All photos © Kevin Steele

Last August, advertising and editorial photographer Kevin Steele attended the Santa Barbara Triathlon, one of the longest running triathlons in the world. Steele says the grey weather and light drizzle were “great conditions” for photographing the one-mile swim, 34-mile bike ride and ten-mile run in black-and-white. ”I shoot people in motion and active lifestyle. Knowing that I wanted to get very close to the athletes while being very careful to not get in their way, I approached the Race Director and organizers well before to gain access and trust,” he explains of the process of photographing the event. “I was in and out of a wetsuit along with the swimmers, running barefoot with the runners and generally having a great time letting intuition be in the driver’s seat.” His goal? To focus on telling the story of the participants in about a dozen images.

(more…)

© Sol Neelman.  Chessboxing. Berlin.

Sol Neelman is a failed athlete turned sports photographer living in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, USA. In 2007, he left his staff job at The Oregonian newspaper to pursue a life-long project documenting sports culture around the globe. This past spring, Kehrer Verlag in Heidelberg, Germany released his first book, “Weird Sports,” in the United States. His images have also appeared in a variety of publications, including National Geographic, Stern, ESPN The Magazine, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, TIME and The New York Times. He has a weekly photo column on Wired.com and is already busy working on his next book, cleverly titled “Weird Sports 2.” These recent images are a sneak peak.

(more…)

© Ahren Nunag

American Muay Thai kickboxer Romie Adanza, after he knocked out competitor Langsuanlak Sasiprapa in October 2011. This photo was shot by Ahren Nunag and won first place in the “On the Court” category in the amateur division of PDN‘s 2012 The SHOT sports photography contest. Today is the deadline for the 2013 contest. Visit www.pdnshot.com for more information.

“Jimmy Lannon, Manual, San Francisco, California,” 2011. © Allen Ying

Allen Ying is a Brooklyn, New York-based skateboard photographer as well as the founder and editor of 43 magazine. For him, skateboard photography is about more than just taking photos of skaters doing tricks. His goal is to show the “authenticity and artistry of skateboarding” in his images, while also reflecting the culture of the sport. On Friday, September 28, Kinfolk Studios in Brooklyn, New York, will open “Allen Ying: Select Photographs 2002-2012.” Some prints exhibited will also be available to purchase for $50.

(more…)

All photos © Jorg Badura

This Friday, the Surfer’s Environmental Alliance will host the sixth annual SEAPaddle NYC to raise money for environmental projects and autism charities. For the event, participants paddle surfboards around the island of Manhattan for a total distance of 26.5 miles. Paddlers, who have all raised funds in the lead up to the event, can choose to leisurely make the journey in the Annual Paddle or compete in the Elite Paddle race. Sports and adventure photographer Jorg Badura has photographed the SEAPaddle event since its inception and last year chose to shoot the paddlers at the finish line as they got out of the water. The portraits show the level of athleticism required of the event’s varied participants, who bravely paddled the waters of the Hudson and East Rivers for a good cause.

(more…)