Coming to England; Ilona Maher

Hey Guys, Andy here. This week I managed to pick fights and upset people; oh the joys of online where tone is easily misread, people get defensive and, before you know it, voila! The tone I struck could have been markedly less combative but I stand by the thrust of my comments; that the accompanying photography to mark the arrival of American rugby player Ilona Maher coming to England to play in the Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) for three months, was corporate and bland.

In the USA where rugby is barely on anyone’s radar, Maher is a superstar thanks to the superpower of her personality. She is rugby’s most well known player ever thanks to her online presence, of eight million followers, with funny, sassy posts encouraging femininity and body positivity including being the September cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit. Oh, and she’s also and Olympian to boot.Such is her impact that her first match, on January 5th, has been moved from a stadium with a capacity of 2,000, to one with a capacity of 27,000, due to the interest in watching her play.

So what was the fight and who did I upset? I upset the photographer who works for the rugby team Maher is going to play for. According to social media he shoots rugby and football, the matches, the behind the scenes, the new kit launches, as well as other sporting and music events that happen at that sports stadium. Yes, I admit, I am more than a little jealous as it appears to be a dream role. In regards to his Maher images, he was very pleased with the results and (very) upset I judged the work without knowing the parameters. 

To unpack this;

1. Subject matter experts; I do not any photographer who covers this variety of subjects and does it all brilliantly. There will be some areas that will be weaker than others; which is why subject matter experts exist in all fields and industries. 
2. Corporate clients; creativity is not a word I would associate with such shoots. The requirement for corporate elements take priority over creativity; as the photographer I advise as appropriate and then fulfil the client brief as they are the ones paying the bill.
3. Parameters; when was the last time someone was judged by a brief and not the results?
4. Group think; there is always a danger that group think, or mob mentality, will railroad the result. It can be hard, in the middle of a situation, to check the direction and correct if necessary.

On the one hand, who cares about my opinion in this issue? Maher has posted the images on her social media and they’ve seen by her legion of fans, while the images have been also been used by the PWR, the BBC and other media who have run the story with the photographer credit.

On the other hand I despair at the increasingly worsening standards of photography that come across my feeds, something I have talked about before. Creativity is something that used to happen in the editorial world but with the lingering death of magazines, editorial aka creative shoots, don’t get seen as they’re not commissioned. In photography people produce what they consume; if all you look at and see is junk, this is what you are going to create. In other words, ‘Shit in, shit out.’ 

Given the immediate impact Maher has had, I maintain the press shoot was a missed opportunity to create something eye catching. Maybe there wasn’t enough time to plan anything else? Maybe there’ll be another shoot just before her first match? Maybe she’ll do a British editorial shoot?

I wish Maher all the best. Ilona- if you read this; I’m just down the road from you in a town called Cheltenham.