How I became a sports photographer and moved to London
IN RUBRIC "BUSINESS" we introduce readers to women of different professions and hobbies that we like or are simply interested in. This time, Daria Konurbaeva, a sports photographer and journalist, author of the London Eye blog on sports.ru, tells how to catch the emotions of winners and losers, football trips and how ready Russia is for the World Cup.
How to get to the photographers area from the fan stand
I never planned to be a sports journalist, much less a photographer. But it so happened that she became a football fan with all the consequences: she went to matches, went on trips, sang songs in the stands.
I am the kind of person who always needs more and more at a certain moment. If you like a performer, it is impossible to just listen to him in the player - you must go to a concert, even if he is in another city or country. You need to look at your favorite actor not only in the cinema, but also in the theater, and after that - to shake hands and say how cool he is. Your favorite author read all the books and interviews, sign a new book on the presentation. This is not about proximity to the idols of the story, but about the maximum emotional immersion. If you are so preoccupied with something, then you cannot experience it at home, you need to pour out all the internal energy for some stupid and at the same time abrupt acts.
With football it turned out the same. Until a certain stage, it was great to be sick on the podium, but I wanted more. At that time, Lokomotiv had a rather popular fan site, to which I slowly began to write some texts, reports from trips. She brought photos from other cities, but she understood that there were not enough game frames. And it seems that at the match in Novosibirsk for the first time accidentally hit the edge of the field with a camera. The camera was then stupid, almost a soap box, I almost did not understand how everything works, where to stand, which shots to shoot. But then it broke through with such adrenaline that mother did not grieve. Absolutely hunting excitement: catch the moment. And everything, you sit down on it as a drug.
So everything spun. I got a new camera and started shooting a lot. Trained "on cats" - the youth team. She came to matches, some training and took off. More for myself and the table, but then the guys cut through - and after each match I had about a dozen personal messages: "Dash, throw off the pictures?"
About the specifics of the work of sports photographer
I almost never earned a photo. This is a completely ridiculous story: my own multifunctionality is ruining me. I work simultaneously as a correspondent and a photographer, therefore most of the texts are illustrated with my own photos, for which no one ever pays separately. For individual shots they paid five times: they asked for shots for newspapers like “Soviet Sport”, there is a fee of 2-3 rubles per frame for the cover. But it was about four years ago.
I mostly shoot football, because it’s the most and it’s more accessible in many ways, but if I can, I’ll cling to everything I can. Last year I took water views when there was a European Championship in London. In the autumn I tried tennis at the Final tournament - it’s generally a delight, I really want to work more with it. But in general, new species is a complex process. Starting with the specifics of the sport and ending with the shooting points that they give you. Everywhere I have my own features, and I know very few photographers who are generalists and can equally well shoot football, rowing and biathlon for example. If we are talking about high-quality and artistic shooting, we are talking about, and not just about “a person runs with the ball.”
You can earn a living. Not millions - but in journalism, in principle, millions earn units, especially in sports. Dream job - Getty Images, of course. No one takes the sport cooler than them. This is a very right balance between pure sports photojournalism and artistry.
About professional growth
You pay more attention and time to the texts, and most of the shots taken go to the table. There is some unsolvable problem in this. I love writing texts and taking photos equally, this is a different professional thrill. Plus, it greatly simplifies the life of the editorial staff, although they do not always realize their happiness: where in everyday life a brigade must be sent from a correspondent-photographer, I cope alone and cite full-fledged materials with text and pictures.
But because of such a split professional identity, it is impossible to grow sharply within the same genre. In order to start shooting better, you need to work as a photographer 24/7, shoot different things and a lot, try yourself in different formats, fill your hand. The same story with the texts: the more you write them, the better they are.
The rule of ten thousand hours always works, but as long as I try to sit on two chairs, it leaves a maximum of five thousand each. Therefore, I am not the best photographer in the world, country or even a city and not the best journalist. But the sum of these skills is not bad. At least, I don’t know in Russia another person in sports journalism who would shoot and write reports on the same level as me. So I am such a Thomas Muller(striker Bayern Munich and the German national team. - Approx. Ed.) from their profession. No megasil sides, all kind of clumsy, no impact, no speed - but the sum of the qualities turns out the world champion.
About moving to London and traveling
In London, I was almost by accident. I have never been to Britain in my life, but almost suddenly I decided to go there to study, for several months I collected all the documents and entered. I flew into the cold winter London on the third of January, and the fifth had already begun my studies. As a result, she finished eight months there pre-masters (preparatory courses preceding the magistracy. - Approx. Ed.) and one and a half year magistracy. In parallel, she worked as a journalist for local and Russian publications, led tours of London.
And for two and a half years, the most important thing happened. First, I fell deeply in love with London. Although it is not even love: you just understand that you belong to this place as much as possible. You feel good and happy in it regardless of the weather, life difficulties and world news, you are in it - like a piece of a puzzle that has found its place.
And secondly, I saw how beautiful sport can be. Perfect aesthetic delight: the British are obsessed with sports, and any event, even dull cricket or rowing, includes hundreds and thousands of fans with decorated faces, attributes and sincere emotions on their faces. This is generally my favorite genre, in fact. I dream to make a big photo project about fans of various sports from various countries. They are all equally beautiful and similar in their experiences.
Life in England teaches you planning. And accreditation for matches - and I, as a rule, tie most of my trips to them - you need to attend to a couple of weeks, and in principle life is so intense that all personal schedules for the month ahead are agreed. I ride a lot. England is small, from London to Manchester two hours by train, to Liverpool - three. Football makes it very convenient: I left the capital early in the morning, arrived at ten or eleven, walked around the city for a couple of hours, arrived at the stadium for three, and in the evening before the train I had enough time for a local pub and a pint of cider.
