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MARC ASPLAND<br />
Profile<br />
09<br />
Marc Aspland<br />
Sports Photographer<br />
52-year-old Marc was born and brought<br />
up in the West Midlands. After leaving<br />
school he took an NCTJ course in<br />
photojournalism. His first job was working<br />
for the Watford Observer before joining<br />
The Times as a freelancer in 1988. He has<br />
been the newspaper’s Chief Sports<br />
Photographer since 1993.<br />
He has covered most of the major<br />
sporting events of the past 30 years,<br />
including six summer Olympic Games and<br />
four FIFA World Cup Finals, plus every FA<br />
Cup Final and Wimbledon final since 1988.<br />
10<br />
He has been awarded Sports<br />
Photographer of the Year four times and<br />
he published a book of his best work, The<br />
Art of Sports Photography, in 2014. In the<br />
same year he was awarded an Honorary<br />
Fellowship of the Royal Photographic<br />
Society. He is member of the Canon<br />
Ambassadors Programme.<br />
there.” But my abiding memory is that I<br />
didn’t particularly enjoy any of it, because<br />
I was concentrating so hard, every single<br />
round. You’ve got to anticipate everything<br />
and you can come away from those 11<br />
rounds absolutely exhausted because you<br />
cannot take your eye off it for one minute.<br />
So the worst thing about it is that you<br />
can’t enjoy these events as a fan, you<br />
have to be absolutely in the zone.<br />
What advice would you offer<br />
someone who wants to be a<br />
pro sports photographer?<br />
I would offer this advice: believe in<br />
yourself. Believe in your own ability.<br />
Don’t look at everybody else’s pictures of<br />
an event and think, “Oh no, I’ve missed<br />
the winning goal.” It’s not about that.<br />
Just have faith that you’re seeing things<br />
differently to anybody else. Aim to<br />
capture the image on the back of the<br />
camera that you have already seen in<br />
your mind’s eye. Go out and practice and<br />
if you get it wrong, find out why and try<br />
again. As long as you believe in your own<br />
ability, sure enough, that style, your own<br />
individuality, will come through.<br />
Next issue: Liquid motion specialist<br />
David Lund splashes his secrets<br />
The worst thing is<br />
you can’t enjoy these<br />
events as a fan, you<br />
have to be absolutely<br />
in the zone<br />
The Canon Magazine 71
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