PhotoPlus_Issue_128_July_2017

MARC ASPLAND
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How did you become Chief Sports
Photographer at The Times?
I did my fair share of the big news stories
of the day, such as the Kegworth Air
Disaster in 1989 and Royal weddings and
births. But I’d always be the first one to
put my hand up and say I’d do football
matches. I suppose my style of
photography set me slightly apart. It
wasn’t obvious or like stock photography
and it suited the then-sports editor. When
the sports photographer job came up, I
went for it. I’m still doing it 24 years later.
What is it that appeals so much
to you about shooting sport?
I particularly like the fact that I’ve got no
control over what’s happening in front of
me. I can’t say to a sportsperson, the
light’s not very good here, can you just
turn towards the daylight? I can’t ask
Jonny Wilkinson to re-drop that goal in
2003 in Sydney because I happened to
be looking somewhere else. I like the fact
that, when I’m at a football match for 90
minutes, my sports editor expects me to
sum up that whole match in one image.
That might not be a shot of the winning
goal, but it sums it up in my own
particular way, which is the off-kilter,
sometimes slightly quirky way.
What do you like about Canon kit?
My first serious camera was a Canon F1,
which I got when I was doing my NCTJ
course, and I’ve never changed
manufacturer since. Many of my
colleagues have flitted between Canon
and Nikon, but I’ve just stuck with Canon.
I’m very comfortable with knowing
everything about the way the cameras
work, and with their high quality. I now
use the EOS-1D X Mark II and have three
of them. That camera really is the peak of
the evolution. When I photographed the
Anthony Joshua fight in April, I pushed
the ISO to 8000. There’s hardly any noise
in those images, even though I was on the
balcony, shooting on a 500mm f/4 lens
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and the light was really poor. I think they
are the very best cameras available.
Which lenses are in your kit bag?
My lenses range from a 15mm fisheye all
the way to a 500mm f/4, but I particularly
use the 16-35mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8
and 70-200mm f/2.8. My main ‘standard’
lens is my 400mm f/2.8 II, then I’ll use
1.4x or 2x convertors. I’ll also use the
200-400mm f/4 with the built-in 1.4x
converter, which is a magnificent
creation. It’s very light and goes all the
way from 200mm to 560mm; it’s perfect
for golf, for example.
How have technical advances in
equipment affected your work?
Cameras are so advanced today that I’m
able to make them work for the picture
The Canon Magazine 67