Sometimes the big game is just a big dud.

There are blowouts every week in sportsland, but would would expect the BCS National Championship Game to be more of a – cough – game. Not so much. My challenge is to make something out of it. I sat there after the first half with Alabama up several touchdowns up on Notre Dame and ate a terrible hot dog in a media room where all the photographers just looked depressed. All of the excitement, the adrenaline, and preparedness was sucked right out of everyone. No hopes of a comeback. There were just a lot of shocked Notre Dame faces and chants of “Roll Tide!” Over. And over. And over.

We still have to push buttons and make rectangles. That is the challenge. I approach it that way. A challenge. It can be easier when a stinker of a game lets you forget about THE play or missing a crucial fumble, because that’s just not happening any more. In the hopes of making something different than the 100 other photogs in bibs making pictures, I switch lenses, slow shutters, and just avoid what is given to me. It’s time to take, seek, and think.—Chip Litherland

Sarasota, Florida based photographer and self described “color addict” Chip Litherland was commissioned by ESPN the Magazine to shoot the Alabama vs. Notre Dame game. A wider edit can be seen on Photoshelter.

Just over a month ago I was lucky enough to be commissioned by Red Bull’s magazine RedBulletin to fly to Ireland and cover the 4th stop on the Red Bull Cliff diving tour. The competition was to take place on the Arran island of Inis Mór, jutting out from the Atlantic off of the west coast of Ireland.

I was in the fortunate position of having got the commission on the strength of my feature ‘Mountain of Hell‘, a story I shot in the French Alps last year. This meant that they wanted a similar style and approach, and were keen for me to shoot it in black and white, but equally were more or less happy for me to do my own thing. For photographers these are generally seen as dream assignments as it shows that the commissioning picture editor trusts you to explore the story in your own way, thus giving you much creative freedom. Finding this can be rare, especially when it’s your first time working for a new client.

The assignment itself was a bit of a logistical challenge, with no accommodation left on the island, getting there everyday involved a bus, a boat, another bus and a bit of a hike at the end of it. This meant that my explorations were tied to timetables and other people’s schedules, and often when you’re shooting stories in such a way they are unpredictable and require a degree of flexibility.

Nevertheless the client was accommodating. At one point I was able to persuade them to let me commandeer their helicopter for a few precious minutes of flying time, something which allowed me to get a strong establishing shot of the island whilst showing off it’s 4000 year old hill fort, Dún Aengus.

In the end, due to editorial reasons they chose to run the feature in colour. I couldn’t help be a bit disappointed, but equally I’m well aware that’s it’s simply the nature of the beast. There’s no point taking these things personally, as I’m well aware from having spent my own time working behind the picture desk. Fortunately these days though with websites we can always publish our own version.—Greg Funnell

Greg Funnell is a freelance editorial photographer based in London.

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Adam Smith is a documentary photographer based in Seattle, Washington. This work is from his series, Fight Journal. He writes:

‘Mixed Martial Arts, often referred to as MMA or Cage Fighting, is the fastest growing sport in North America. Driven, disciplined and dedicated, these individuals embrace the terrifying contradictions that are manifest in all humans. To succeed they must harness the power of human heart, embrace brutality’s beauty, endure crushing physical pain, and confront basic primal fears each day.’

For the past six years I have been photographing the sub-culture of burnout competitions in Australia. The guys and girls who compete in the various competitions across Australia are a passionate bunch. As a photographer I enjoy the visual feast of a superb and powerful car on the black of the burnout pad juxtaposed against the softness of the tire smoke. In reality a burnout is extremely loud and aggressive but in the photos there is a sense of calm… poetic in a way.

Born in New Zealand, raised in Sydney, Simon Davidson discovered photography at the age of 25. His early years of photography were spent in the darkroom developing film and printing black and white images. Moving to New York in the late nineties to assist fashion photographers, Davidson returned to Australia in the new millennium to further assist before dabbling in fashion photography. A chance excursion to a street drag racing meet one cold winter evening changed the direction of his work, and he has been photographing Australian custom car culture as a personal endeavour for the last decade. This project has allowed him a healthy editorial career in the Australian modified and custom V8 car scene, leading to an advertising career. While the cars are central to the project, the people, and the characters are a rich source of subject.

Bertil Nilsson was born in Sweden and currently lives and works in London, U.K. He creates imagery for commercial and editorial clients alongside his artistic practice and personal projects. In his work, which takes inspiration from movement and the human form, he collaborates extensively with dancers and contemporary circus performers.

