I’ve been taking photos pretty much my whole life, but it really started in 2010. That’s when I started working in the film industry. At first I was documenting my life on set, behind the scenes with a trusty analogue camera and a couple of rolls of film bouncing around in my sling bag.

After 5 years in the film industry, I wanted to move away from moving images and I became fascinated with stills. I explored every facet of the photography industry, trying to find my niche and what suited me.

I just followed what I enjoyed doing at the time. And that turned out to be a lot of sports photography around 2016-2018. I photographed it all, from boxing and MMA, to car racing to hurling matches and more.

That time taught me so much about photography and how to capture the perfect moment. I then slowly settled on what I really wanted to do and you can see that reflected on my website now.

So when Stephen got in touch with me, it took me right back to that 2017 period. It was such a fun throw back! Stephen is a para-athlete from Canada, who was visiting Cork for an extended period for several endurance races on his hand bike and also some duathlons.

He needed/wanted some training photos and portraits in Cork for his online presence, as well as for his sponsors; L’Hippopotame Athlétique, who make his performance wear.

Sponsor

His sponsor L’Hippopotame Athlétiquemake his performance wear.

My aim with this shoot was to give Stephen a large variety of photos that could be used for many different applications. So we did some photos with the flash, some without, some with special effect filters, some really wide shots, some extreme close ups, mostly horizontal but also some vertical photos.

There are photos that really focus in on him, where as some are beautiful landscape shots, showing off the beauty of Cork.

Using the flash was a really cool addition to this shoot that I enjoyed using a lot. I wanted to really convey the speed that Stephen was able to hit. It also really draws the focus more onto him, and his sponsor’s white top.

This mix of photos then became a really well rounded gallery that I hope will serve him for a long time! It was also fun to dip my toes into this action photography again. I always enjoy mixing things up as I feel like it improves my overall ability as a photographer.

If you would like to find out more about Stephen and his journey, you can check out his Instagram here and if you’d like to book me for your sport, say hi to me here or go to my contact form here!

Who knew that basketball was this popular in Ireland? Turns out Douglas has two teams. I didn’t even know. I mean, I’ve seen the basketball courts in the Ballincollig Regional Park and this one in Douglas. But I just always assumed they were those ill fated decisions the council always seem to make, similar to the skate parks that always seem absolutely unskateable for beginners and children. The exact reason they were built in the first place.

I guess if you build the facilities, people will come and use them. Especially post lockdown. I feel like I am seeing way more people use those outdoor workout machines as well. Maybe I just notice it more these days as I’m actively looking out for it. Though Ireland seems a little more active these days.

This basketball court is a great facility though! Although a disgruntled player did say that the hoops aren’t regulation height. Much to my friend’s dismay, who felt he was just two inches too short to do a proper Michael Jordan dunk. Well Billy, unfortunately you’ll have to grow more than two inches now!

This was a shoot just for fun, not a paid, professional shoot, yet I was still taking it somewhat seriously enough. I knew exactly how I wanted these photos to look and honestly, they came out even better than expected.

I wanted to use my flash in this bright sunlight. Create a more film like look, as if it was photographed with a simple point and shoot camera. This means, vibrant, strong colours, high contrast, and no shallow depth of field (ie. no background blur). Everything had to be in focus, and I wanted that harsh flash look. This was really pushing my flash (the Yongnuo 560IV – review here) to the limit. Although it is one of the more powerful flashes on the market, in this Irish summer sun, it was struggling to be as bright as I wanted it to be. I wanted it so bright that the background drowned into shadows.

With the flash set to 1/1, ie. max power, I had to be conservative with the amount of shots I took. Reload time for the flash is around 3 seconds I think. I can’t wait for my Godox V1 to arrive! It recycles in just 1.5 seconds. Though three times more expensive than Yongnuo, I probably would take the Yongnuo again next time for a non-paid shoot. Especially since, in a moment of distraction, the basketball made full contact with my camera, lens and flash all at once. Everything seems to have been fine, but the flash does sit looser on the camera now. I’m going to look into the possibility of replacing the hotshoe mount on it. No biggie though. I’d rather break my gear while getting great photos (or trying to get great photos), than leave it at home in pristine condition.

This day was a funny mix between some sports photography and street photography. With it just being a friendly game of mostly banter, I was able to enter the court myself and stand right next to the players. Something that would obviously be impossible in a professional setting. In that case I would have to take my 50-140mm telephoto lens, stand on the sides and be happy with the positioning I was given. Use a flash, and in a flash you’re outta the arena. Instead, I used my Samyang 12mm f2 lens, much in the same way as in the party photography style I did here (Samyang 12mm review and photos here). Set the aperture to f8, set focus to about 2m (this will cover everything from 0.5m to infinity to be in focus), blast the flash and just kinda guess what you’re photographing. For not a single one of the action shots did I look through the viewfinder or at the screen. That’s the beautiful thing about this 12mm. And with the manual focus, the shutter is instant. You can leave it right to the last millisecond to fire it off. It’s fantastic!

I did try my Fujifilm 23mm f2 as well, but I just found the 12mm to work better for this situation and I thought I’d rather not risk my 16-55mm f2.8. If it was a more important shoot, than yeah, of course! But for this, the 12mm was perfect.

I didn’t know most of the guys there that day. So having a bit of a street photographer’s energy was important. Be open, inviting, unintimidating. And enjoy the sun yourself! We have so little of it here in Cork city.

It always surprises me how easy it is to meet strangers through photographing. Even in today’s world, when the novelty of being photographed has worn off somewhat and people tend to be a bit wary about cameras, if done right, it can open up situations that wouldn’t be obtainable in any other way.

There’s no real point to this post and there doesn’t always have to be one. It was just a fun day and I just wanted to share that fun and excitement. And maybe this is my way to encourage others to try something completely new or a bit different.

I have never really had any contact with basketball before in my life and didn’t expect to have that connection in Ireland of all places. This whole day reminded me a lot of my MMA photographing days. You can check those photos out here, they’re actually class! Or don’t. You can just leave your device now and just do that new thing you always wanted to. Or don’t listen to me at all. I wouldn’t even know the difference!

Till the next post, see you then!

Oh and if you need a professional photographer in the Cork city area, give me a shout! I’d be happy to not destroying more of my gear in basketball related incidents!

Stephen - Sports Photography Cork / March 24, 2026 by Jan

B-Ball - Sports Photography / September 25, 2021 by Jan