first of all, let me complain all i want. now, i'm an athlete, and probably have a fair lot of confidence in how i look, the equipment i use et cetera... so there i am, in a cycling photo - minus the wheels of the bike, my lower legs, and my right hand along with the right handlebar of the bike. here's some hotlinks for you guys to see if i'm fair about what i'm saying.
the only photo of me on the bike during the osim tri 2004.
where's my right hand? where's the rest of the bike? my leg?
i took part in this race with race equipment, not toys.
let's ask some more questions, shall we? which self-respecting photo agency that claims superiority would actually have most of their shooters, using a variable aperture lens for good measure? a fixed aperture lens will cost in the region of at least $2000 and above. a variable aperture lens costs more like, about $600. i've only spotted one of their shooters using a classic 80-200 f/2.8 lens before. and no more. the head-honcho of the company is pretty professional in using his kit 75-300 lens on his nikon d70. wow. with his lens hood, i'm sure he captures the moment very well.
not trying to be picky here, but if any of you looked through their "works", you'll find a heck load of utter rubbish. here's some more from the new balance aquathlon back in june...
someone please tell me which photo is worth purchasing. i don't see any. |
from my observations of their shooters from the past two events i've taken part in, seeing the work ethic of these shooters, actually make me ashamed to call myself a photographer. they are just snapshooters, who shoot at will recklessly, after planting themselves under shade to minimize their own perspiration. can you believe it? at least four of their photogs at "work", and only two photos of me?
let's forget about composition, exposure out of the picture now. wow. great. missing limbs from the photos. souvenirs? forget it. right now, those who are critical of me can see things in two ways - either i'm bitching a lot about a rival who has better business than i do (yes, i agree i am bitching partially about the money here), or i'm pointing out point blank the problems which they can address in their shooting.
of course, nothing compares with them happily inviting themselves to come down to mr25's ultramarathon last december, and selling the photographs as "official" photographs. wow. even steven gave up telling them otherwise. see how they work?
like good friend, calvin has joked about my shooting style at the start - if i were to be given a top-end camera, i'd probably shoot in sequence so much, and end up shooting everything except my intended subject. it's like firing a machine gun. once in automatic firing mode, the recoil will make you hit everywhere except the actual target. and that's precisely how these folks shoot. and i'm already half joking when i tell my friends, i'm probably the type to shoot a lot, and delete a lot already. but most are keepers. how about this company? go figure...