I Love Change

I have been a professional photographer for over 45 years, creating different visual content for various clients, and I have seen many shifts in the industry. My photography has also metamorphosed from film photography to digital photography, videography, 360 still, and video. (See more at https://nickdidlick.com)

Alpha Sports Pro is about the industry change from Single Lens Reflex cameras to Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras and now to Sony Professional Mirrorless cameras and my love of sports photography and photography in general.

I started my career in 1976 at a small weekly newspaper in Haney, British Columbia (now called Maple Ridge). I hung onto my camera straps and went on a lifetime adventure that has taken me to over fifty countries, six continents, and various assignments.

I have worked staff jobs at UPC (United Press International), Reuters News Pictures based in Brussels and London, The Vancouver Sun, and the National Post.

I have covered Royal Tours, Olympics, Super Bowls, Stanley Cup Finals, Super Power Summits, human-made and natural disasters, riots, and other conflicts from bases in Canada and Europe. I have been fortunate enough to have my photography on the front pages of the world’s major newspapers and magazines, including the International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, The Times of London, The Sydney Morning Herald and Stern, Time, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, and Rolling Stone Magazines.

In 1994 I was the change leader in converting two newspapers to an all-digital workflow with an NC2000 camera (News Camera 2000), the world’s first news organization to make the complete conversion.

I left newspapers and wire service work in 2001, and in the ensuing years, I have been an Editorial and Commercial Photographer, Videographer, and Visual Media Consultant.

In 1995 I was a consultant to Kodak, and at meetings in the once-famous Kodak Park, Rochester, a Kodak Digital Camera Engineer told me about the possibilities of capturing high-speed images in full resolution without the use of a Mirror and Shutter.

That camera we talked about back then was a low-resolution camera compared to today’s modern DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras and had the possible cost of over $100,000.00 per camera. Now 20 years later, that conversation that Kodak Engineer and I chatted about came to fruition when Sony announced the Alpha 9 (a9) on April 19th, 2017, in a World Wide announcement in New York.

This website is about the following change in digital photography, which I have been waiting for since 1996. But it is also about my love of sports photography, and the name comes from one of my favorite Sports Photo Agencies, AllSport.

Allsport photography agency was started in 1968 by sports photographer Tony Duffy, and I worked as a Reuters photographer all over the world with their photographers Steve and Mike Powell, David Cannon, Bob Martin, Mike King, Simon Bruty, Gray Mortimore, Mike Stahlschmidt, Jonathan Daniel and Pascal Rondeau.

Allsport was the world’s most respected sports photo agency until its acquisition by Getty Images in 1998. I still see many former Allsport colleagues on the sidelines, moats, and courts of today’s major sporting events.

“I am Mirrorless.”

Photography is constantly evolving; have a look at some of its history:
1490 – Camera Obscura
1840 – The invention of the Negative
1839 – The word “Photography” comes from the Greek word PHOS-GRAPHE = Light and Drawing
1885 – Roll Film invented by Kodak
1925 – The 35mm Lecia 1
1949 – Single Lens Reflex Cameras (SLR) enter production
1957 – The world’s first Digital Scan
1975 – First Digital Camera Invented
1990’s – Digital Cameras become commonplace
1994 – AP-Kodak-Nikon Introduce the NC 2000 (DSLR) Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera
2000 – The world’s first camera phones and DSLR professional photography becomes the norm in Photojournalism.
2017 – Sony introduces a Professional High-Speed Mirrorless camera, the Alpha a9

Mirrorless cameras have been around since 2004 and use an Electronic View Finder (EVF) to allow the photographer to see what the Sensor sees without a mirror and a pentaprism. The sensors in mirrorless cameras can also capture an image without the need for a shutter curtain.

Mirror and Shutter mechanisms have been at the heart of cameras and photography for the last 68 years; the Alpha a9 changes that for Professional Photojournalists and Sports Photographers.

The Sony Alpha 1 shoots fifty-megabyte files silently at 30 Frames Per Second using an electronic shutter while making Autofocus calculations at more than 60 times a second without needing a Mirror or Mechanic Shutter.

This next evolution in photography, just as that Kodak engineer had imagined it back in 1996, is just the beginning of this photographic evolution of change.

Photographs are about moments made with light; these new sensor technologies will allow us to capture more high-resolution images silently than we have ever seen.

The world is ever-changing, and we have experienced years of evolutionary change. As hunters and gatherers in prehistoric times, we were hardwired to notice the motion for hunting and safety. But today, as consumers of visual media, movement is eye candy. As Photojournalists and Sports Photographers, we pursue new graphical images to deliver to our audiences.

Change is intimidating, but learning and mastering new techniques is a fantastic motivator. I always think of the quote, “If it doesn’t kill you, it will make your stronger”.

We are only at the beginning of this shift with high-speed Mirrorless Cameras. And just like the days of AllSport, where compelling Sports Imagery was at the center of the photographs they captured, this change is exciting.

This website AlphaSports.Pro hopes to embrace this new technology and capture compelling images like AllSport did for nearly 30 years.

Nick Didlick – April 2023

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