2013-05-18T19:35:08-04:00 Matthew Seed http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=matthew-seed Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Matthew Seed Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1787527 2012-08-16T04:59:34-04:00 2012-10-15T05:12:02-04:00

Matthew Seed http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-seed/
Some sporting participants have taken with them precious medals. Even those who weren't blessed with sufficient luck or talent to claim a place on the podium leave the London Olympics with a wealth of memories.

They are not alone.

Whether we took part, took our places at one of the magnificent venues or merely took up the sofa for some or all of the 17 days of competition, we will have our favourite recollections of the events and the ceremonies.

In years to come, our brains will dull, reshape and add colour or detail to the rememberances which we have filed away.

The same will not be true of the record amassed by still and video cameras.

It may not come as a surprise, therefore, that while the battle to best rival teams was eagerly contested, attempts to produce the defining images of the Games was keenly fought too.

The world's premier publications assigned the best sports photographers to the task.

Camera manufacturers were also determined to try and ensure that the most jaw-dropping pictures were taken using their equipment. They were motivated not only by a desire to contribute to sporting history but to prompt post-Games sales from amateur enthusiasts wanting to try and match the workmanship of the pros.

Even though sport photography is a different discipline to the work I do, I appreciate it as an art in its own right. Critics will scoff that in today's world of hi-tech remote triggers, ever more powerful digital cameras and image processing software, getting the shot is just about being in the right place at the right time.

Yet over the two weeks of the Games, we saw countless incredible examples of how creative sports photography can be. More than seeing people kicking a ball into a net or dipping for the finishing line, I have been struck by the use of equipment and composition to generate genuinely poignant, dramatic and dynamic results.

I have marvelled at scenes of gymnastic contortion, of athletic power and of very raw emotion.
One thing which I do share with sports photographers is the pressure of time. We are all trying to capture the very briefest of moments.

To portray the personality and strength of a horse, I will use a shutter speed of 1/800th of a second. In the most explosive of Olympic sports, some photographers will have used speeds several times that fast.

Whereas I am able to take another image to create a specific and dramatic effect, sports photographers can't ask Usain Bolt to re-run his sprints because their memory cards were full or their autofocus wasn't working.

Yet both our photographic disciplines produce images with a capacity all of their own to move viewers to almost the same degree as the scene which we have recorded.

I have taken great pleasure in wading through huge piles of newsprint every morning and being stopped in my tracks by an image in one of the national newspapers which simply made me gasp "Wow".

Even with my many years behind the lens, during Olympic fortnight, I have been frequently reminded why I became hooked on photography.

Like athletes bested on the track, in the pool or on the bike, competing publications will see how they can match their rivals' efforts next time around.

On the evidence of London 2012, the photographic game has certainly been stepped up.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1590202 2012-06-12T12:36:59-04:00 2012-08-12T05:12:06-04:00

Matthew Seed http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-seed/
In addition to the first Olympics to be staged in these islands for more than 60 years, comes an event which marks precisely Queen Elizabeth II's six decades on the throne: the Diamond Jubilee.

Of all the pomp to be expected of such a notable anniversary, there is one pageant which stands out.

The first Trooping of the Colour predated the last London Olympic opening ceremony by 200 years. In the period since becoming queen, Elizabeth II's official birthday celebrations have become something of an annual fixture in many living rooms across the country because of live television coverage.

Like many people, as a boy I was repeatedly transfixed by a Saturday morning's viewing in which my parents' TV screen seemed like a window to a bygone age. Massed regiments of foot soldiers, brass bands and regimental standards provided magical scenes.

The ceremony involves regimental flags or 'colours' being carried down the ranks of soldiers. For more than a century, the reigning monarch has personally taken the salute before inspecting the more than 1,400 troops on show. The only exception during the present Queen's reign occurred in 1955, when a national train strike scuppered plans for the parade.

Given the number of servicemen and women on show not only on Horseguards Parade but during the entire day - including the now traditional fly-past by the Royal Air Force - the arrangements have to be incredibly well-drilled and precise. A full rehearsal known as The Major General's Review is held a week or more in advance of the actual celebrations.

This year, all eyes will be on The Coldstream Guards whose new regimental banners are being 'trooped' before the Queen, having been given to them by her in a ceremony at Windsor Castle.

However, many people's real attention will be drawn not to the hoisting of the colours but to the horses on duty. Whether escorting the monarch away from Buckingham Palace or being inspected by her on Horse Guards Parade, the plumes and dress of the Household Cavalry are for many - in this country and abroad - the very essence of British-ness.

Their ranks comprise both Farriers and Troopers, who draw and wield their axes and swords respectively as they advance past the monarch of the day.

Thankfully for the tourists and squeamish alike, the Farriers rarely rely on their axes for anything other than ceremonial purposes these days. In times past, they would be used to despatch horses which had been wounded in battle before lopping off their hooves. These would be marked with a regimental number so that barracks would know how many of the animals had fallen in action.

Just as that tradition has lapsed, so too has the idea of the Queen observing the event on horseback. She has watched every Trooping the Colour since 1987 from a carriage following the retirement of her favourite mount, a black mare called Burmese.

Nevertheless, even in her Diamond Jubilee year she might be as rapt as the rest of us not in the idea of her Official Birthday parade but the rich imagery which that birthday draws together.]]>