Interview
depth-of-field to have a less cluttered background, to allow for text to be applied. This was a tough day but I managed to get a half-decent shot that made it into the paper, so that was a relief. PN: Why have you decided to use Sony equipment? RE: I was given the opportunity to test the Sony a9 and some lenses at the Tour de France a couple of years ago (not that long after the a9 had been released). At the time I was shooting Nikon DSLRs and had no intention of ever changing systems. I guess my mindset was that I never wanted to change because it would mean learning how to use a new camera and having to buy new lenses and bodies. However, after using the a9 for probably only a few days, I started to realise that there were features that I now actually couldn’t go without. The Eye AF was just amazing, and the ability to see your exposures and review your shots in the EVF was amazing, and just made the DSLRs seem like very old tech. The main feature, though, that sealed my decision to switch, was the ability to shoot fully silently at 20fps – this was a game-changer for me. I could now shoot in places that I just couldn’t before: the team bus during meetings, press conferences, while video was being recorded! Basically, I now shoot Sony because the system allows me to get shots that I just couldn’t with my old DSLR. I use the a9 at 20fps for action, too. With cycling there is a lot to do with body position. When cyclists are pedalling the optimal pedal stroke is one leg up and one leg down, which looks the most dynamic. If you get it where the pedals are level it doesn’t make for a good picture. So at 20fps I can just pick the best picture from a burst. Oh, and the G-Master lenses are the sharpest and best-built lenses I have ever used! PN: Do you ever use flash, or is all your work shot in daylight? RE: In controlled lighting environments like on the team bus, I shoot manual exposure and manual ISO, and shoot wide open, but throughout the day shooting beside the road I use aperture-priority.
“I went along to the smaller events inmy area where pretty much everyone canget close to the action”
done the editing. I aim to get 35 to 40 images to clients each day. Once through the day’s editing, I copy all those Raws onto an external hard drive and clear down the SSD, ready for the next day’s shoot. PN: What shooting advice can you give to our readers who attend events, but haven’t got the accessibility that professionals like you do? RE: I didn’t have the access at the start to the main races, I went along to the smaller events in my area where pretty much everyone can get close to the action. Let’s use football as an example: you may not have access to a Premier League ground, but you will for sure be able to find a local Sunday league team and be able to go there, and maybe speak to the organiser and explain that you are looking to get into sport. Ask them if you can come along to a game and take images, offer to provide some to the club for them to use in return for access. Then maybe you can share a few with the players and the club, and build a relationship. Maybe once you have shot a few games and have built up a portfolio of images you could contact the local newspaper and see if they need any images from the local area, and go from there. PN: What advice do you have for PN readers who would love to do your job? RE: Be prepared to put in the hours at the start; find a sport or area that you are going to enjoy photographing, learn about that sport and go along to as many local events as you can and just try to find something interesting
at each one, and try to capture it in a way that is unique to you. PN: What is the most memorable sports picture that you have taken? RE: This question is one I get asked a lot, and to be honest I don’t have one, I usually find that even if I think an image is great, a few days later I have forgotten about it and have a new one that I like more. I think this might be a result of the type of photographer I am. As I am documenting each day at races, I feel once the day is done, it’s old news and in the new day there are new opportunities, so the images I took get pushed out of my memory. PN: What is the sports picture you haven’t managed to take yet? RE: There isn’t anything specific as such, but what I always try to get is the best image of the most important story from any one day. For example, the youngest rider in the race may win a stage and I would want to get an image of that rider actually crossing the line first, or maybe a shot of him celebrating with his team, or laying exhausted on the ground, for example. PN: What’s the next big event that you are really looking forward to? RE: The Cycling World Championships are being held in Yorkshire this year, and as I live in Yorkshire and the race comes past my house, it’s going to be awesome. I get to take pictures on the roads I ride each day on my bike. Perfect. PN
Basically, this is because the riders coming towards you might be backlit, and when you turn round to shoot them going the other way the lighting is different. You only get one chance at it and they are coming toward you at 40 to 50kph. I aim to get a minimum shutter speed of 1/1000sec to freeze the action. PN: What is your favourite camera/lens combination? RE: Sony a9 with Sony G-Master 16-35mm f/2.8. This is my go-to set-up for my work. The 35mm is the classic street photography focal range and then I can go super-wide to 16mm for more scenic images. With cycling, because you can get right up close, I use a wide-angle to bring more of a street photography vibe for a more personal approach. I try to bring my kind of style, rather than traditional sports where you need a long lens. I like street photography and I wanted to bring that vibe in for a more personal, more human approach to show a different side to the sport. PN: Youmust shoot a lot of images every day, can you explain your workflow to us? RE: I have a MacBook and a fast external SSD, so basically when I get back to the hotel I upload the images – about 4000 or 5000 in a day – frommy two cameras straight onto the SSD and import them all into Lightroom. You kind of remember during the day when you took the best pictures, so I go through and edit the ones I really like and once done I put them into Dropbox one by one, so the client starts getting them as soon as I have
IMAGES Russ Ellis’s approach is to find the story behind the image
To see more of Russ Ellis’s work, visit www.russellis.co.uk
38 Photography News | Issue 70
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