Cricket Photography Now
How has the internet changed the way you work?
It is the best and the worst thing that has happened in my working life. It has made my job so much easier. I am on the internet permanently at pitch side. You are wiring your pictures; you are sending your stuff. Originally you would have to buy wire machines. The first wire machine I bought for transmitting pictures back forced me to remortgage the house in order to buy this machine. Those are the days when you had one or two people doing the job because you just couldn't afford to do that. And now everyone's got a laptop; everyone's on the internet. Everyone is doing it. And you just see just about anyone picture up now with a camera. They are instantly a cricket photographer or sports photographer because they have got the gear. At the end of the day you see pictures that are sort of cut through. The end of the day what you see is the difference. Just having the gear isn't enough. All the gear and no idea doesn't work in photography. Cameras are so much easier to use these days; they are getting closer. But the internet is just an amazing tool now for the job.
Do you ever get bored of your job?
No, I get bored sometimes, watching certain players. I'm only as bored as they make it. That's the thing. I mean, they're in the entertainment industry. I mean, if they go out there and bat off for three runs, then I'm going to get bored. But then again, that's the time when I have to not just sit there and get bored; that's the time I've got to think harder, because I've got to make that look interesting, or I've got to illustrate the boredom of the innings, or the game, or the day, or whatever. Then you start working overtime; then you start thinking slightly differently, and how can I make this look interesting, or how do I get something published when it is so obviously dull? But that's not so much these days in cricket. I mean, people think cricket's a dull game. Well, they haven't watched it. I mean, they know nothing about cricket if they think that. And if they do, they're only dipping their toe in it; they're just coming along and sitting and watching a game of cricket; they're not interested in it, and they're not getting into it and really trying to work out what is happening. That's why I admire players in this and a lot of the journalists who really do know. I mean, I talk to players, and you just... you talk to players who are around anyway. You say hello and chat and you get to talk properly with them about the little nuances of the games and certain things that are happening, and you suddenly think "wow." Seeing it from a completely different perspective... and that's what I try and do is I try to see it from not only my angle... I've got to see it from the view of every Times reader sort of thing, if I'm working for the Times. But I want to see it from their side; I want to see it from the administrators' maybe--what are they doing apart from just making money out of it. Why is this here? What's the reason? And the players have a different view... everyone has a different view... almost like a different agenda for it. But no, if anyone comes along and just says cricket's boring then they're not really paying attention... they haven't got their brains switched on.
Why is cricket great?
Cricket is just such a great game at every level. People say it's like chess on grass. It is more than that. I remember seeing something years ago that Dr. Who or Star Trek or something and someone was playing 3 dimensional chess, and that's cricket. The more you know about cricket and the more you watch it, the more you get to be interested in it, it gets like that. There are different depths, different levels of the game. That's what I love about it. Its infinite. It's not just a boring game that people come out and watch and think "How many goals have they scored?" It really is a complex game
