By Mugilan Rajasegeran
Photojournalist
mugilan@sph.com.sg

 

FROM JJ Lin's acoustic misadventure to the intrepid swarming of the purple shirts, there was no escaping the YOG for Singaporeans over the last fortnight or so, for all manner of reasons. For the photographers tasked with covering the Games as members of the Host News Agency, like myself, it was a mixed bag of feelings at first.  I was definitely chuffed at the chance to photograph sports full-time over the course of 12 days, as I have developed a keen interest in sports photography of late. However, being informed that I would have to shoot and coordinate the coverage of the swimming events day and night for six days was not very comforting news initially.

Truth be told, there were feelings of trepidation. Swimming is one of the most difficult sports to photograph, if not the most difficult. There are loads of elements beyond your control which can result in losing a great moment of a swimmer in the lead, none more so than the very water and its unpredictable motions which makes for great swimming photographs. I have shot my fair share of local swim meets and international ones, and I was fully aware that what could go wrong can go very wrong. One just has to bear that in mind and be dynamic enough to make quick decisions over the course of race which could end in seconds like the 50m freestyle where the swimmers frequently take only one gulp of air, allowing photographers just one moment to get a frame of the swimmer's face and expression (unshrouded by water, hopefully)

Looking back though, it was a great six days of pictures, where my colleagues and myself were pushing ourselves to produce not just the standard images of winners and their jubilation (or jubo shots, as we call them) but trying to work the ground to get unique angles and moment.

Click here to see Mugilan's photo essay on YOG swimmers.