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In The Moment
By Tom Jenkins
Hardback (other formats)
RRP £30.00
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Full description
'In the Moment is a handsome retrospective and Jenkins mostly lets his pictures speak for him. There are subtle hints, however, at the dedication that has produced this sustained excellence.' Observer
So many people have asked me about the picture of me going down the tunnel after the Rugby World Cup final in 2003. My head is bowed and I have my hands out, simply acknowledging our supporters who had been fantastic throughout the whole tournament. It was only recently that I doscovered that that particular picture was taken by Tom Jenkins. In my view, sports photography is about many things. It's about being in the right place at the right time and it's about capturing any one particular moment and being able to tell the story of that moment by brilliant images rather than words.
I confess I know very little about the capabilities of modern-day digital cameras or, indeed, soft or hard focus although I'm sure that, technically, that shot was as good as it could be. However, what I do know is that during those precise few seconds, Tom Jenkins wasn't just in the right place at the right time but he captured the essence of that moment perfectly. I certainly view it as one of my favourite shots of what was a memorable few weeks.
Jonny Wilkinson
Tom Jenkins has been photographing international sporting events for over twenty years. His most celebrated pictures show his unerring ability to create indelible, insightful and sometimes iconic images. His famous picture of Usain Bolt winning his second gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic games has rightly become one of the most indelible images of the early 21st century. Here, for the first time, the best of his work is drawn together in one volume, proving that whether he is portraying football or rugby, tennis or cricket, cycling or sumo, Tom has an unmatched talent for seeing the bigger picture and for appreciating both the pain and the passion of sporting endeavour.
Synopsis
Book Details
| Publisher: |
|---|
| Guardian Books |
| Publication Date: |
| 27-Jun-2008 |
| ISBN: |
| 9780852652855 |
Observer review
the observer Sat 09 June 2012
There has to be, you'd imagine, a hefty chunk of luck in most sports action photography. You can only guess and speculate, for example, who will score the decisive goal at which end of the pitch unless you are an Italian betting syndicate and you have to be constantly vigilant for freak incidents and upset results. Then there are those telling exchanges that truly define sport and its heroes think Andrew Flintoff consoling Brett Lee after the second Ashes Test in 2005. These moments resonate precisely because they are so unexpected.
Yet, flicking through Tom Jenkins's In the Moment, the first collection of more than 20 years of sports photography, much of it for the Guardian and the Observer, luck is not a word that comes to mind. It seems for every major sporting occasion of the past two decades, Jenkins was not only there, but in the perfect spot to supply the definitive image of the event.
He concedes there have been moments of good fortune. When Jonny Wilkinson lined up the drop-goal that would win England the 2003 Rugby World Cup, Jenkins was on the wrong side of the pitch to catch much more than the left-footed player's backside. As it happened, though, Wilkinson popped it over with his right boot.
But it is what happened next that is revealing about Jenkins. While other photographers concentrated on the England players' wild celebrations, he alone tracked Wilkinson as he modestly returned head bowed, job done to the dressing room. From that one event, Jenkins came home with a sublime action shot and a portrait that reveals so much more.
In the Moment is a handsome retrospective and Jenkins mostly lets his pictures speak for him. There are subtle hints, however, at the dedication that has produced this sustained excellence. There's the caption under the 2007 Tough Guy endurance race the scene resembles the Somme more than an athletic event which notes that the conditions were so awful that he ended up in hospital with pneumonia. Or an epic, disorientating in-flight photograph of Blake Aldridge and Tom Daley from a synchronised diving event at the Beijing Olympics that required Jenkins to be strapped to a girder in the roof.
An introductory essay from regular collaborator Richard Williams offers further insights. Jenkins was skilled enough at snooker to have played against Ronnie O'Sullivan as a young man, but it was his time studying with Magnum photographer David Hurn at the Gwent College of Higher Education in Newport that appears to have had a lasting impact on his approach. Hurn required all his students to take photographs every day; he also restricted them to one roll of film per job. That meant just 36 exposures, an economy that still inspires Jenkins, even though digital cameras now permit thousands of images.
As Jenkins says: "I can sit next to guys with cameras at a cricket match now who're hosing down every single ball, and they're still not getting the picture. They are not really looking, not analysing what's going on. It's like going fishing and putting so much bait out that you're bound to catch something. But that's not how it works."
About this author
Tom Jenkins has been at the forefront of British sports photography for over 20 years. After studying documentary photography at Gwent College of Higher Education, he was soon working regularly for the Guardian and Observer. His photography has won him many awards: he was Young Press Photographer in 1990 and named Sports Photograper of the Year in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. Most recently, he was awarded 2011 Sports Portfolio of the Year. Tom lives in north London with his wife and their two children.






