goes from player performing, making the covering tackle in the distance, to the coach watching his players perform, wishing he was playing , feeling every tackle, making every run. Proudly looking on watching his charge compete - in context it doesnt matter who is playing, if they are the runner or the tackler, the story is now switched to onlooking coach, equally as anonymous as the players, but clearly invested.
This image could now, very easily be one of those motivational posters you often see in gyms or sales managers offices -you know the ones, the basketball hoop with “you miss 100% of the shots you dont take” and all the variations on that… and strangely enough, that rings 100% true with this particular photo. That though, doesnt mean you stand there an hold your finger on the shutter release for 60 minutes and take 20,000 photos through the game, there is no skill in doing that (the skill would be sorting through them in a reasonable amount of time). No the skill is knowing what you want to capture, when to capture it and then capturing it ! Easier said than done most times.
On this day my mistakes turned to luck, a unique perspective, a quality picture that as this blog is titled, Tells 1000 words ! I once did a photography tutorial with renowned Australian sport photographer Delly Carr, and the underlying theme of his talk was to look for the unique. On AFL Grand Final day there may be 100+ photographers on the field trying to get every picture they can of the winning team….be that 1 photographer that captures the losing captain, or the losing veteran player who knows that was his last chance. It is more rewarding to capture the unique or the unseen than it is to be 1 of many capturing the text book shot. That being said, you still need to capture that text book shot, but it will be there is some form regardless, those momentary pictures wont, so they are what you need to chase, or at very minimum be aware of and ready to capture.
The pain of loosing
So can you polish a turd into a diamond, or more politely, recover the rubbish. Well it depends on how bad the image is, and if it justifies the effort. Something badly out of focus might be usable as a background image… fade it right down in Photoshop to almost white, all you can make out is the outline of person or location, on its own you probably wouldnt recognise the subject. But as a backdrop to a document or a trimmed image, suddenly you have depth and character to the final product, and married together they soon make sense.
Then you have photos that are badly under exposed, and no amount of Photoshopping will get your original composition back. Even when you take it to the extremes. First convert it to black and white, then increase the grain and texture of the image to the max, increase the contrast, take everything to its extremes one way or the other. Your final image will be very rough, cause in appearance - you can almost feel the roughness of his beard or the warmth of the sweat, you dont know who it is, but its engaging. Then if you have a number of these, you end up with a theme or a story that ties them together.
The sum of the parts is greater than the individual
So what is the message in this piece, take your pick - mistakes happen, nobody’s perfect, dont delete straight away,think outside the box or all of the above - probably that ! and that is what makes photography, and for me sport photography so enjoyable - you can capture every try, every dunk or every wicket, but if that is all your doing, ultimately they just blur into one, unless of course you are capturing moments - firsts or lasts…these are obvious. Have a plan and try to stick to it, while at the same time capturing the obvious. Then once your done and you’re working through every image see what you can make from those that dont cut it at first glance. These failings when coupled with other pieces provide depth and meaning - the sum of all parts. That is what then creates a quality photographer being able to present your work in its best possible manner, telling a story beyond what that one image may have originally captured. Again, the sum of all parts - a picture may tell a thousand words, but four pictures may tell six thousand words or more.
