Now that all sorts of other 2012 reviews/toplists are popping up, I figured I'd post my favorite five photos (in no particular order) I shot during 2012 esports events:
Poll: Which photo is your favorite?
Photo A (Browder & Morhaime) (406)
32%
Photo D (HerO) (394)
31%
Photo E (Stephano & Morgan) (160)
13%
Photo B (MKP @ IPTL) (125)
10%
They're all bad (113)
9%
One that isn't here (57)
4%
Photo C (viOlet, Leenock & Polt) (21)
2%
1276 total votes
Your vote: Which photo is your favorite?
(Vote): Photo A (Browder & Morhaime) (Vote): Photo B (MKP @ IPTL) (Vote): Photo C (viOlet, Leenock & Polt) (Vote): Photo D (HerO) (Vote): Photo E (Stephano & Morgan) (Vote): They're all bad (Vote): One that isn't here
2012 was quite a year for me since I traveled to nine esports events to take photos for TL. My favorite events to shoot were probably the NASL finals in Toronto and Long Beach followed by IPL4. I was lucky enough to have unfettered access throughout the entire venue for each of the NASL live events and being officially allowed to shoot from between player rows at IPL4 really made my life a lot easier. My hope for 2013 is that event staff will start consulting with photographers about booth design to make sure lighting is sufficient and unintrusive to players.
Just a short list of special thanks
R1CH -- for tolerating my short, terse PMs of 'photos are up' at odd EST hours
Carlton Beener -- for being an awesome friend to travel with at events he shoots for ESFI
GHOSTCLAW -- for being a terrific second shooter at non-MLG events and rooming with me at a couple others
Morgan Stone -- for always letting me have free rein around NASL events to grab backstage shots
Other photographers/press at events -- always good to have people to shoot the shit and complain about lighting with
TL staff -- Hot_Bid in particular for giving me the chance in 2011 to start shooting for TL and dealing with my constant questions about photo access at various events, and Lovedrop in particular for talking to Hot_Bid for me to get my foot in the door
Liquipedia staff -- for going through all the photos I upload to update player profiles and event articles
Everyone who plays live Mafia at events -- I have no early game. At all.
Everyone who posts comments -- on photo threads, blogs, Twitter; I just wish the hilariously hipster photos would stop getting so much love, though XD
Everyone I forgot -- my memory blows; sorry!
Any thoughts or comments on these photos? Let me know if there's any suggestions you guys might have for this upcoming year.
I'm torn between Browder and Hero. Both pictures really capture the moment. The former has built in irony, and it feels like the subject was caught red handed. The latter characterizes pro esports so well.
HerO tops the cake...just captivates his passion for his game...after frustrating losses one after another at previous tournaments he's finally able to win back-to-back tournaments
They are all nice in one way or another, but the stephano one feels like a would make a good desktop wallpaper for some reason, so I voted for that. (plus it's stephano /bias)
hero looks more in pain than in joy, and the marineking one is quite flustered.
the rest certainly do not belong anywhere near "esports" photos of the year. It's only sc2 related and I certainly don't think a giggling dustin browder is worth any top list.
I really like Hero's photo. It shows a lot of emotion and the shot is amazing. The Stephano picture is also really good, and I love the positioning, but it doesn't really spell out esports or sc2.
EPT
