On Wednesday 7th December, the final Sport Industry Socials event of 2022 took place – celebrating the power and history of sporting photography.
In the third edition of the series, Through the Ages: Sporting Imagery, Sport Industry Group Members, Partners and guests were invited to explore a stunning gallery at The Department Store in the heart of vibrant Brixton.
The selected images on display included the best sporting highlights from the past 12 months and the most memorable sports photographs of all time, kindly provided by Sport Industry Group Partner – Shutterstock.
With some of sport’s greatest moments on display – from Muhammed Ali towering over a defeated Sonny Liston to Chloe Kelly’s already-iconic Euro 2022 celebrations – the evening underlined the inspirational power of sporting imagery and explored the evolution of its uses over the past century.
To offer further insight, two of the UK’s most preeminent sports photographers – Ella Ling and Paul Currie – joined for a Q&A to discuss their careers, the profession, and the pictures on display.
Ella specialises in tennis and has been traveling on professional tennis tours since 2006, covering hundreds of tennis tournaments around the world, including 45 Grand Slams. She was courtside for both Andy Murray’s victory at Wimbledon and Emma Raducanu’s shock US Open win and, as a result, has captured some of tennis’ most iconic moments.
Paul started his photography career aged 14 and possesses a wealth of photography experience. He currently works across Premier League and English Football League (EFL) football but also covers boxing, cricket, tennis, and rugby league – most recently covering the Rugby League World Cup for Shutterstock.
Ella spoke on some of the biggest challenges in modern sports photography, citing the “competition with other photographers to get that unique shot that no one else has” as a major obstacle.
“To overcome this, I don’t always follow the ball. By taking shots of the crowd, to taking shots of the opposition player waiting for the ball to land in their court, this helps to get photos that not everyone is taking,” she explained.
Ella also emphasised the importance of “capturing the emotion of the moment itself” and that being able to communicate passion and excitement through an image is a recipe for success.
Paul agreed and underlined the need to seek out the emotion in sport by finding the “human side of the game.”
Referring his experience in football, Paul spoke about the focus on the individual. “Often, photographers just get told to watch one player. Maybe Messi or Ronaldo. And they might not be scoring or assisting or executing a bit of skill but you are just on the lookout for that moment,” he said.
Paul looked back at the early period of his career “in a darkroom at the Anglia Press Agency in Colchester” and considered the changing landscape in sports photography. In a digital world, the days of capturing an image solely for the front page are behind us, and the need to deliver images suitable for a variety of formats is now essential.
Both Ella and Paul had their own photographs from the past year on display in the gallery. For Ella it was a shot of a jubilant Rafael Nadal celebrating his Australian Open victory after a thrilling comeback in Melbourne, while Paul saw his Rugby League World Cup shot of Dom Young scoring a try during England’s group game against France included amongst the artwork.
Finally, questions were opened to floor before Ella and Paul joined the rest of the guests to enjoy some drinks and take in the rest of the exhibition.
Sport Industry Socials will continue in 2023 with another exciting series of events, with tickets available to Sport Industry Members and Partners.
Find out more about Sport Industry Membership here.
