Essex Cricket’s Club Photographer Nick Wood probably saw as much county cricket as anyone last year. He follows the team up and down the country, sitting in the stands capturing every moment. Last year was a special year for Essex, with Anthony McGrath’s side reclaiming the County Championship title, and Nick was there for it all. So with the 2020 season delayed, Nick thought it would be nice to open up his camera and show everyone some of his favourite photos from a wonderful campaign.
Click here to read Part One, or click here to read Part Two.
Through The Lens (Part Three):
Description: 18th September 2019 – Ryan ten Doeschate celebrates Essex taking the wicket of Ben Foakes during Essex vs Surrey – County Championship match at The Cloudfm County Ground.
I love this picture of Tendo as it is a pretty rare moment but captures him brilliantly. He led the team so well, everyone at the ground respects him and he is such a nice guy. When I joined the Club he really went out of his way to make me feel welcome and as a Captain allowed me to get close to the team to capture their highs and lows. As a photographer you are looking for great reactions from the players but Tendo often keeps his cool and is often very calm – too calm for a photographer.
The safest bet for a photographer is to point the camera at Simon Harmer when he is bowling as something is normally going to happen and he tends to give a jubilant celebration which is like finding gold to a snapper. On this day I noticed that Ben Foakes, who was batting, was giving Tendo a sniff of a catch so decided to sit on Tendo with the camera and hope for the best – fortunately it came good and I got the reaction I was looking for. It also worked out well that Harmer is in the background celebrating. Often you can concentrate on a single player for a couple of hours and get absolutely nothing for your efforts but on this day I got lucky.
We like to build a great selection of shots of all the players whilst also trying to tell the story of the day so the marketing team can share what is happening with the fans. Reaction shots like the one above are a great addition to the collection and will get well used.
During a single day of shooting a county game I can easily fire off 2000 frames each of which needs to be looked at sorted and then the top 100 get cropped, straightened, tweaked for exposure and then we type into one who is in the image and what is happening. Most people don’t realise that it is the photographers who are captioning the images prior to sending them off to agencies and the papers – that is why you will see me at the ground with head down looking at the computer so much between overs – we try to edit, process, sort and dispatch live during the game.
Description: 18th September 2019 – Simon Harmer of Essex celebrates taking the wicket of Ollie Pope during Essex vs Surrey – County Championship match at The Cloudfm County Ground.
Simon Harmer is the gift that keeps on giving, especially if you are a photographer. You know when Simon bowls that wickets are going to drop so you don’t have to think too hard about where to point the camera. Simon tends to give you a good reaction too when he takes a wicket, so you have to concentrate hard to keep focused on him rather than quickly focusing upon other players and fielders. On this occasion Harmer had taken the wicket of Ollie Pope and after a short pause threw his hands and fingers in the air. With a big grin. I like to think he was looking for me to catch the moment and I am glad I did or else I might have got an earful later.
I also like the fact that umpire Saggers is in the frame, he is a really keen photographer himself who likes nothing better than a good chat about kit and equipment before, during and after a game.
This image also keeps the commercial team happy as I managed to adjust the crop to keep a sponsor’s name nice and visible – on any day of shooting I try to keep a number of possible customers happy – the fans, marketing team, commercial department, players and agency/newspapers. I see my job first and foremost as capturing the action on the day whilst also making the Club and players come across as best as possible. This is a slightly different brief to other snappers at games whose sole intent is capture the story as it unfolds – I try not to capture Essex wickets falling or other team celebrations (much to my agencies annoyance) but I find that editing pictures of the Essex lads having lost their wickets on the team bus home doesn’t make for a comfortable journey!
Description: 23rd September 2019 – Blotter stands ready on the outfield for the expected rain prior to Somerset vs Essex – County Championship match at The Cooper Associates County Ground.
