Lewes Women’s Rugby: the first of many posts

I’ve been taking pictures of Lewes Women’s RFC for their past few games now, since I have been injured and unable to play. I thought, rather than attempting to remember all the specifics of the games, I’d share some of my favorite pictures and create a little photographic journey of both the team and me so far!

When I first began photographing the matches I only had a 18-55mm camera lens, which meant catching the action when it wasn’t going on in close proximity was really difficult. However, it made me experiment with what I had, and to begin with my better shots tended to be close-up static portraits of players, or of line-outs and scrums. Though many of my shots didn’t turn out quite commercially appealing or professional in a sports photography sense, I enjoyed the experimentation and learnt a great deal.

I think knowing the both the sport and the team you are photographing well gives you a great advantage when attempting to predict what is going to happen next; even though my lens didn’t reach far, when I was in the right place at the right time, the results could be great.

So eventually I decided it was time to invest in a lens that gave me a bit more freedom in its ability to capture high-speed action at further distances; I bought a 70-200mm L series lens, and I think the difference in quality is easy to see. As I was undergoing a photography course at this time, I also began predominantly taking pictures on manual mode, manipulating shutter speeds and aperture settings to get what I wanted out of a picture.

Lewes Women’s RFC have improved massively over the past few years, and having gone up a league this season are playing better than ever before. It’s a great opportunity for me to photograph them developing and growing as a team.

I hope you’ll join me soon for the next installment in their rugby journey!