Face of An Archer

Close-ups of archery can provide very strong images, as I learned the first time I photographed the sport.

Archer never loses his concentration as the bow mangles his face during an archery championship at U. S. Olympic Festival (© Michael Maher).

The Photo:
I never shot archery before, and with little advance warning to do any preparation for the event, I had to learn as it unfolded. The first thing I noticed was how tightly the archers pull the strings against their faces before they shoot. All the world class archers in this event seemed to do it, although some made much more interesting pictures than others. I shot several photos of them releasing the arrows, and reacting to their shots, but I kept thinking back to the scrunched-up faces – there was nothing better visually that day to convey their intense concentration and the difficulty of the event. I found one archer who had the best face of all, for he never wavered in his concentration, no matter how much he distorted and abused his poor face with the bow string while aiming. I don’t remember his exact place in the event, but he was easily the top archer for concentration.

3 Tips:
1) Because archery is about shooting the arrows at a target far away, the best photos capture the archer, not the target.
2) Archers provide great photos as their faces concentrate very intently before shooting.
3) Another terrific photo is the archer in the act of letting the arrow fly, but avoid being in the line of fire.

Alone At Last

Body language often makes for a powerful picture, as in this example of a loving couple in a lonely stadium.

Couple exchanges long, loving look against background of empty stadium prior to Olympic Festival in Durham, N. C. (© Michael Maher).



The Photo:
Arriving early for a track meet at Duke University stadium, I was assessing the shooting angles, backgrounds, and levels of sunlight at the football stadium. There were scarcely any spectators in the stands, but I spotted a couple walking around together, hand-in-hand, looking for seats. I watched on and off as the man and woman slowly climbed the stairs to the middle of the empty seating section and sat down. They looked amorously at each other, began to hug, kiss, and I noticed how alone they were in their section of seats. Though I shot several close-ups of them interacting (feeling a bit like a voyeur), it was clear the more interesting visual would show them alone in the row after row of empty horizontal benches surrounding them. It was funny to see a couple finding solitude in such a public space. The only question was where to place them in the frame of the picture --- top, middle, or bottom. Since it is never good to place subjects in the middle and make a picture too symmetrical, I framed them at the bottom of the photo, so the viewer’s eye would go to the seemingly endless rows of empty bleachers first and then to the couple.

3 Tips:
1) Not all portraits and personalities are close-up facial expressions – some can be shot from afar if they convey human interaction.
2) People can express love and affection in a number of different ways, often through body language.
3) Photo composition is more interesting if it is not symmetrical – place the main subject to the side, top or bottom, but not in the center.