In these very lean photography times it was a joy to get a call from old friends at the charity, Water Aid. Invited down to the Kia Oval cricket ground, home of Surrey County Cricket, it was an opportunity to be out and about again, doing what I do and meeting a few sporting giants.
Along with the charity’s videographer we had a very tight time-frame, less than half an hour, to capture interviews, footage and, in my case, plenty of action shots as well as portraits of key team members. Big cricketing names like Morne Morkel, Rory Burns, Liam Plunkett and Hashim Amla were among those who gave their time to support the #BringWater campaign. The challenge for me focussed on getting perfectly lit portraits of the players on a ground with harsh sunlight sweeping in and out of cloud. That was accomplished at pace with a quickly erected stand, a Godox AD200 light and modifier to overpower the sun right there on the pitch. With only a few minutes before training had to resume, I also needed enough ‘in action’ images of the players attempting to bat with the quarter-sized cricket bat provided. Two in five healthcare centres globally have nowhere for people to wash their hands - not good at any time and certainly not in a pandemic. Struggling with less than full essential facilities was at least partially symbolised by the batsmen’s struggle with a ‘less than full bat’.
Job done, we cleared off the pitch and training resumed. It felt good to be holding a camera again in such circumstances. The images came out well (see if you agree, below) and before I knew it, I was home editing like old times. Here’s hoping for more days like it soon.
