What is important when it comes to photography of outdoor action and adventure sports? – Part I
Clothes in complementary colours help riders to be spotted in dark forests.
I originally published this article on my personal website in 2019. Having reviewed it, I have republished it because I still believe it contains valuable information.
People often ask me what the important things are to keep in mind when doing this kind of photography. In this and the next blog post, I will therefore try to answer some of these questions based on my experience and opinion.
If you are looking for information on camera settings or editing tips, unfortunately you won't find what you need here. Here, I share my knowledge about the entire thought process. You could probably use these tips for editorial or advertising photography, or if you're going on an expedition. Of course, not every tip will be useful in every situation.
The topics I'm going to write about are:
Part I:
The photographer's knowledge
Involved people
Location, location, location!
Part II:
Light
Storytelling
Equipment
Safety
Here you can find important tips on what to know and do when shooting in cold weather and unpleasant conditions.
The photographer's knowledge
In my opinion, something that often doesn't get enough attention is that photographers should really understand the activity they're photographing. This doesn't mean you have to be an expert in the sport, but you should know how a movement or position should look so that insiders will say, 'Yes, that looks cool and authentic'. All too often, I see pictures of models attempting sports they clearly don't know well, or staged positions that wouldn't work in reality — or worse, would be considered 'mistaken'. Anticipation is a highly important skill for a photographer, but it can only be achieved by understanding a sport. In every sport, there are moments when the activity looks good when frozen in time in a photograph (because that's what a photograph is: a moment in time). For example, you would want to capture runners in mid-air and avoid showing animals (e.g. racing horses) with awkwardly overstretched front legs. If you don't already have this knowledge, research it: look at pictures of the activity and talk to athletes! As you can imagine, the more technical the sport, the more important these considerations are (you won't need much knowledge to photograph hiking, but you will for skiing or skateboarding). Given my background in sports science, physical education, and snow sports teaching, I have previously coached athletes while taking photos of them. This was a real win-win situation, as they could make progress and we could take better pictures! Unlike moving pictures, in photography it's not important that the athlete performs the most difficult trick for the photo, as these often don't look very interesting. You should go for a position that is both understandable and aesthetically pleasing.
As the best photo spots are often not right on your doorstep or close to the car park, it is still important that you can hike, cycle or ski to a location. You don't want to put yourself or anyone else in danger. Therefore, it is important to assess your own skills reasonably and to have a solid knowledge of and skillset in your sports. I work on my physical and technical fitness very often, and I also take outdoor first aid and avalanche courses.
Of course, outdoor sports photographers should also know their cameras very well. This applies not only when you are at home and cosy, but also outdoors in cold and dark conditions, where you will probably have to improvise sometimes because the conditions are less than ideal. In the second part of this blog post, I will talk about 'survival mode'. Here are some thoughts on this: it's probably something you can learn to a certain degree — how to take photos even when you're very cold or hungry — because you know it's temporary, and it would be a pity not to have documentation of it. I'm not talking about real life-threatening issues here.
Involved people
Firstly, it's important to realise that without athletes or models, we would only be doing landscape photography.
Ideally, I would already know the athlete's level before we started. Unfortunately, even if someone is a successful competitor, that doesn't necessarily mean they are a good demonstrator of that sport. In freestyle sports, athletes have a signature trick or move, and the photographer should certainly be aware of this. If possible, it adds huge value to a shoot if you can work with athletes who have experience of working with photographers. This also lets you worry a little bit less, because it's really hard to make someone look good in a picture if their movements are not quite right. Another advantage of having experienced people on set is that they know exactly what is important and will always check that all zippers are closed and collars are in the right place, which is especially important for advertising shoots. Even better would be to have a stylist on set!
I personally love it when athletes have their own ideas about how a picture should look, because four eyes see more than two. Nobody knows their own abilities as well as the athletes themselves.
As always in life, communication is important in photography too. Explain why you want to take your pictures at sunrise or sunset, why the athletes should bring different outfits and why they should do something twenty-one times (because you missed the timing, but they did amazingly). Communication can be difficult outdoors; for example, if you're standing next to a roaring river or far away from your athlete, walkie-talkies could help.
If you would rather go on an expedition than a photography trip, it is also important to discuss with everyone involved how much time and energy you can devote to documentation.
Location, location, location!
I don't remember when or where I first heard this, but it has certainly become a familiar expression among photographers.
As mentioned previously, great photo locations aren't always next to the car park. But, like athletes showing off great, authentic, action-packed poses, stunning locations are equally important for striking photos. In most cases, you will look for spectacular, pristine landscapes. This can require a lot of flexibility from everyone involved, especially in winter, as you would rather take pictures just after a big snowfall, rather than when there are already many ski tracks or the snow has melted.
To keep these landscapes unaffected, environmentally friendly behaviour is important to me. I follow the 'leave no trace' ideology and try to live as environmentally friendly as possible in my everyday life. Photography also leads me to an inner conflict, as I consider whether it is reasonable to showcase beautiful places and draw more attention to them, which will probably encourage more people to visit.
Back from the philosophical to the practical aspects. Whenever possible, scouting the location in advance can be very helpful. If this is not possible, I try to gather as much information as possible from Google or specialised apps such as PhotoPills, which show the position of the sun at different times of the day.
That's all for now. I hope these tips are helpful, and that you're looking forward to part two of this blog entry, which will cover light, storytelling, equipment, and safety.