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| Mr Randall is one of the best referees around, and also a leading Trotskyist union activist. |
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| Just managed to get the moment the point landed |
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| Curtis Miller overlooking Curtis Miller |
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| This is what defeat feels like |
Fencing photography is really hard. The lighting in sports halls is dreadful, and you can't use flash because it would dazzle people wielding weapons at high speed. The speed of action means you need a very steady and and high-end kit to get anything useable, and I had neither for quite some years. Competitions could last several days, good shots were there and gone in a thousandth of a second, and it's hard to differentiate between people wearing near-identical equipment. Also, I was never there as a photographer - I was snapping away whenever I had a chance. Added to this, the rules around photography in youth sport keep changing. As a part of the child protection group within the sport, I understood why, and what had to be done, so it was just part of the context.
Nonetheless, I gradually learned to find a decent shot. Action is always happening, though my photographer's head and fencer's head were often in conflict: the most dramatic action is usually the worst fencing. Ideally, you want to hit someone without them realising you've moved a muscle - very much not what the camera wants. Very often, the best sporting shots aren't the moments a point is scored, but the seconds afterward: the elation or the horror. Beyond that, there are the moments of ending an stress that emerge over the course of a long competition. I was backstage at the London Olympics (some shots coming up in a few days) and regret not being allowed to photograph the most private moments. The call room was pretty much designed to generate panic: whichever fencers were on next had to be in this tiny space, eyeballing each other, for 20 minutes before they came out. Popping in for something one day I saw one man with his nose in the corner like a naughty child, while his opponent quietly vomited into a coffee cup. A few minutes later, one had an Olympic medal round his neck. So that was one photo I will only ever have in my head.
These ones are from the UK School Games in 2010 - very much apprentice shots, but also full of memories. I don't have children, but every couple of months I'd find myself looking after, coaching, refereeing or escorting large bunches of them, from every class, area, school and background. Some were loud and confident, some were quiet and terrified, some were champion escape artists, some charming and some dreadful human beings, but spending any length of time with them was always a privilege, and I always appreciated the bubble-like atmosphere of living with a group of strangers for maybe a week of high stress before leaving and perhaps never seeing them again, or bumping into them and their parents at other events and reliving a sometimes very edited version of it.
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| Victory and defeat side by side |
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| 'Negotiating' with the referee |
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| More victory and defeat |
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