| Series | Countries | Live Scores | Fixtures | Results | News |
Features
|
Photos | Blogs | Statistics | Archive | Video & Audio | Games | Mobile | |||||||||||||||||||||
« Adam's eyes | Tendulkar turns it around »
November 8, 2009Posted by Hamish Blair on 11/08/2009 in Cricket shots
Bravo's blinder
| ||
Adelaide, Australia, Australia v West Indies, 3rd Test, 3rd day, November 27, 2005
Firstly, thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read my opening blog and an even bigger thanks to those who have also posted a comment. It’s great to hear everyone’s thoughts!
The photo I have chosen for this post was taken in November 2005, at the Adelaide Test during West Indies’ tour of Australia. Despite already being two Tests down and going on to eventually lose the third and final Test, Dwayne Bravo had a very good match, contributing almost 100 runs and taking six first-innings wickets. This photo was the fifth and from my view of things, the most spectacular of those wickets. Having dismissed Adam Gilchrist earlier in the same over, Bravo was bowling to Shane Warne, who pushed the ball back on the up, but well to Bravo’s left. Looking at replays I think it probably would have landed about another pitch width left of the playing strip. Bravo took a couple of quick steps to change direction and then dived full length to pull off a remarkable caught and bowled.
This photo is a good example of the most common way to photograph cricket action, sitting quite straight of the wicket, slightly to the left. To put it into fielding terms, sitting at a straight long-off or very fine leg (depending which end the bowler is coming from), watching a right-handed batsman.
I use Canon cameras and for cricket I generally use a 500mm lens for the action out in the middle. This photo was actually taken using a 600mm lens, as the Adelaide Oval is an unusual shape. It has quite short boundaries square of the wicket and very long ones straight. This means a slightly bigger lens is needed when sitting straight.
I shoot most deliveries, by staying focused on the batsman. The advantage of the working from this fairly straight position is that a right-arm bowler bowling over the wicket will run into frame on their follow through. This makes it easier to switch focus to them for a reaction to the batsman, whether that’s an appeal, a celebration of a wicket, a catch or something else.
That’s the idea, but in practice it doesn’t always work out as planned! There are so many variables that can change. A left-handed batsman facing at the near end means the slip fielders can obscure the view. Bowlers coming around the wicket (or left-handers coming over) will change the angles and not run as nicely into frame on their follow through. A spin bowler’s follow through is not as far as a fast bowler’s. The list goes on!
So when it does all come together, it is all the more satisfying! For this photo, I started focusing on Warne. As he played the shot, Bravo ran into the left of my frame on his follow through. As the ball was headed in his direction I switched focus to him, just in time to photograph the dive and catch. What I like about it is that not only can you see Bravo taking the catch, you can also see Warne to the right. The photo tells the whole story of the moment; Shane Warne caught and bowled by Dwayne Bravo. It is also nice to take a photo like this because, as mentioned, there are so many variables that could have gone wrong.
Posted by: Masud Vorajee at November 8, 2009 1:23 PM
Oh I remember this! It was just a stunning catch by Bravo.
In this new lot, Bravo has amazing reflexes and he already have snapped some amazing caught and bowls.
Posted by: Rajveer at November 8, 2009 1:25 PM
This is an amazing pic and also thanks for the useful information on capturing such pics. Can I ask you which camera model are you using because I love photography and am looking to buy a SLR camera, so may be you could suggest one.
Posted by: Umesh at November 8, 2009 1:48 PM
Hey I'm huge fan of cricket, however, there is not live cricketing event in California that I can attend so for the most part I just look at the match photos I like your work hope you keep on posting more photos as these pictures makes us feel like we are in action great work !!!!
Posted by: Tom Shaw at November 8, 2009 2:16 PM
its not bravos blinder, its Hamishes Blinder!
Posted by: rondi at November 8, 2009 7:26 PM
i remember this...it was a spectular caught and bowl...i am also a big fan of bravo. Great work.
Posted by: Brendan Layton at November 9, 2009 12:19 AM
Great shot! I remember this one clearly, it was a pearler of a catch. And a good performance by a very talented young all-rounder.
Posted by: Joel at November 9, 2009 1:15 AM
Thanks for this Hamish, I'm adding it to my collection of c&b Bravo. As Masud indicates, it's an uncommonly common mode of dismissal for him, particularly with that slower ball that he does so well.