About the value of the moment caught in the lens
The champion parade in Leicester was cool, it happens once in a lifetime, but there it was more valuable all day, there were no straight mega-frames. Maybe because I do not work as a photographer, I have the opportunity to choose which events to go to. Still, if you are attached to the editorial office or photo agency, then at a certain point you will be sent to a boring press conference, where it is not that much historicity.
All my shooting is also a story about personal experiences. So yes, everything related to “Lester” is spiced with my emotionality. I shot all their matches in the Champions League last year: the story is unique in itself, so each frame is a kind of history fixation.
I love almost all the shots from the home match [“Lester”] with Sevilla. This is generally the brightest and most powerful football experience in life, I guess. There, the chances of winning were slim, a lot of scandals around the team (on the eve of "Leicester" fired coach Claudio Ranieri, who a season before that made the club a champion of England, for the first time in its history. - Ed.) - and they came out and won. Favorite frame - with Mark Albrighton at the very end. He rushed to the gate, and at the time of the final whistle, when the game ended, “Leicester” won - he still runs forward, does not slow down speed, but on the face is already this knocking down happiness. Or in the same place - Jamie Vardy, who, after a lost moment, began to prescribe himself with his fists on the face. Such emotions - the juice of any game.
In general, I do not really like the "technical", as I call them, frames. A football player in a fight, a tennis player with a racket, a swimmer in the water - this can be removed beautifully, but this is all a little protocol. We love sports For emotions.
Last year, she filmed the Final Tennis Tournament, and in the finals it was decided who, at the end of the season, would become the first racket of the world: Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray. The most valuable shots from that match are not beautiful waving racket, but the very moment when Andy wins the match point, drops the racket - and the whole range of emotions from this on the face. Or in five minutes, when he is already sitting on his bench, waiting for the award ceremony - and the tears in his eyes are from fatigue and emotional overstrain.
I shoot a lot and different things: travels, concerts, I do ordinary event reports. But only from the sport inside includes incredible excitement and as many needles at your fingertips. Because the Eiffel Tower both stood and will stand; the concert will be given again; speakers at the event with a bad shot, you can ask to smile again. And if you missed a goal, hit, jump - that's all. There is really one chance to fix the story, there will be no repetitions.
About gender prejudice in sports journalism
Most often, the answer to the question "why did the report be trusted to that guy, but not to me?" lies in the plane not "because he is a man, and you are not," but "because he is the best journalist." I do not focus on considerations like "everyone sees only a beautiful girl in me and does not appreciate my brain." Plus, you don’t particularly stress with photographers: it will be physically inconvenient for you to work on heels and with a neckline, so that you come to the winter in matches in three sweaters and a hat - and who will make claims against you there?
Maybe I was so lucky with my colleagues and editors, but I have never heard from someone “go and make borshch”. On the other hand, the phrase "oh, you have a heavy technique, and you are a girl, let's help" also do not often hear, but it's not scary. We are for equality, so if I claim a place in the profession, then I can bring my own 10-15 kg of cameras. Male athletes, other things being equal, will be much more polite to answer the questions of the girl journalist. When I worked in a football club, I was responsible for, among other things, bringing players to the press after the match. Even after losing matches, there was almost never a refusal: psychologically it would have been much easier for them to send the guy from the press service, and the girl wouldn’t give a damn.
With recognition, by the way, everything is easier. There are hundreds and thousands of guys writing about football. There are dozens of girls. Both readers and colleagues remember you much faster and better - precisely because “what a marvel!”. And then it only depends on you whether you reinforce this recognition by the quality of your work or not.
About the Confederations Cup and preparation for the World Cup in Russia
Honestly - I was not going to work on it at all and was planning to ignore this tournament and the world championship next year with all my strength. Such an old story, since the days of Sochi: they say, a big tournament is great, but "this is Russia, everything is not ready, we will disgrace ourselves, I do not want to be part of this shame."
And then I suddenly found myself in Moscow on the tournament dates, quite accidentally I got accreditation two weeks before the tournament, although the official reception of applications ended even in winter. Quite unexpectedly they called me into a reportage special project. And it turned out that the Confederations Cup is excellent and wonderful. Everyone was worried that nobody wanted football in Russia, that the stadiums were half empty. But it seems that the average attendance of 39 thousand spectators is a success.
I was lucky, because the very first city was Kazan, where it was tasty, beautiful, authentic - and they know how to hold sports tournaments. I told all my colleagues who were based in Tatarstan: "You are incredibly lucky." Since the Universiade and the World Aquatics Championships, Kazan has taught volunteers to work quickly and positively, and for the police to speak a little English and smile. They say that in St. Petersburg and Sochi this was a little worse, so before the World Cup, I would advise all cities-organizers to go to Kazan and urgently learn from them.
The organization was best spoken by foreign fans: they were surprised by goodwill and a good level of security, cursed at the language barrier and difficulties with transport logistics. The main impression: how many people came and arrived. Fifteen thousand Chilean fans, several thousand Mexicans - and hundreds, hundreds of thousands of locals who came to football for the first time in their lives.
My most vivid impression of Euro 2016 in France is the fan zone in Paris. I arrived there on the opening day, when all the fans just gathered in the capital and from there they were leaving. And on a huge field in front of the Eiffel Tower - fans of all 24 countries. Drunk, already charred in the sun, singing songs, fraternizing. My favorite moment of any tournament: when everything is about to start, everything is in anticipation, but there are still no scandals, no problems, no losers and no winners.