Sports photography with an iPhone. It sounds far-fetched, even with the advances in Apple technology and ever-improving iOS operating system.
However, when browsing through my Twitter timeline recently I saw an article from TechCrunch with a headline that jumped out at me.
“This iPhone-only professional photographer is the future of sports photography”.
It may have been click-bait, but it was enough to intrigue me. I had to open it up and read.
The article told the story of American photographer Brad Mangin, a respected and experienced sports snapper based in San Francisco. He recently covered THE PLAYERS Championship (golf) for the PGA Tour armed only with an iPhone.
It reminded me of a story I’d read a year or so ago in which an American photographer had published a book of baseball images taken on an iPhone 4s. A quick bit of internet research informed me it was the same guy.
As a professional sports photographer, Brad has shot some of the world’s biggest sporting events over more than two decades. Super Bowl, World Series, the Olympics – you name it, Brad has shot it. His portfolio is incredibly impressive. He usually shoots on Canon, but a few years ago experimented shooting baseball during spring training with his iPhone.
He got a taste for it and went on to shoot some matches with just his iPhone. The results are impressive and were published in Sports Illustrated, a publication for which he has done a lot of work.
Once I began reading the article about his recent golf assignment, I soon figured out – as expected – that iPhones were not being touted as a replacement for professional DSLRs and telescopic lenses for general action shots.
Instead, Brad had used the device to get some fantastic imagery when he was out and about on the course which had allowed the PGA to then share some of these great images across its social media platforms within minutes.
He produced some brilliantly candid and atmospheric imagery that, as he points out, would not have been possible with DSLR kit. Not because of a lack of capability of the DSLR, but instead the size and clear visibility of the kit.
Shooting with an iPhone was allowing him to take photos silently when the players and spectators had their guards down. He was able to mingle among people in a totally different way than had he been lumping around the heavy DSLR kit. The results are excellent. Check them out on the linked headline above.
Sports photography with an iPhone?
Although the article had established the use of the iPhone in this scenario wasn’t for those action shots, it did get me thinking as to just how far smart phones can go in terms of sports photography. I refuse to believe a professional level DSLR can ever be replaced by a phone on a technological level, nor can I imagine a day when I’d prefer to shoot with a mobile device instead of a DSLR.
However, I also do not think photographers should discount or turn their noses up at advances in this kind of technology when it comes to photography. Sure, there will be plenty of people taking photos from the stands at matches/events with iPhones and alike, but there is no replacement for skills and experience.
I liken it a little to the situation with traditional taxi drivers and their battle with Uber. In any industry you have to react to changing times, and technology is a major player in this. While traditional taxi firms are fighting Uber from a legal standpoint to prevent them from trading, others are now seemingly accepting of Uber’s USPs and are now challenging them by introducing similar products (e.g. mobile apps with tracking, car details, in-app payment, etc) of their own.
Photographers may have a similar battle to face in future years. Since the advent of smartphones, it has been a one-way journey to these built-in cameras becoming more and more powerful and capable of greater things.
Apple continually push more in to their operating system as well, empowering someone with no photographic or videography experience to produce perfectly exposed landscape shots, stunning 4k videos and ready-edited time-lapse movies.
As photographers, rather than frowning upon this or seeing this as an unwelcome incursion in to our world, instead I believe we should learn from it, improve our art further and strive to push the boundaries. After all, much of what smartphones have built-in to them from a photographic point of view is based upon similar on DSLRs.
The perception: Shooting on smartphone from the photographer’s pit/section
Also, for any photographers reading this, can you imagine a peer turning up to photograph a match at pitch side with a smartphone?
I reached out to Brad Mangin – the photographer who produces these fine iPhone shots – before writing this article as I wanted to ask for his opinion on a couple of things. He kindly responded very quickly indeed, and in commenting about how other photographers had reacted to him when shooting only with a smartphone, Brad said:
“The reactions are all over the place depending on where I am and what I am shooting. Locally everyone knows me and what I am doing and they like my iPhone stuff so no one gives me a hard time.
“Sometimes there are people who don’t know me and think I am some moron who has no clue- that just makes me laugh because the joke is on them as usually I have been a professional photographer for as long as they have been alive!”
Indeed, this is not just a case of some guy picking up a smart phone and shooting at big events. With so much experience within the sports photography industry, Brad has become a bit of a specialist in shooting with an iPhone.
For someone so adept at using the iPhone within the field, and aside from my own opinions, I had to ask; ‘could it ever take over from a DSLR?’.
Brad responded: “No. No chance. It is a wide angle lens with many limitations. You can’t replace a 400mm 2.8 lens with an iPhone. Ain’t gonna happen. Ever.
“What I use my iPhone is for social media like Instagram, etc. Once you realize the limitations of the phone you embrace it and just go out and make pictures.”
Despite his success with the iPhone, Brad remains an avid Canon shooter, working more often than not with a Canon 1DX the popular EF 70-200mm f2.8 and EF 400mm f2.8 lenses.
So no, the future of sports photography is not with an iPhone. But there is no reason why it cannot be a useful tool to have in a photographers armory.
As one comment on Brad’s own blog stated, “I have an iPhone, but I’ll never have your eye to take a photo like that”.
Brad’s own website – Brad Mangin Photography
Brad’s books
Championship Blood: The 2014 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants
Instant Baseball: The Baseball Instagrams of Brad Mangin
