Advent Day 2 - The adoration of the Magi

Somewhere deep down is someone who beleives that given the right access and equipment I too could be a great sport photographer.

Personally I blame Bob Martin. I have caught a couple of his talks and I always stunned by his images, and the way it makes it sound so simple. Of course seep down I know it5s not, and even if I managed get a front row seat at some major event, I would need to massively upgrade my equipment to even get anything close to his images and even then I would fall a  long way short.

But hey a man can dream....

The biggest issue to overcome is just gaining access. For example I live near a major race track, but the normal plebs are kept behind near opaque safety barriers, meaning the view are  pretty well non-existent. The only recourse generally is go to amateur or less popular events, but some part of me still yearns to be part of the big boys.

So to the photo. This photo was taken at Welford road, the home of the Leicester tigers. I managed to wangle a couple of tickets where I and my daughter, who despite being sports averse, has some strange fascination with the 15 man game.

Unusually we were not perched in the news large stand, but in the older south stand, where the view and proximity to the pitch made up for the hardness of the seats. Not only that, but this was a fantastic bright spring day, meaning even with my A6000 and a 210mm lens I could still get some great shots.

Below are just 4 of them 

Glory Awaits

I particularly like the one above, especially caught with the sign glory awaits, but it is the one below I keep returning too.

It is not your traditional rugby shot. It is not a try being scored or a tackle. It is very static in a dynamic game. So why this one?

It hit me later, that Iit is because I have seen this picture before. I seen the same positions in renaissance paintings in many galleries.

For example this painting by the Spanish 16th century painter, Sofonisba Anguissola

This photo has pretty well failed in all the competitions I put it in. The mistake is that I have named it wrong. Instead of 'Scrum' or a similar asinine name, I should of called it the 'adoration of the magi' :)