Boxing Victor & Vanquished

One of the best sports photos you can get is the happy face of a winner adjacent to the visibly disappointed loser.

It was the thrill of victory for the heavyweight winner, right, after defeating his disconsolate opponent in their Golden Gloves fight at the Lowell, Ma. Auditorium (© Michael Maher, The Lowell (Ma.) Sun).

The Photo:
The annual Golden Gloves boxing tournament brings out a very passionate crowd cheering through every minute of the bouts. Usually the best boxing picture is of fighters landing a punch, with both fighters’ faces showing, and some spit or sweat spraying in the air. On this night, during a preliminary round match, two boxers were going at it aggressively, with each landing several solid punches. Throughout the three rounds, each fought exceptionally well and landed a similar number of good blows. While I had a few solid action shots, I anticipated there might be a more powerful emotion picture coming after the fight. The winner would be announced with the loser standing beside him, and each had a chance to be declared the victor. When the fight ended, the referee stood in the middle of the ring holding each boxer’s arm while they waited for the decision. Finally, after a long wait (no doubt it was hard for the judges to decide), the winner was announced, and his face broke into a huge smile of elation, while the dejected loser’s body and head sank in disappointment. The contrast between the winner and loser’s expressions and body language told the whole story, and was a great example of a victor and vanquished shot, where one image captures both “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”

3 Tips:
1) Whenever possible, capture the emotion of a winner and a loser in the same photo.
2) The greater the suspense and uncertainty over who will win, the more likely you will see strong emotional reactions.
3) Shoot closely enough to clearly see the expression on each player’s face, which is the most important element of your photo

House In Flames

Fire photos almost guarantee your pictures will be published.


Flames envelop the side of a vacant tenement during a four-alarm fire on Fayette Street in Lowell, Ma. (© Michael Maher, The Lowell (Ma.) Sun).

The Photo:
Following up on a nighttime police radio alert about a nearby house fire, I encountered a large plume of smoke billowing from both the front and top of a 3-decker house, with fire engines all around. First I looked for dramatic photos -- either big flames or some human emotion -- but nothing like that was visibly present, and I learned there weren’t any residents at risk because the house was a vacant tenement. It was easy to get a few good photos by using my flash to photograph the firemen spraying water on the smoke clouds pouring from the front. When the smoke got heavier in the front and clouded my view, I moved to the back of the house where some small flames were showing and the Fire Department was congregating with additional hoses. Suddenly the entire rear of the house exploded into bright flames, so I turned off the flash to shoot natural light photos of the burning house brightly contrasted against the black nighttime sky. The flames stopped as the fire was brought under control, so I patiently looked around for photos of the firemen doing strenuous firefighting activities, or reaction shots of people watching. However, there was almost no one around and there was nothing compelling to shoot in the reactions of the fire and police, who were disgusted with having to fight yet another fire at an abandoned building that was likely caused by an arsonist.

3 Tips:
1) The strongest photos of fires contain some element of human interest or drama, such as firefighters strenuously working, residents anxiously watching, or spectators looking on intently.
2) If there is no human perspective, look for bright flames illuminating against a black nighttime sky.
3) Firemen spraying their hoses on the burning building is another very strong photo.