Author Archives: Jon Stapley

Sports photographer Eddie Keogh recalls photographing the all-important Germany-Argentina clash of 2014

Germany’s Mario Goetze lifts the World Cup trophy after the 2014 World Cup final against Argentina at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro July 13, 2014. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

I felt very privileged to be part of the Reuters photo team covering the World Cup in Rio in 2014, but was even happier when asked to be part of the team that stayed to cover the World Cup Final between Argentina and Germany.

It was an incredible setup: eleven photographers covering every angle on the pitch and from balcony positions high in the stand. There were even cameras bolted to the roof to give a very high view of each goalmouth.

Now as you can imagine, almost every media outlet in the world wanted to use a picture of the winning team holding aloft the World Cup trophy. So this was a big deal for Reuters, and by extension for us. We knew that if we got it wrong, our whole World Cup would finish on a downer.

We started with a team meeting, three hours before kick-off, where our photo editor Pawel Kopczynski briefed us all with the plan on how we were going to shoot the game, shoot penalties if it came to that, and finally how we would tackle the all-important trophy lift.

Camera equipment is seen inside the Canon loan service office at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, July 12, 2014. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh 

The shoot

Our most important moments were in the aftermath of the game. When the dust settled, Germany emerged victorious. Mario Gotze scored the winner in extra time, finally putting down a frustrated Argentina who had not once managed a shot on target.

My colleague Dylan Martinez, also based in the UK, but with a sizeable amount of Argentinian blood in his veins, nailed the shot of the winning goal for Germany and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

When the final whistle blew, Germany immediately celebrated, and photographers were left with the choice between shooting that or getting a picture of Argentina’s Lionel Messi looking distraught.

Meanwhile, our two German photographers Kai Pfaffenbach and Michael Dalder were manoeuvring for the best head on presentation positions.

Photographers take their position for the award ceremony of the 2014 World Cup final between Germany and Argentina at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro July 13, 2014. REUTERS/David Gray 

Due to the amount of photographers in that exact position, it wasn’t possible for Kai and Michael to shoot tethered. A photo technician had to wait behind them, ready to grab their card as soon as they felt they had the picture. It would then take valuable minutes before the photo technician would be able to get the pictures back to the computer to spool them into the desk.

Myself and three other photographers on the pitch remained tethered to our cables so that our pictures were moving real time as we shot the lifting of the trophy. I was positioned on the other side of the pitch, about  70 metres away from where the trophy was being presented, using my Canon EOS-1DX with a 600mm f/4 and shooting at ISO 1600, 1/1000sec at f/4.

Germany’s captain Philipp Lahm lifts near coach Joachim Loew (R) the World Cup trophy after the 2014 World Cup final against Argentina at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro July 13, 2014. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

For jobs like this, the editor and processors in the office will have a caption ready, meaning as soon as the first pictures arrive they can be cropped, captioned and sent out to our clients via satellite. On this job, pictures were dropping with our clients within three minutes of the trophy lift, which even by these standards is incredibly quick, and goes with Reuters’ reputation for moving world-breaking pictures with speed and accuracy.

It was a great night, everything went to plan, and we finished it off by knocking a few beers into the back of the net.

The Reuters photographers. (Top L-R) Michael Dalder, Leonhard Foeger, Dylan Martinez, Sergio Moraes, Kai Pfaffenbach, Damir Sagolj and Paulo Whitaker. (Bottom L-R) Darren Staples, David Gray, Eddie Keogh and Ricardo Moraes. REUTERS/Paul Robinson 

Eddie Keogh is a professional sports photographer. View his portfolio at his website, eddiekeogh.com

Susannah Ireland travels to West Delhi to photograph a fascinating and threatened community

General view of the Kathputli slum colony of New Delhi, India, December 10th, 2014. All images by Susannah Ireland

Recently I embarked upon a photo essay documenting the lives and activities of residents in the Kathputli (or Puppeteers’) Colony, a community of artists in an area of West Delhi in India.

