Brentwood Imaging names US Fencing Official Photographer

[onesandzeros]

usfa.org:
Brentwood Imaging names US Fencing Official Photographer
__________________________________________________

http://www.brentwoodimaging.com

Do these people have any experience with fencing photography,
or is this just another bad decision by the usfa?

(In my opinion) Their work is hideous.

[bernard c]

From the looks of their website, their assignment may be limited to portraits and other posed shots. As far as action photos, how many compare to these, which are just a few samples?
Flick photo 1/5
S-curves

[veeco]

I agree. I don't like their work much. It is a little too "tacky" in my opinion. Also, from what they display on their website, it really does look like they are not too much into the "action" side of things. I don't know how good these people are with taking action shots.

However, I don't really know what "Official Photographer" for the USFA means, so it could be that they are just going to take pictures of the podiums and not of the events themselves. I don't know also what that means for other photographers who might want to work at the NACs. I know that for example Tiger Mountain Photo which does great pictures of Duel in the Desert every year was present once at Summer Nationals. Does this mean that they wouldn't be able to do so anymore since they are not "Official Photographers?"

Also, I find it odd that the headline of the press release has a grammatical error. It isn't Brentwood who named the USFA as their official photographer, they were named official photographer for the USFA. It should read "Brentwood Imaging named official photographer for the USFA."

[Red #40]

That company's portfolio is garbage!! I work in advertizing and I see photo books of photographers that are better than that every day.
The USFA needs a photographer so that they can get some good shots for use in press releases and promotional material, but from the portfolio of this place I doubt they can handle that. Did they even put out an RFP for photographers or did they just award it to some friend of theirs? How does that process work?

[bernard c]

Here is Tiger Mountain Photos website.
http://www.tigermountainphoto.com/
Click on Galleries to see their fencing photos. How do their best action photos compare to the ones I've linked on the second post of this thread?

[Tireur]

Well, I'm a photographer and I hate to say it, but that is one of the worst "professional" web portfolios I've ever seen.

I would immediately put them in my "never use" file.

[Tireur]

From the looks of their website, their assignment may be limited to portraits and other posed shots. As far as action photos, how many compare to these, which are just a few samples?
Flick photo 1/5
S-curves

These you've selected don't really appear to be "action" shots, they seem more posed.

I might suggest a wider aperture which would help blur the distracting background and might make the blade more visible. Perhaps a more glancing light.

I'd have to see their fencing shots, but if they are anything like the rest of the website, well...................

[darius]

Those aren't really "art" shots; I thought they were taken to mess around with flick timings.

Serge Timacheff's work at Tiger Mtn Photo is great. This Brentwood place is gawd-awful! I love Lisa Slater and Evan's work too.

There was an RIT photo student who came to RFC and photographed the elite and youth groups for about a month, for a school project. She had a very playful eye, and caught some great candid shots.

darius

[Artisan]

They don't seem to have experience in making a non-cheesy website....whats up with the music? Am I supposed to enjoy that?

That said, if I can go to a NAC, and later buy pictures of ME or people I know then great...otherwise, so what.

As a service - which I don't expect they provide, I think it would be great if for a fee in advance, perhaps a deposit towards later purchases of prints, the photo service could issue an arm band or mask label / tag that indicates to their team of roving photographers that a fencer wants their picture shot, then if they happen to see somethng good, shoot it and make it available afterwards. Otherwise, how many of us have any high quality action shots of ourselves fencing. Timachef (Tiger Mountain) shoots at the NACS, but think he usually concentrates on finalists - and can't shoot the events that he's competing in.

[onesandzeros]

I tend to agree with all of you... It's rubbish.
Even if this is just for portrait work, it's still bad.
I think we should all voice our (constructive ) opinions and email Cindy Bent Findlay:
usfencingmedia@earthlink.net

[DanInMI]

HORRIBLE.
HORRIBLE.
HORRIBLE.

