Expert Behind the Lens
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Feature
Chasing the Action
He played pro football, drove a rally car for 10 years, ran a paintball company and even served as a reserve police officer with SWAT training, but today Chris Hitchcock is best known for his stunning sports photography, particularly covering triathlon, trail running and mountain biking, and he’ s running up a storm to train for a big upcoming job. – BY SEAN FALCONER
Later this year in October, Chris Hitchcock will head to the Kalahari Desert in the Northern Cape with a bagful of cameras, lenses and flashes and his running shoes to shoot the Kalahari Augrabies Extreme Marathon. It’ s a seven-day, 250km stage race through some of the most extreme terrain and temperatures in the country, and just running it is a major undertaking, let alone trying to lug all that equipment around on the route on foot! But Chris is up for the challenge, and that’ s why he’ s been heading out around midday each day to train for this event.
“ It’ s not so much about the distance that I will cover on foot each day, but the heat that I will have to be able to manage, so I am currently running in the midday summer heat to try get used to it. I usually love running at 10pm at night, but now I’ m out at midday, doing the 10.5km loop in the Tygerberg Nature Reserve near my home in the northern suburbs of Cape Town, because being‘ match-fit’ to keep up in events is part of being a professional photographer,” says Chris.
“ I also know from experience how race organiser Hano Otto works. At the Namaqua Quest, he dropped me at one end of a 10km canyon and said see you on other side in 90 minutes. I had to run to get to other side, with all my equipment, and still get shots of the runners along the way! That’ s why I have to be fit to do this job. In fact, I reckon a sports photographer has to be‘ sniper fit’ – able to run, stop and take the shot, then run again.”
Expert Behind the Lens
Chris is actually quite used to getting sweaty, or wet, while shooting events. The 57-year-old often hitches two or three camera to his neck and shoulders, puts a few extra lenses and flashes in his pockets, and heads up a mountain on foot to get closer to the action. Sometimes he dives into the water to get stunning swim pics at triathlons, and also uses drone cameras for panoramic aerial shots, and he is fully booked for one, sometimes two endurance sport events for every weekend of the year, while still also managing to shoot weddings in between as well!
Of course, it helps knowing something about a sport in order to know what to look for, and where to position yourself on a course to get the best shots, and here Chris is well covered, since he is an experienced runner, rider and triathlete himself.“ I was a mountain bike rider for many years, and even though I actually used to hate running, I decided to do something special for my 50th birthday, so I entered the Ironman –
Images: Courtesy Chris Hitchcock
TOP PICKS: We asked Chris to select a few of his all-time personal favourite images in his vast collection of photos.
Blurred Lines, Indoor Track Cycling Beneath the waves, Woolworths Triathlon
Sunrise Runner, Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon
26 ISSUE 91 FEBRUARY 2017 / www. modernathlete. co. za