Shutterstock Shot of the Month: July 2024
‘Shot of the Month’ is brought to you by FEVO Sport Industry Awards partner Shutterstock. In this ongoing image-led series, we turn the spotlight on those behind the lens. Telling the story of the standout photos that grace newspapers, magazines and digital screens around the world from the photographer’s point of view.
GOING FOR GOLD
RYAN BROWNE, Shutterstock Sport Photographer
31 Jul 2024
Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Day Five, Paris, France – 31 Jul 2024
Kieran Reilly of Great Britain during the BMX Freestyle Men’s Park Final – Round 2 on day five of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Place de la Concorde
“The beauty of the Olympics is that you have the chance to shoot different sports. Having just photographed the men’s and women’s triathlon that morning, I had arrived at the BMX venue and started to observe the way the riders moved through the arena. It was a red-hot day and the sun was beating down. The first thing I noticed was the shadows the riders were casting on the floor, especially when doing tricks in the air. After ticking off a few shots of the riders in the air, I played with the lighting to try and execute something different. With only two minutes per run, there isn’t a lot of time to capture something good, especially when you are waiting for them to come close enough to photograph.
“There was one really big ramp the riders were all using which would have meant shooting facing the sun, so I decided a silhouette would be the way to go. With this in mind, I pre-focused on the lip of the ramp and stopped the aperture right down to gain maximum depth-of-field. The shot I really wanted to get was of the Team GB rider, Kieran Reilly, riding over the top. I’d been testing one of Canon’s new cameras, and the 30 frames-a-second proved a real advantage, giving me a few options on the shape and shadows of the rider. I was really pleased with the images I took from this event, and the frame of Kieran is one of my favourites of the games. As an added bonus, one of the national papers in the UK picked up this image, using it as a full page photo.”
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