The Pro Interview
Marc Aspland is a multi-award-winning photographer who loves the challenge of summing up an entire sporting event in one image. He talks to David Clark about his memorable career
Pro sports photographer Marc Aspland on the highs and lows of his career to date
When Marc Aspland was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society in 2014, it was a public recognition of what most people in the business already knew: that he’s one of the best sports photographers around. Three years after surviving a lifethreatening accident, he’s still taking the creative, eye-catching and distinctively off-kilter sports images that have defined his career. In this interview he talks about his style, what it’s really like photographing major sporting events and how there’s nothing he loves more than being pushed out of his comfort zone…
How did you get into photography?
I grew up in Newbold-on-avon, a village near Rugby in the Midlands. There was no artistic bent in my family at all, but a chap who lived two doors down from my parents, Bob Ingram, was a keen amateur photographer. He loved Formula One and motorsports and, when I was about 13, he took me and my brother to the Le Mans 24 Hour race. For me, it was just an unbelievable world of glamour. He gave me a camera and encouraged me to take pictures, then later taught me to process
and print. From nowhere at all, I found a medium where I could capture what was in front of me and which utterly captured my imagination. Photography found me, not the other way around.
Did you do a formal course?
Yes, after doing my A levels, which included photography, I was lucky enough to go on a one-year National Council for Training of Journalists (NCTJ) photojournalism course in Sheffield. One of the tutors, Paul Delmar, had great enthusiasm for picking up this group of very raw kids and literally just shoving us out of the door. I was there just at the end of the Miners’ Strike in the 1980s, which caused huge upheaval in the city. For me there weren’t enough hours in the day to go out and take photojournalistic pictures of picket lines or miners on their hands and knees looking for lumps of coal to heat their houses. From a learning point of view it was just the most fabulous year.
Did it lead directly to a job?
I went to the Watford Observer. There was a photographic team of six at that time, with me as the junior. There I met another mentor, Mike Dellow. I was doing 10 or 15 assignments a day, everything from photographing couples having their wedding anniversaries to taking pictures of the mayor of Watford. Mike taught me that when you go into a room, you have to impose your personality and your ideas on those people, and you have to make those people work for you. I’ve carried that thought with me ever since.
When did you start photographing sport professionally?
I’d always been into sport, and it was part of my newspaper life to photograph Watford Football Club, as well as school sports. After I’d been on the paper a few years, Mike Dellow phoned a friend at
The Times and said, “We’ve got a young lad here who has completely outgrown us, can he show you his pictures?” I went along, feeling totally overawed, and they sent me on a couple of jobs, then I started freelancing for them. This was in 1988. I worked there for two years without a day off, just to get my foot in the door. If they sent me to shoot a businessman’s portrait, or a Millwall match in the evening, I always jumped at the chance.
How did you become Chief Sports Photographer at The Times?
I did my fair share of the big news stories of the day, such as the Kegworth Air Disaster in 1989 and Royal weddings and births. But I’d always be the first one to put my hand up and say I’d do football matches. I suppose my style of photography set me slightly apart. It wasn’t obvious or like stock photography and it suited the then-sports editor. When the sports photographer job came up, I went for it. I’m still doing it 24 years later.
What is it that appeals so much to you about shooting sport?
I particularly like the fact that I’ve got no control over what’s happening in front of me. I can’t say to a sportsperson, the light’s not very good here, can you just turn towards the daylight? I can’t ask Jonny Wilkinson to re-drop that goal in 2003 in Sydney because I happened to be looking somewhere else. I like the fact that, when I’m at a football match for 90 minutes, my sports editor expects me to sum up that whole match in one image. That might not be a shot of the winning goal, but it sums it up in my own particular way, which is the off-kilter, sometimes slightly quirky way.
What do you like about Canon kit?
My first serious camera was a Canon F1, which I got when I was doing my NCTJ course, and I’ve never changed manufacturer since. Many of my colleagues have flitted between Canon and Nikon, but I’ve just stuck with Canon. I’m very comfortable with knowing everything about the way the cameras work, and with their high quality. I now use the EOS-1D X Mark II and have three of them. That camera really is the peak of the evolution. When I photographed the Anthony Joshua fight in April, I pushed the ISO to 8000. There’s hardly any noise in those images, even though I was on the balcony, shooting on a 500mm f/4 lens and the light was really poor. I think they are the very best cameras available.
Which lenses are in your kit bag?
My lenses range from a 15mm fisheye all the way to a 500mm f/4, but I particularly use the 16-35mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8. My main ‘standard’ lens is my 400mm f/2.8 II, then I’ll use 1.4x or 2x convertors. I’ll also use the 200-400mm f/4 with the built-in 1.4x converter, which is a magnificent creation. It’s very light and goes all the way from 200mm to 560mm; it’s perfect for golf, for example.