This is one of the first shots I took at the last game of the season. It was a strange feeling not knowing if I wanted it to rain or not, I think most Essex fans were thinking the same thing if truth be told…
Turning up at Taunton, ready for the last game felt very surreal. Having won the T20 tournament was crazy but having the chance to witness and capture the double just seemed such an amazing opportunity.
When I first joined the Club I saw a number of images of past Essex teams lifting trophies and celebrating and I always hoped to be around and close enough to the team to be able to record it both for the fans and also the players. I feel a really strong sense of responsibility that the history of the Club should be recorded and captured, I feel that I play my part in helping the team by showing the players in the best possible way, recording their achievements. The opportunity to be the Club Photographer during a truly golden period felt great and I knew that I had the opportunity to catch some truly great shots that will be seen and enjoyed by fans for years to come.
All week I had been looking at the weather reports building up to the game and it looked as though rain might affect the game so I was keen to ensure that I got to the ground nice and early with the intention of looking for some rain related images. There seemed to be three stories the papers were keen to run with that week – the weather, the pitch and Jack Leach so I was intent on getting some of those covered. Having arrived really early I did my usual lap of the ground looking for the best angle to shoot from and anything that would suggest bad weather – the sky was a bit mixed with some clear blue but also a few dodgy looking clouds. Fortunately, I found a blotter that screams rain and the angle was great with the stand in the background. The biggest issue was that I had to shoot towards the sun and so the blotter came out very dark, so I had to play just a little in Photoshop to bring it back to life. I had my weather shot nice and early and hoped the umpires might catch a sighting in the paper and waste a few overs.
Description: 23rd September 2019 – The covers are on as rain stops play during Somerset vs Essex – County Championship match at The Cooper Associates County Ground.
I think this image summarises so much of those few exhausting days at Taunton. There was the constant threat of rain, hope of victory yet the menace of the pitch. I kept thinking of the earlier trip to Taunton to endure the rain savaged 50-over match and dreaded to think that we might again be on the receiving end of some bad luck.
I shot quite a lot on the first day from this angle, I was sat next to the Somerset snapper (finding where the home team photographer sits is always a quick way of finding a good angle) who wasn’t in too optimistic a mood for his team. Strangely enough I had ended up sitting next to him at Edgbaston for the T20 Finals Day so we got to know each other pretty well by now.
There was quite a battle of the brollies going on for much of the match – the sight of a cloud was enough for many Essex fans to whip out the brollies whilst the home fans resisted using them as much as possible – for my part I couldn’t shoot enough brollies and keep sending them off to the papers. This frame shows exactly where we were with the stand in the background along with the lights and town. At the time it was nerve wracking but looking back now, nothing but good memories.
Description: 24th September 2019 – Jack Leach of Somerset warms up prior to the Essex batting innings during Somerset vs Essex – County Championship match at The Cooper Associates County Ground.
The papers had been banging about Jack Leach for the last week and although I had captured a few standard shots nothing that did him or his glasses any real justice. I had decided to climb up the stairs and sit in the corner of the tallest stand so I had a good view of the field set by Somerset.
I arrived nice and early as usual, did my usual look around the ground but by the time I finished the loop and got back to my seat all of my kit had disappeared, so I spent the next 40 minutes finding out where it had been moved to by one of the stewards (he arrived a bit late and his mate forgot to tell him that it was my kit and they were keeping an eye on it for me).
I sat in my seat a bit grumpy and then Jack Leach came out and started warming up right in line with where I was sat and bowled a few balls down to his mate – it was perfectly set up which never happens – he even kept his specs on for me, I felt the day might turn out all right after all.
About Unshaken Photography:
Nick runs courses across the region for people with a range of ability, so book your place and get more from your cameras when taking photos. Locations for the courses include The Cloudfm County Ground in Chelmsford, Cambridge, Maidstone or St Albans.
Courses cover the basics for beginners, portraits, landscapes and even sport, so if you fancy improving your photography get in touch with Nick at [email protected], by phone on 01245 494258 or visit the website – click here.
