Sport photography

I have never done any sport photography. But still I was interested to learn more about it. So I went to a lecture about the topic by Anita Riemersma. She is a professional sports photographer in the Netherlands. She showed a lot of her work and gave some advise and tips. Here are some of these:

• Understand the sport. Otherwise you cannot anticipate the action.
• Contact the organizers of the event to be allowed to photograph and to get a good spot.
• Photograph action, emotion, and atmosphere. 
• Use a telephoto and a zoom lens on different cameras. You don't have time to switch lenses. 
• Use automatic ISO and shutter speed or aperture priority depending on what you want to achieve. No time for fully manual.
• Use continuous autofocus.
• Use burst mode for fast action. 
• Find a good position. Use a remote trigger if you want to shoot from a dangerous position. 

By the way, did you know there are also sport events for insects? In certain Asian countries, insect fighting is a big thing. It is a spectators sport that dates back many centuries. For example, the Chinese Cricket Championships is an annual cricket-fighting competition held in Beijing. There is a lot of gambling involved in these events, although it is illegal at many places. For more information, see the Wikipedia page or search for insect fight on YouTube.