How have technical advances in equipment affected your work?
Cameras are so advanced today that I’m able to make them work for the picture
I have in my head. They’re so sophisticated that you almost don’t have to be a photographer to take good pictures. When I’m at football matches, the freelance photographers alongside me at the side of the pitch are using pretty much the same cameras as me. They can press an autofocus button and the pictures are super sharp, and use Program mode and the exposure is perfect. You don’t have to have any education or grounding because the cameras are so good. But to be a really good photographer, you need the ability to see something in your mind’s eye. It’s all about seeing; that’s what sets great photographers apart from all the others. Which sports do you most enjoy photographing? You’d expect me to be able to photograph a football or rugby match with my eyes closed, because it’s the staple diet of a
Times sports photographer. I particularly like sports that take me out of my comfort zone, like those in the Winter Olympics – sports like speed skating, curling, snowboarding and half pipe skiing. First I have to find out what they are all about. Once I’m there, I’m looking at where the light is and I’m thinking that I need to record it, but also to step back and get a good picture out of it. For the superfast downhill, I literally walked up the course twice three or four days before, just to
find a spot through the trees that would give a beautiful clear background.
What do you aim to achieve when shooting those sports?
Sports photography for me is not about shooting action at 16 frames a second and just capturing a stock image. It’s about finding, seeing and then taking a creative image. That could be done using a slow shutter speed, a pan blur or a mega-fast shutter speed. For example, if I was photographing an ice hockey match I might use a super-long lens that would just capture the eyes of a player, or a massive wide-angle view taken above the pitch on a remote camera. I’m there to make an interesting picture out of these situations. That’s the challenge.
Can you give an example of when you’ve deliberately avoided taking the obvious image?
When Usain Bolt ran the 100 metres in 9.69 seconds at the Beijing Olympics, he was running straight towards me because I’d stood in the photographer’s stand for three hours before the race so I had the position. But I made sure I didn’t do a stock picture of a man running towards me – I took a wider view with all the other runners in the shot. Afterwards, the sports editor said, “Where’s the picture of Bolt beating his chest as he crosses the line?” and I said, “I didn’t want to do that, boss, that wasn’t the point!”
A few years ago, you were injured in a road accident. What happened and have you fully recovered?
In 2014 I was cycling home after playing five-a-side football in Harpenden on a Thursday night. I have no memory of the accident at all, but I had a serious brain trauma and broken collarbones. I was in hospital for quite some time and my memories of the three or four months after the accident are very vague. Because of the severity of the trauma, it’s a four-year process to find out how much of the old Marc I’m going to get back. My memory still isn’t particularly great, but I’ve learned to live with the differences.
How did you feel about the get well messages on Twitter from people like Rafael Nadal, Jonny Wilkinson and Elton John?
At the time, I didn’t know what day of the week it was and had no memory of those people. My wife and children loved the messages and took great comfort from them, but when I looked at these people holding up a card with ‘get well soon’ on it, I didn’t really know what it meant. It was only afterwards, when I looked back, that I could appreciate those messages.
You’ve won many awards during your career. Which one gave you the biggest thrill?
Putting aside the four Sports Photographer of the Year awards, becoming an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society was a real shock, more than anything. So many amazing photographers have been given Honorary Fellowships and I never thought an editorial sports photographer from The Times would receive one. Even now I have to pinch myself when I think about it, because it was a great honour.
Have you ever missed a great shot?
Good God, honestly, I’ve missed ‘the moment’ hundreds of times, usually because I’m slightly looking sideways at something else. Sometimes I also miss the moment because something unexpected happens. For example, at the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final, I had no control over the big Australian prop forward who ran across my frame just as Jonny Wilkinson caught the ball and kicked the winning drop goal. For one reason or another, I’ve missed too many pictures to mention.
What are the best and worst things about photographing sports?
One of the best things is being at memorable sporting events, such as the Anthony Joshua-wladimir Klitschko heavyweight title fight. Afterwards, people said to me, “It was the most amazing fight, you’re so lucky you were
there.” But my abiding memory is that I didn’t particularly enjoy any of it, because I was concentrating so hard, every single round. You’ve got to anticipate everything and you can come away from those 11 rounds absolutely exhausted because you cannot take your eye off it for one minute. So the worst thing about it is that you can’t enjoy these events as a fan, you have to be absolutely in the zone.
What advice would you offer someone who wants to be a pro sports photographer?
I would offer this advice: believe in yourself. Believe in your own ability. Don’t look at everybody else’s pictures of an event and think, “Oh no, I’ve missed the winning goal.” It’s not about that. Just have faith that you’re seeing things differently to anybody else. Aim to capture the image on the back of the camera that you have already seen in your mind’s eye. Go out and practice and if you get it wrong, find out why and try again. As long as you believe in your own ability, sure enough, that style, your own individuality, will come through.