World Cup in focus (1)
During the World Cup in South Africa I am going to be posting a series of pictures taken by photographers working for the Associated Press. The pictures will not necessarily be of the latest action but a key photo of the day picked out by one of their picture editors.
Alongside each picture they will explain a little of the background behind the photo and sometimes the technical problems that had to be overcome.
To kick off, no pun intended, I asked Denis Paquin, deputy director of photography at Associated Press, to choose a photo taken on the eve of the completion and to explain about the AP team on the ground and the logistics involved. He said:
"The AP will be covering the World Cup with 43 photographers, dispersed into various teams to cover matches at the ten stadiums. Our editing crew will consist of ten photo editors, all based at the main press centre in Johannesburg."Matches will be covered by five photographers - four on the pitch and one shooter overhead. From their shooting positions, photographers at every stadium will send images from their laptops directly to the photo servers.
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"From there, the photos will be promptly edited, captioned and filed to various points around the world. Turn around time from the moment a photo is taken to the time it ends up on the AP network can be less than five minutes.
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"We expect to send on average 200 to 250 photos per match. When we get the first day of matches underway, we'll be transmitting up to 1,200 photos a day on the World Cup.
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"Game day coverage not only includes match action, but a variety of features involving security, fans and local atmosphere.
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"The photo above shows Issac a World Cup vendor as he walks back to his house in Soweto and was taken by Jerome Delay. It stood out for me because it instantly places us in South Africa with a view of a township which we've grown accustomed to seeing. It combines the colours of their nation and its participation in a World Cup which the local people are proud to be part of."
We can expect to see many strong pictures from South Africa over the coming weeks from both AP and the other agencies on the ground such as Getty Images and Reuters.
You can see many of the best pictures from the tournament on the 91Èȱ¬ Sport website but here I'll be presenting a series of pictures that will sometimes look away from the shots of the headline-grabbing goals.
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