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Belgian cyclist Jolen D’Or competes at the women’s Omnium individual chase program on August 15, 2016 during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Photo: Elsa / Getty Images |
Elsa Garison is a trailblazer in the world of sports photography. She was the first female staff photographer in the Getty Image and is famous for her images capturing the prestigious moments in the history of the game. She is just known by her first name in the industry, which says quite quite. His work includes coverage of colleges and professional programs worldwide, including Olympics, World Series, Super Bowl, NBA Final, US Open, FIFA World Cup and NCAA Finals. He is in depth of the busy time of the year, but despite this, he took time to answer some questions as a sports photographer to answer some questions about his work and experiences.
Elsa’s first experience with photography was in the ninth grade when she took an alternative analog photography class. It quickly agreed to work with the school’s year book and newspaper, took a picture of his friends who played the game to share experiences with him. Then, during his Sophomore Year, he was matched for a mentarship with local newspaper photographer Steve Khals, who worked for Brainard Daily Dispatch in Brainard, Minnesota. After that experience a part -time job work was done for paper, which included a lot of high school sports photographs.
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On September 22, 2013, the New York Yankis Pitcher Mariano Riviera runs on the ground at the Yanki Stadium before facing San Franciso giants. The occasion marked the Mariano Riviera Day, which was a special tribute to him by Yanki. Photo: Elsa / Getty Images |
She continued to be interested in the photo journalism, and Elsa graduated at Missouri University. During his college years, he continued to work part -time, this time with the university’s athletic department, town paper and associated press. In 1996, soon after graduating in college, Elsa was hired by a sports photo agency AllSport. Getty Images acquired AllSport in 1998, but she stayed as a staff photographer and continues to work there till date.
“I felt as if I had to justify my existence or prove myself every day.”
Sports photography, like many other areas, is traditionally a very male-oriented area. “When I started for the first time, a long time, I will be the only woman on the field, besides members of the cheer squad or medical staff,” Elsa said. He said that it was also true in cities with big media markets. There were enough women traveling and covered the game as if she started her career, which came with her challenges. “It was often isolated and I questioned my choice a lot,” he said. “I felt as if I had to justify my existence or prove myself every day and it is emotionally tedious.”
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New York Liberty’s number 20, Sabrina Ioncu celebrated with her husband, Hronis Grassu on October 20, 2024, after winning the WNBA Championship against Minnesota Links. Photo: Elsa / Getty Images |
Now, however, she sees more women working as team photographers or as photographers for wires, papers and league social teams. He explained that he has especially seen a tremendous growth in the last five years, as more women get opportunities to work in sports.
“My hope girls and women see themselves in the game.”
Help in that growth is important for Elsa; By that end, she actively advises women and reduces photographers. She gives great importance to mentarships because it can be a path to achieve goals and dreams. “There is a saying that if you can see it you can do this. It gives women the courage to pursue it to see it to be successful in sports photography,” she explained. “I hope girls and women see themselves in sports – as an athlete or someone like me who covers it as a photographer – and they know that they are not only here, but that their contribution is worthy and needed.”
Elsa’s work tells about every game you can imagine. He said that he does not have a favorite for the document, but the saucer loves sports like baseball, tennis and boxing and MMA. He said, he really loves to capture the playoffs and finals of any game. “The atmosphere is different from a regular season game because the higher line is on the line. The matches are usually tight and the environment is electric,” he explained.
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During the medal ceremony at the Women’s Floor Exercise gold medalist Brazil’s Rebecca Andred, 5 August, 2024, during the medal ceremony at the Parist 2024 Olympic Games, both of the United States celebrate silver medalist Simone Biles and Bronze medalist on the podium with Jordan Chiles. Photo: Elsa / Getty Images |
Of course, taking photographs of those big events also comes with challenges. “Each place is different, and where it is working as logistics to shoot, what moments are important and technically how to capture them and distribute them in real time,” Elsa explains. The picture of major sports events means that images are often required to be sent immediately with captions, so they can be published immediately. To help with it, she uses voice captions that are attached to photographs, which leads to rapidly in getting caption information for the editor.
Elsa has taken pictures of several monumental sports events that are full of memorable moments for fans and athletes. However, she says that she usually does not understand the gravity of the moment until after this fact. She focuses more on documenting visual and technical aspects of the choice of cameras and lenses, so she does not process importance until after the event.
“I like the challenge of capturing the moments that people must be talking about that day and the years to come.”
However, this does not mean that she does not look at the importance of her work – she said that the ability to freeze moments in history is really special. He said, “I get butterflies in my stomach when I think something big is going to happen – the last second of the World Cup final or the last second from game intake in a world chain,” he said. “I am not a game fan from per per, but I like the challenge of capturing the moments that people are talking about and the years to come.”
Elsa’s work speaks for herself, countless powerful, with iconic shots of major sports moments. More importantly, however, he has also left a permanent impact on the world of sports photography, and has paved the way for more women. You can see more work of Elsa in most places where sports photos are shown, His website and on Instagram,
