Circles and spirals.
“Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera.”
– Yousuf Karsh
Please respect the copyright of the images and text in this posting.
Spirals in the ice - A generic image of the feet of a skater competing at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
It was fortunate for me that the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships were held in the nearby city of Sheffield, so for once I could travel back and forth from home.
A gloved hand - a generic image of the feet of a skater competing at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
I had been looking forward to photographing this event as I expected the light level to be as good as that which was available at last year’s World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in the same arena (see previous posting on that subject).
Good colour rendition and contrast provided by the lighting at the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Sheffield 2011.
Sadly this was not to be the case and the light level was below what I had hoped for, giving the rink a rather flat look with the light failing to provide much contrast. These major events are lit for the needs of TV coverage (after all they are footing the bill) and high contrast lighting plus ice is a something of a problem for them, so much so that often the ice now has a light dye in it to provide some definition between it and the white boots of the female skaters.
Juulia Turkkila (Finland) competing her long programme at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
TV had installed some small spots to lift the colour temperature but the rig for these was quite low down and cast a shadow down both long sides of the rink so skaters were moving in and out of hot spots and shadows.
An image that needed some light correction - Penny Coomes and Nick Buckland (Great Britain) competing the Dance event at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
Positions for photographers were available rink side at one end but happily it was also possible to shoot from a standing position in a walkway area above, on the judges’ side of the ice and I opted to work from here for most of the event. There were two reasons for this; for one thing, the skaters ‘front’ their routines towards the judges so this in itself gives images a greater impact.
Secondly, the advertising boards around the barrier of the rink provide an intrusive and sometimes incongruous look to the images and by shooting from a higher position it is possible (for the most part) to keep these out of the frame.
Difficult to keep the boards out of this shot of Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov (Russia) competing the Pairs event at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
I particularly wanted to capture images with a ‘clean’ look to them so that the eye is drawn to the action in the photograph and not to something else.
A clean look to this image of Tatiana Solosozhar and Maxim Trankov (Russia) performing a death spiral at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
Stacey Kemp and David King (Great Britain) competing in the Pairs event against an uncluttered background at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
Alexandra Chistiakova and Dimitar Lichev (Bulgaria) competing the Dance event at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
Over the years I have shot a good deal of Figure Skating including seven Winter Olympic Games and more World and European Championships than I care to remember at my age. I credit this sport with teaching me the skills needed to manually focus sports action. Skaters move quickly over a large area, they move towards as well as away from the camera and their actions are often unpredictable as well as artistic and expressive. In my early days, rinks were often really badly lit and this too helped me to learn that focussing was critical. This proved to be a great training ground for me and I acknowledge the debt I owe this sport for developing those skills that stood me in great stead in my work in sports photography over the years.
Lubov Bakirova and Mikalai Kamianchuk (Belarus) competing in the Pairs event at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
Autofocus has radically changed all that of course and given that my eyesight is not as sharp as it was, I find the new technology a real asset. As I’ve mentioned before though, the camera’s ability to take on this role has meant that photographers are freed from developing the skill themselves. It’s now possible to concentrate more on the action itself and the framing of the image – technology takes care of the rest.
Autofocus leaves the photographer free to concentrate on action and framing. Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat competing in the ice dance event at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
The other side of the coin is that many photographers just see it as freedom to shoot wildly and randomly without much thought given to what they capture, leaving it to the equipment to do the job for them. I have discussed this approach previously and there is little point reiterating my views here and the quote used at the start of this posting sums up my feelings more than adequately. Suffice to say, the approach is here to stay and this event was another similar experience for me. It just saddens me that these people see themselves as great photographers but that’s the way it is and this is the photographic world that I now inhabit. Yes, I feel like a bit of a dinosaur but I need to satisfy my own values and standards even though I am out of step with so many others.
Tanja Kolbe and Stefano Caruso (Germany) competing the Dance event at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
Normally Ice Dance is the discipline I most enjoy shooting but at this event, it was the Men’s competition that was most inspiring for me. It was great to see Evgeni Plushenko (Russia) make history in Sheffield by capturing his 7thEuropean title.
A confident showman -Evgeni Plushenko (Russia) performs a routine during the exhibition at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
In his quest to compete on home soil at the next Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, he competed here throwing quadruple jumps with confidence and then headed off to Germany for more surgery on his troublesome knee. Ever the showman he drew great support from the audience and was an emotional champion when he received his gold medal.
An emotional moment on the podium - Evgeni Plushenko (Russia) wins his 7th men's title at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
One problem of shooting from an elevated position is that the images of the jumps give little impression of the height achieved by the skaters mid rotation – we see the technique and the twists and turns but not their height above the ice. These jumping images show up better shot from a rinkside position but I decided to forego that approach this time round and concentrate on as clean a background as I could manage.
Yretha Silete (France) shows athletic jumps during the Ladies' event at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
Monika Simancikova (Slovakia) competing her long programme at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
Other skills such as spins show up well from above and the tracings made by them on the ice make a nice extra feature to the image.
A generic image of the feet of pairs skaters competing at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
A generic image of the feet of a skater competing at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
The official logos of the event were dyed into the ice so there were patches of colour but I felt these were preferable to advertisements for Vodka or Coffee.
Tanja Kolbe and Stefano Caruso (Germany) competing the Dance event at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
Louise Walden and Owen Edwards (Great Britain) competing in the ice dance event at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
The power base of this sport changes and shifts from season to season and it’s interesting to see new nations develop great talents; the French and Italian delegations showed strength in depth and the Scandinavian countries are producing some excellent competitors especially in the Ladies’ event. The Russians as ever, were artistic and dynamic and deservedly showed up well in the rankings in each discipline.
Alena Leonova (Russia) competing her short programme at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev (Russia) competing their long programme at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
Stefania Berton and Ondrej Hotarek (Italy) perform a routine during the exhibition at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
Traditionally, all major skating competitions end with an Exhibition which features the top skaters performing entertaining routines and spots with coloured lights are often used which give a really different look to the images.
Carolina Kostner (Italy) performs a routine during the exhibition at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
It can be a little difficult to get the exposure right as the light falling on the subject is often not consistent and dependent on the ability of the staff working the spotlights to keep pace with the movement on the ice. These exhibitions are a nice opportunity to do something a little different and here I was aiming to capture ‘shadowplay’ images of the skaters on the ice.
The shadow of a skater (Thomas Verner Czech Republic) performing a routine during the exhibition at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
Maxine Yu (Great Britain) performs a routine during the exhibition at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
Coming so soon after the Olympic test event for Gymnastics in London, I found the Championships rather tiring with long days of shooting, especially as there were two days of qualification rounds at the start of the week – but it was too good an opportunity to miss any of it. Let’s hope the success of this event brings more major events to this arena and I can avoid having to work again at the Gloom City of Ice Sheffield!
May I present my partner? Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres (France) competing in the Pairs event at the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield UK January 23rd to 29th.
A full set of images from this event is posted on my website:-
© Eileen Langsley 2012
Beautiful photographs and a very interesting report. Thanks Eileen. It’s just such a pity the Championships received hardly any coverage in the Media, and TV viewers only saw the Free programmes on the Red button.
By: Huriye on February 14, 2012
at 4:44 pm