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Photography News | Issue 56 | photographynews.co.uk
Canon Ambassador Samo Vidic’s powerful action portraits Defying the odds Sports photographer Samo Vidic talks about photographing high-achieving disabled athletes, including Paralympic swimmer Darko Duric
IMAGE Samo photographed double world champion Slovenian swimmer Darko Duric from under the surface of the water, using the Canon EOS 5DMark IV.
Working as a professional sports photographer, Canon Ambassador Samo Vidic shoots the world’s top athletes for world-leading brands and publications, showcasing the physical feats and prowess of the sporting elite. But in his latest project, Samo wanted to shine a light on a sometimes-overlooked group of sporting heroes – disabled athletes who’ve overcome the odds
to achieve great things in the sports they love. “Disabled athletes are rarely seen in the media in comparison with the coverage given to non- disabled ones,” Samo says. “The Paralympic Games gets relatively little attention – probably 5% of what the Olympic Games gets. I wanted to show different kinds of sports people, to highlight them
and tell their often amazing life stories.” Slovenian photographer Samo has focused on sport throughout a busy career, which began in 1999. A keen sportsman in his youth who enjoyed ski-jumping, football and tennis, he initially qualified as a mechanical engineer before discovering a fascination for photography.
He considered a career in reportage before attending a sports photography workshop and realising he could combine his two passions. “I loved photography and everything connected with sports and the outdoors, so I was immediately hooked,” Samo says. “I’m self-taught, so learning the best techniques for different sports was challenging but, at the
same time, it was really enjoyable. I worked hard and would have done anything to become a sports photographer. I started with an ambition to shoot sport for a local newspaper and went on from there. I was always pushing the bar higher, which I still do.” For his latest personal project, he arranged to photograph several disabled athletes. He wanted to
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