Posted by: Varz at November 9, 2009 1:23 AM
Nicely written blog about a Stunning Catch!!! Congratulations!!!
Posted by: Bilqees Begum at November 9, 2009 2:00 AM
Nice one, Hamish. Quick question: Are you single and ready to mingle?
Posted by: giovaughn at November 9, 2009 8:47 AM
bravo's performance in that test was a spec of light at the end of an extremely dark tunnel.
i sincerely hope that he will achieve his full potential in the series down under in november & continue to improve afterwards. this really helped to cheer me up a bit back then in the wee hours of the morning in jamaica. excellent photo & best wishes
Posted by: Rahul Nayak at November 9, 2009 9:03 AM
Fantastic picture of a fantastic athlete..Thanks Hamish.
Posted by: rachelzos at November 9, 2009 11:28 AM
Hi hamish....didn't I "shake your hand" at pavement nightclub in nairobi a few years ago?
Posted by: Abhik Banerjee at November 9, 2009 11:44 AM
Brilliant photo. What I like especially is the amount of technical description you've put in, giving us an insight into what goes in the making of great cricket photography.
Posted by: Aditya at November 9, 2009 1:14 PM
Just discovered this blog! Super stuff .. can't wait for more!!
Posted by: Nigel Bradshaw at November 9, 2009 4:28 PM
Absolutely stunning work, Hamish! I love photography myself, and I was wondering if you are also a collector of cricket immortalised in black and white, the way i first came to know when reading about the great game. i am certain that you will see much more of this kind of action in the next edition of combat for the Sir Frank Worrell trophy, in which Shane Watson will also star!
Posted by: dinith_sw at November 9, 2009 5:29 PM
super shot, and to have him in focus while he dives!
Posted by: Kirk Elliott at November 9, 2009 6:03 PM
From one photographer to another...Absolutely Wickid Shot!!!
Posted by: Nat at November 10, 2009 12:00 AM
Amazing photo. Thanks for the insight into your work.
Posted by: Arjun Shivanand at November 10, 2009 7:47 AM
Awesome Photo....Nice to get an insight into this kind of work....keep it going...
Posted by: Harsh at November 11, 2009 9:57 AM
Brilliant Shot!!!
Posted by: James at November 12, 2009 10:03 AM
It would be great to take photos like this of your own, but unfortunately Cricket Australia have imposed rules of what cameras you can take into grounds. In CA's "conditions of entry" banned items include cameras with a "total-focal strength of greater than 200mm"
What this means is that any camera allowed into the ground will be struggling to take decent pics of the players in the middle. Panasonic make a camera with a focal strength of exactly 200mm, so that's your best option if you want to have no hassles from security saying you can't bring a camera in.
Back in '05 when the WI were last here I was singled out in a crowd for having a "professional camera" when in reality it was a $600 Panasonic 5MP normal consumer camera. Heads up people, if you are off to the cricket this season, be sure what your camera is before taking it and avoid the disappointment I went through, although I'm not sure how well it's policed, last test (2008) I was at there were high zoom SLRs everywhere...
Posted by: James at November 12, 2009 10:06 AM
Hamish,
I heard Jim Maxwell on radio say that you always wear a pink shirt at the cricket, is this true? I'd love to know so I can say g'day when you are walking past.
James
Posted by: Sree at November 15, 2009 5:07 PM
I can just imagine the pure joy you must have felt after seeing the results of this snap. Awesome!
Posted by: hemant brar at November 26, 2009 12:54 PM
i have seen this picture from atleast four or five different angles on internet....but yours is THE BEST......
Posted by: V S Rangarajan at January 7, 2010 6:22 AM
Absolutely brilliant sports photography! The challenge in cricket photography is that it is such a lethargic game that you need extra attention ..Anything can happen in a second that you have to traverse 100 yards sometimes with the ball at almost 100 miles per hour! Truly magnificent photo!
Posted by: Arthur at May 25, 2010 4:28 PM
this was one of the most spectacular that i have ever seen.thumbs up 2 u 4 a truly brilliant photo.the best
Hamish Blair is a London-based Australian photographer who works for Getty Images. He covered his first Test match in 1996 and has spent a good deal of his career since following the Australian cricket team around the world. He has photographed over 100 Tests in the 13 years he has been shooting cricket. In this blog he will pick some of his favourites from among the cricket photographs he has taken and try and tell the story behind them, how he went about taking them and why they are his favourites.