Some say you only take photographs of Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates, you say you inclined to do so because your clientele consists of those looking for Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns moments. How would you describe what you do?

I'd describe myself as a photographer to football players, where footballers commission me to take photos of them in action for their social media. I'm not an editorial photographer. I'm not here to cover a game or tell a story about the game, but I'm here to tell a story about a specific athlete so that they can use the images to enhance their social media presence.

Unlike conventional sports photography, your photography has a storytelling twist to it. You combine portrait photography with sports in high-contrast images. How have you positioned yourself as a photographer?

Over and above embodying myself as a photographer who exists to highlight athletes and their personas, I am also highly concerned by the longevity of my images. Would this photograph look good 10 Years later? Is this something I or the athlete would like to hang on the walls of our homes for the next couple of years? These are the standards I've set for myself and utilise to determine whether an image is good or not.

What are your thoughts on South Africa's sports photography and media landscape?

My overall thoughts are we are still far off where we should be. I do not believe we have squeezed out all the potential avenues that our sports landscape offers.

With regards to overall sports: We are still a largely overall editorial environment, where images are produced and used for the purposes of news reporting and then forgotten or discarded.

We are at a point where today we no longer have a football magazine, meaning one less place to see football images.

You've covered various sports, local and international competitions, how do local competitions compare with international competitions?

I think the biggest difference you will notice is the level at which organisers operate at, there is clearly no room for error at an international level and every small detail is thought out and planned. At an international level it's clearly all business and the sport is for only for those on the field.

We still have some sort of catching up to do at a local level, some processes we can digitise and eliminate some of the red tape we create by utilising manual processes.

Another big difference that I've noticed as a photographer is image usage and asset maximisation. International organizations try to make the most of the assets they capture, repurposing them in as many ways as possible to stay relevant and fresh.

How do you see the role of sports photographers evolving with the rise of social media and instant engagement?

I think social media has largely elevated the sports photographer, now sports photographers can be personalities in their own right, whereas back in the day it was just about the photograph making the back page, social media has now given a platform for photographers to be known and celebrated for their work.

We have entered an era of instant consumption, where more content is required faster and faster. This may either squeeze the creativity out the sports photographer or either increase the need for more photographers to meet this particular demand.

What is the ownership structure of your photographs for sports teams and publications?

Limited rights! limited rights! The nature of the game of photographs Is that unless you are commissioned, never sell off your ownership to the next party, rather give them limited rights that outline what the image can be used for. Any additional usage must be applied for and negotiated again separately. i.e a publication will get rights for limited usage.

What happens when an image you took gets picked up for marketing purposes by a brand or broadcaster, how are the image rights distributed amongst the various rights holders?

I believe this is covered in the point above, its all about selling yourself as a photographer and selling your value, ultimately whoever wants to utilise my images would need to state their intended usage and we can determine which rights we are transferring at what cost.

My ultimate desire however is to never fully relinquish ownership of any of images, I may grant exclusive usage for a determined period but ultimately retain the copyright and hopefully this is something my family can utilised to their benefit long after I'm gone and the images live forever.