For some time now, I have had the pleasure of meeting with the Smokin’ Wheels Roller Derby Krakow team members. Not as a competitor of course, but as a friend and, occasionally, as a photographer.
I had no prior experience in sports photography, so at first, I was fascinated by its technical aspects. It’s a hard craft, requiring the photographer to be able to react quickly, to know the rules of the given discipline, and to have the right equipment.
Because I have never owned any sports-oriented photography gear, I often struggled to try to capture the dynamics of the action, especially in poor lighting conditions.
Therefore, to get perfect and sharp frames, due to the short focal length of my lenses, I had to often take photos from a close distance. I have definitely disturbed the girls’ usual training routines, but, luckily, they have never complained – at least not to me 🙂
With time, everyone got used to my presence, so I had more freedom in capturing genuine moments and creating photographic stories. It is crucial to note that the initial goal of predicting and grasping the action, with the greatest energy and emotions encapsulated in a properly composed frame, has receded into the background. Because artificial, pose-like faces and gestures have stopped appearing in the photos, I could focus on looking for shots which would show the personalities of the competitors and express the beauty of the sport.
The concept of typical sports photography has been surpassed, transferring the narrative to the area of creation and experimentation. The black and white photos created in the process, although imperfect, out of focus, and sometimes taken out of context, present the intimate world of friendship and shared passion.
