Air time

There's nothing like capturing a sportsman mid-flight, reaching for that impossible header, stroke or catch. Cricket, football and tennis... the intensive sporting season inspires a celebration of athletes who defy gravity with ease

There's nothing like capturing a sportsman mid-flight, reaching for that impossible header, stroke or catch. Cricket, football and tennis... the intensive sporting season inspires a celebration of athletes who defy gravity with ease

It was a well-timed cross, perfectly placed into a sparse Manchester United defence by Xavi Hernandes that carried the hopes of Barcelona. In the distance, little Lionel Messi, all of 5'6'' in height, rose to give that hope a nudge. As he climbed higher and higher, almost as if carried by wires from a Jet Li kung-fu film, a few hundred flashbulbs would have exploded on the field's edges; photographers clicking away at what could be the picture of the day.

It indeed was. Messi evaded marker Rio Ferdinand, connected, and sent it past goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar (see above photo) into the United goal to take Barcelona up 2-0 and to a Champions League trophy end of last month. The next day, newspapers across the world had Messi air-borne, a single frame from over 90 minutes of action that exemplified the spirit of sport, its athleticism and beauty.



Across continents, cricketers dived to make catches in South Africa, tennis players lunged at the French Open and basketball millionaires slam-dunked in the NBA conference finals in USA two weeks of sporting excess that had the fittest men and women sprawling to stretch human achievement beyond known limits.

So what is so appealing about seeing a gravity-defying act of sporting excellence? Graham Crouch, a 25-year veteran freelance photographer formerly with The Australian, who has covered the Sydney Olympics and Australian Open tennis among several other events, says watching people do things mere mortals can only dream of is exhilarating. "Sweat, sinews, muscle movement, concentration, determination, joy and despair are all on the face and the actions of sportsmen. Compelling subjects not only to sports lovers but to anyone with an interest in what the nature of humanity is."

The fascination for the 'jump' has existed since the beginning of sports photography. But it's never been easy. Men with lenses recount experiences of having to wait for hours, with unwavering concentration, an almost academic study of the action on the field combined with speed to capture that one moment of blink-and-miss action. Technology has improved with digital cameras but the challenge of capturing the 'moment' remains.

In his book An Eye For Cricket, celebrated cricket photographer Patrick Eager tells a story from the famous tied Test of 1960-61 between Australia and West Indies in Brisbane. Ron Lovitt of The Age, and Harry Martin of the Sydney Morning Herald, running out of plates in the pre-digital era, had just one shot each left. In an informal pact, Martin was to shoot the last ball bowled, Lovitt the action that followed. After West Indies' Solomon hit the wickets with a run-out, to tie the scores, Lovitt waited for that fraction of a second, "the mark of a good photographer". The action developed as Rohan Kanhai leapt in the air. "A remarkably restrained Lovitt took one of the most famous cricket photos of all time," wrote Eager, whose own landmark work includes the shot of an airborne Rodney Marsh catching one in front of first slip in 1975.

Photographers say a great image must be well exposed, composed, with great action, and a clean background. Pillars, umpires, a mere three people in the background stands, bright objects among others play spoilers. Then there is the crucial X-factor: a facial expression, or just something extraordinary that can set the picture apart, give it an everlasting quality.

Indranil Mukherjee of Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency says one has to follow the action, but that's easier said than done because "unexpected things happen". Like when Sachin Tendulkar hit a boundary to score his century while leading India to a win against England in Chennai in December 2008, he jumped with joy. "It was unusual because Tendulkar is prone to restraint, usually looking skywards after a ton," says Mukherjee who has covered the Beijing Olympics and toured the West Indies in 2006.

Sports photography, says Arko Datta of news agency Reuters, is like the sport itself. "Action and emotion in the picture gives it the intensity that exemplifies sport," he adds.

"There is also the luck factor. You will miss some because a photograph in cricket, for example, is that one wicket or catch that will become the picture of the day, even if you sat through seven hours of a match day," says Datta who got a picture of Shaun Pollock taking a return catch in the 2003 World Cup which appeared as if the air-borne Pollock was curled around Brian Lara, the non-striker.

Whether it's Rafael Nadal or Serena William's sinewy prowess, or Michael Jordan's unbelievable 'airness', Zinedine Zidane's frustrated head-butt or Vivian Richard's flick off steely wrists, emotions captured on camera are a combination of what's achieved by a few and aspired to by many.

Some of the best sports pictures are a confluence of action with expressions that stand out. Like a black and white image of Jesse Owens poised to take off from the starting line; Dick Fosbury of the 'Fosbury Flop' twisted in the air to flip over the bar on his back in the 1968 Mexico Olympics; American sprinter Florence-Griffith Joyner at the finish with a wide grin, painted nails raised high, long curls flying in the wind; Caribbean paceman Joel Garner in his final leap, all of his 6'8'' frame in the air, face skewed in concentration, arms poised to deliver well above the sight screen which had photographers jacking up their tripods; more recently, Yuvraj Singh diving for a run-out in last year's Indian Premier League.

"Participants by their very nature are athletic beauties, whether they are lawn bowlers or sprinters. But for me, it is seeing a body at absolute breaking point doing what many hours of dedication to achieve a result have trained it for," says the Delhi-based Graham Crouch.

Each sport has its virtues, Crouch adds. "Australian football for the unpredictable nature of its collisions, gymnastics for the wonderful patterns the sportsman can contort themselves into, cricket for the strategic nature of the game, horseracing because of the danger involved and the sheer beauty of the animals, and marathon because of the theatre it provides."

Viren Rasquinha, a former international hockey player and currently the chief operating officer of the Olympic Gold Quest foundation says, "Athleticism is about pushing the limits beyond imagination which others can only dream of." Aparna Popat, a multiple-time National badminton champion, says sport is action "beyond normal". Daniel Berehulak of Getty Images based in Delhi who has been to a couple of Olympics, to the Rugby World Cup and numerous tennis Grand Slams feels "it's a combination of power, athleticism and grace. Grace is a symbol of athletic beauty."

So the next time you see the photograph of a sportsperson caught mid-flight, it is not just a winning or a losing moment. It is the culmination of months, maybe years of training; and achievement of a rare physical act combined with the hours of dedicated patience and expertise of the person who hit the button at the right time, from the right place.