And I am not talking about the cheesey website, there is not a photo in that whole portfolio that is above the abilities af the average amature photographer. What is worse is that these must be the "good" pictures; I assume they didn't put the bad ones on the website.

[bernard c]

Dear Tireur, I suggest you take a closer look before you declare that they are "posed." Body positions cannot be posed like these, nor can the foil positions. It's edew in the photos, by the way. The S-curve photos are in informal bouting type combat, not at a competition. Read the captions for more information. The flick-study photos are with one fencer flicking (or whatever he's doing) and the other just standing there as a target.

Your observation about the background is correct, and is due mostly to the space constraints of that particular venue, as it is in a relatively small room. The pistes are not even regulation length. A larger venue would allow a dark background, top lighting for more foil visibility, and simultaneously-triggered multiple views.

For publicity and generation of new interest in fencing, what could be better?

[Julie]

Since Serge Timacheff is the official photographer for the FIE at the Olympics, I'm really surprised the USFA isn't going the same route, but who knows.

P.S. onesandzeros: not to be a miss-know-it-all, but I'm pretty sure the lyric is: "She's filing her nails while they're dragging the lake."

[grotto]

WOW, is that bad. I assume it is for headshots etc. Hell I would hire a sports photography "Stringer" before I would call these guys. Makes me wish I hadn't sold all my gear to sit infront of a Mac.

(yes it's called film it has a light sensitive emulsion to capture an image. it doesn't have megapixels, and yes I have to manually advance for the next shot )

[onesandzeros]

Well i'll be a horses ***. Those -are- the correct lyrics... DOH!

[U.M.Amherst.Sabre95]

I'm starting to think about creating and hosting my own fencing photography web site, and might perhaps see the light of day in the next year. The plan would be to go back through my collection of fencing images I've shot over the past six years (I have close to 4,000 photos), then taking the best ones and putting those on-line. We'll see what happens.

-Evan

FWIW: I've offered my photos and services to the USFA in the past, but have never received anything from them, not even a response.

[onesandzeros]

Speaking of offering photos, I sent in a much better shot of Arnold and Julia to the powers that be at American Fencing Magazine, but to no avail. They used a shot with half a blurry head in the frame.
Sometimes I wonder...

[DanInMI]

Dear Tireur, I suggest you take a closer look before you declare that they are "posed." Body positions cannot be posed like these, nor can the foil positions. It's edew in the photos, by the way. The S-curve photos are in informal bouting type combat, not at a competition. Read the captions for more information. The flick-study photos are with one fencer flicking (or whatever he's doing) and the other just standing there as a target.

Your observation about the background is correct, and is due mostly to the space constraints of that particular venue, as it is in a relatively small room. The pistes are not even regulation length. A larger venue would allow a dark background, top lighting for more foil visibility, and simultaneously-triggered multiple views.

For publicity and generation of new interest in fencing, what could be better?

In Tireur's defense, both of those links took me to the same picture, one in which Edew seems to have been captured demonstrating a flick to the shoulder. (neiether picture was the "s-curve" shot)

And it does look quite posed, not that they could have held that position, but it was clearly not candid.

[DanInMI]

FWIW: I've offered my photos and services to the USFA in the past, but have never received anything from them, not even a response.

All in favor of "U.M.Amherst.Sabre95" as the official photographer of the usfa say "aye."

AYE!

[Craig]

Speaking of offering photos, I sent in a much better shot of Arnold and Julia to the powers that be at American Fencing Magazine, but to no avail. They used a shot with half a blurry head in the frame.
Sometimes I wonder...

Well, I for one am hungry for good fencing shots. As you can see from the "Arnold Fencing Classic" post to the front page of the site, I am quite willing to use submitted fencing shots and would love to have more to feature.

The best would be to able to do a "month in pictures" on a regular basis - but that would require a lot of people contributing a good deal of their time to donating shots. With a collective effort it could happen, but it's sometime in the future.

Craig