Nilsson’s first book, Undisclosed: Images of the Contemporary Circus Artist, was published in September 2011.

Courts examines representations of the enclosed spaces of sports courts. In photographing the empty courts, absent of the fast paced action we are so familiar with, these environments reveal themselves in a new light. The camera shows details that the viewer can see closely, revealing many subtleties that usually go unnoticed. The vivid stains, ball marks, blood and scratches force the viewer to focus on these details rather than just the court.

Elliott Wilcox is a London based, British photographer who recently graduated from the University of Westminster, MA Photographic Studies program. He has exhibited internationally and in the UK, his first major series ‘Courts’ was part of the show ‘PRUNE – Abstracting Reality’ at FOAM Gallery Amsterdam.

Oli Kellett is a London-based photographer who earned his degree from St. Martins Art College. He worked at several London ad agencies as an art director before leaving in 2008 to pursue photography full time. His recent project is entitled ‘Team Vodkovia’ and features a digitally-designed team of olympic hopefuls from the fictitious country of Vodkovia.

What was your vision and inspiration behind the Team Vodkovia series?
‘The idea for “Team Vodkovia” started in the spring of 2011 when Olympic fever was really beginning over here in London. I thought it would be good to get involved and would be fun to invent some athletes who were specifically matched to the event they would participate in. Brave New World Style.’

You worked closely with retouchers, writers, designers, etc. to create the whole visual story. Can you talk a little about that process?
‘We started thinking about athletes and events and I was sending ideas through to Kai, a retoucher at The Operators, who was letting me know what was possible.

‘Eventually we settled on eight athletes and spent a long weekend shooting them in a studio in North London. After the shoot, The Operators started the retouching job which meant a lot of arms and legs of different bodies stitched onto new ones.

‘At about this point I thought about how I could get the images out to creatives and Art Buyers and get the series a bit of PR. I thought to create a “Top Trump” themed mailer and I started brainstorming fictitious background information for each athlete.

‘When the images were almost ready, I got in touch with a couple of graphic designers I knew and a writer. It was important that I had the images nearly done so I could get them excited about the idea. Luckily they liked it and we all agreed it had the potential to go bigger; it could be an entire country, and this was their first Olympic games. Three months later “Team Vodkovia” was born and is ready to take on the world.

‘Writing and design was done by Konstantinos Kanellopoulos, and the website was designed by Kostja Paschalidis. There is also a poster which is going to be sent out to advertise the country.’

What has the feedback been like so far?
‘I was asked to do a presentation of my work in December so I took that as a good opportunity to launch “Team Vodkovia”. I got an actor to play the President of Vodkovia. I dressed him up and he gave a rousing and enthusiastic speech introducing each of the athletes and their background. I don’t think anyone was expecting it but I think it went down well.’

How do envision it evolving as it gets closer to the Olympics?
‘What I would love is for some print and online magazines which are not art/photography related to run the images. It would be great if the project could cross over into the ‘real’ sports world as a bit of fun. That’s when I will consider the project to be a success.’

The whole idea of the series is really quirky – from the images themselves to the online shop to physically designing an entire country – is there some kind of message or statement you’re trying to make through the images and intricacy of the project as a whole?
‘Well the project didn’t start off this big. It was originally just a sketch of a guy with long legs riding a bike, but has grown quite naturally along the way. There is no message as such, just meant to be a bit of entertainment. I feel people remember ‘the idea’ more than the images (in most photography), so the more work I can put into ‘the idea’, like the biographies and shop, I hope will result in more people remembering the project.’

This post was contributed by Ariel Body.

Jesse Burke is a photographer working primarily with themes related to vulnerability and identity, as well as human’s complicated relationship with nature. Burke’s photographs evoke a deep lushness with images of velvet black darkness, blankets of pine needles, blood, love, and sadness. He is drawn to moments where a rupture or wound is physically, emotionally, or metaphorically inflicted. This series of hunting stands is part of a larger body of work entitled Blind. Burke writes:

Blind is an exploration into masculine identity as well as man’s obsession with and innate calling to simultaneously dominate and embrace the natural world. The work explores concepts related to hunting- such as death and power, fragility and vulnerability, identity, mutability and camouflage. I am also interested in the awkward, yet often beautiful and romantic, relationship we share with nature. The images serve largely as evidence of hunting rituals and are meant to evoke a sense of disconnect and strangeness, yet retain a seductive and tender quality.