Donald Miralle

Looking through the Pictures of the Year
website, I found another interesting photographer by the name of Donald Miralle. There are multiple things that came out through his work that instantly hit me. Color in his images just really pop, he really has a great eye for balance within the composition. Balance as in color is what i'm getting at right now. I feel its important within an image to have those splashes of color that draw the viewers eye. It may be easier these days, as sports uniforms are getting more colorful and crazy, but there are so many places from a sporting event you can grab color from, whether its the crowd, the gatorade cooler on the sidelines of the football game, the light-show before the big game. Color just surrounds us, and I feel its the job of the photographer to take this world filled with chaos and color, and organizing them within a composition so that its balanced, and orchestrated. Where the color appears and the focus can say a lot about how the photo will be seen. You may not want bright colors in the background of a f2.8 photograph, the color may be distracting. The photographer really does compose the world around them, from the angle they're shooting, the lens, lighting situations, so many aspects affect the outcome of the final image.

More into the actual photographer, I wanted to discuss one of his images specifically. Because I couldn't find a name, I'll just call it "USC Receiver 82", there is so many qualities that make this a great photograph. First and foremost, the lighting makes this image. Really the situation of this lighting is great timing and an accident simultaneously. The player is leaping into the air to catch a ball thrown into the end zone. At the same time, theres a beam of sunlight peaking through the clouds, which you really can't plan for, when you're following a sporting event. I would almost say the photo was destiny, where it was supposed to be taken. Its almost an act of divinity, the photograph embodies the emotion of sports, at the same time, the light passing through the class could signify a deity. The photo resembles a Simon Bruty photo from one of my previous posts, which showed the tennis player playing amongst the light. The light also plays a role to soften the background, where the audience awaits the play, sitting in the shade, as the USC player basks in the sunlight, while making an athletic move. This is one of those images that, to me, becomes one of those notorious photographs of its time, like Muhammah Ali standing above his knocked out opponent. Its timeless, it shows the emotion, action, and the tradition of sports.

There was another image of his that I specifically liked, the frame is taken underwater, I'm assuming Miralle is underwater, but at the same time, it could possibly be a remote camera, if you can use a remote camera underwater, that I have no idea. The frame is filled with a blue hue that resembles the water you'd see in a photo of the Caribbean. An olympic diver cuts through the water like a hot knife through butter. I know, what an unoriginal metaphor, but whatever. The trail of oxygen (i guess thats what it is), follows behind the diver. The image gives the diver a special presence, as if they have supernatural powers. It just amazes me how you can give different perceptions of an object or person, simple by shooting different situations. Obviously shooting people diving into the water has been done before, but the framing and timing of the photograph gives this genre of photograph a completely different feel. You almost forget the person is a swimming, and begin to believe the flying. The texture of the water, lighting, hue, is all present within the sky, given the situation, so its really not so far to imagine, besides that fact we can't fly. Looking through Donald Miralle's photography just makes me think, there are so many photographs out there to take than what we typically see in sports, so much more going on. Really, its just about the journey, continuous searching of "that photograph", much like the surfer is always looking for that wave of his life. As a photographer, I just need to keep searching and shooting, it will all fall into place.