Popularised by Salman Rushdie’s novel Midnight’s Children, the slum has been famed for over 60 years for its dense population of puppeteers, acrobats, snake-charmers, musicians, dancers, actors and street performers – making it the world’s largest community of street performers.

Puppeteer Sarju Bhaat practises using his puppets at his home in the Kathputli slum colony of New Delhi, India, December 7th, 2014.

Their community and subsequent livelihood is under threat from demolition by the Delhi Development Authority, who want to clear the slums the people live in to make way for luxury flats and shops. The artists would be relocated into a nearby transit camp in a high-rise apartment block, making it impossible, so they claim, to practice their art.

Jagdeesh Makkhan is pictured performing the Kachhi Ghodi traditional Rajasthani folk dance at his home in the Kathputli slum colony of New Delhi, India, December 7th, 2014. 

As a foreigner and lone female with only limited grasp of Hindi, it would be inadvisable for me to simply walk into a slum and expect co-operation. I therefore sought the help of a local charity, which was already working with residents of the slum to assist my project.

A monkey is pictured chained up outside a urinal in the Kathputli slum colony of New Delhi, India, December 7th, 2014. 

I was acutely aware of the patronising nature of ‘slum tourism’ and did not want to fall into any negative stereotypes of ‘poverty porn’ in my portrayal of the residents and their campaign, whilst also being careful not to glamourise or romanticise the obvious lack of basic facilities and challenging living conditions.

Consequently, I had quite a few meetings with the charity volunteers and community residents to establish my intentions as a photojournalist, understanding their grievances and building trust in the community before even shooting a single frame.

Rajasthani puppets are pictured in the home of a puppet maker Ghita Devi in the Kathputli slum colony of New Delhi, India, December 8th, 2014. 

I spent several days with the charity outreach workers travelling around the slum, visiting families and artists and setting up my equipment in the quite limited space. I was lucky enough to have a translator with me who helped enormously with setups and explanations.

All the residents I met were brilliant – an inspiration of artistry and resilience despite such challenging conditions. They were all against the planned demolition of the site and were extremely helpful in any efforts to raise awareness and help fight against it.

Seven-year-old Mohip Beda performs dressed in a monkey costume at the Kathputli slum colony of New Delhi, India, December 7th, 2014.

I became aware about half way through the project that the charity I was working with wasn’t quite as legitimate as I’d originally thought. The apparently philanthropic owner seemed to be asleep whenever I turned up, even in the middle of the day, or else drunk and not contactable.

I began to suspect it was just an establishment designed to exploit and profit from the infamous nature of the slum, a conductor of slum tours for foreigners – the exact thing I was intent on avoiding.  The volunteers who actually worked, and sometimes lived, in the colony were brilliant though, but hinted that much of the money made by the charity never actually reached the residents it claimed to help.

I decided to continue working with the volunteers, and distance myself from the owner if at all possible.

Fire breather Amit Kumar Bhatt practising his craft at his home in the Kathputli slum colony of New Delhi, India, December 10th, 2014.

Shooting the firebreathing artist (above) was very dramatic, although it made me slightly nervous, as health and safety didn’t appear to exist and there were a lot of children running around the already cramped location.

I also had to be careful to avoid getting bitten by rats whilst trying to get particular angles on the images I needed, which once involved wading through sewage.

It was fascinating observing all the micro-industries and industrious enterprises operating in the colony though, and how much creativity can thrive in such a small space.

Magician Sohil Kahn practises his magic with a white rat at his home in the Kathputli slum colony of New Delhi, India, December 7th, 2014. 

The Kathputli colony campaign is still ongoing, and the residents are still campaigning against the clearance of their home, despite some residents having already been moved on. My story was published in The Independent on Sunday Magazine and the colony’s campaign has reached the attention of the international media, something I hope my photo essay contributed to, although how much influence that will have on subsequent government policy is yet to seen.

Children walk home on the railway track which runs alongside the Kathputli slum colony of New Delhi, India, December 10th, 2014.

Susannah Ireland is an editorial and documentary photographer. She can be reached at susannahireland.com. Susannah was talking to Jon Stapley