Michelle VanTine has been a full-time photographer since 2008, working all over the US and in the UK. The main focus of her work is creating scroll-stopping images for amazing brands and amazing people. She is known for creating images that increase visibility, communicate high quality, and cuts through the noise working with sports brands and athlete portraits. Having been an athlete all her life, including NCAA Division 1 Rowing in College, it’s been natural progress that her art degree and her love for athletics led her into sports photography. Named #5 of “Top Sports Photographers in Miami” in 2019 and #4 in 2021- she was honored to be the only female on the list both years. She is based in Miami and continues to work with athletes and brands to deliver beautiful, strong images.
“Always shoot for highlights!”
As a child growing up in Montreal, it was soon obvious what I would be when I was older. My mother tells the story that when we walked to the grocery store, which was only four short blocks away, it took a serious 15-20 minutes as I would point out every flower pushing through the cracked pavements and other peculiar objects which caught my eye that could just NOT go unnoticed. Georgia O’Keeffe aptly states: “Nobody sees a flower – really – it is so small it takes time – we haven’t time – and to see takes time.” When I think back, “seeing” was a notable part of what I did in my free time.
I grew up in an urban neighborhood in Montreal. We lived in a busy street with lots of traffic and hubbub.
I observed people running frantically from my bedroom window to catch the city bus, walking in and out of the grocery across the street, or strolling leisurely to the park down the block. In the summer, I was perched on the highest branch of the apple tree in our backyard, and people watched.
I remember the old Italian men sitting on their porches with their wrinkled faces and gnarled hands eating pizzelles. In the winter, I sat on the heater under my room’s frosted window and watched people scurrying about. I just saw things. Always.
In middle school and high school, I discovered sports. It was not long until I was on the school team and city clubs for everything from swimming to volleyball. You could say I was a ‘jock.’ I practiced after school on weekdays, and I competed on weekends. When I wasn’t doing sports, I was doing art. I remember taking the aptitude test in a high school computer class where students answered a series of questions, and the software suggested possible careers for you. Needless to say, I did not receive the result of “professional sports photographer” (it was the 90s, after all, I got teacher and nurse!), but looking back, sports photography would have been the logical match.
College came along, and to no one’s surprise, I enrolled as an art major at the University of Central Florida and rowed on the crew team my freshman year as an NCAA Division 1 athlete. This is where I discovered photography. As part of our course work, we learned film photography. In my senior year, I even had a job as the darkroom attendant: monitoring students and helping if they had any difficulties with their prints. I shot with my grandma’s A-1 Canon camera, which I, to this day, sits on my studio desk. And In 2008, I resigned from my “9-5” job and LLC’ed my photography company.
In the last thirteen years, I’ve had the pleasure of shooting a wide range of work. I’ve shot everything from diplomatic weddings on DC rooftops to skincare lines at ULTA Beauty and food styling for brands such a Benihana. There’s never a dull moment. But, when pressed to choose, I always say that sports photography is my favorite thing to shoot. I know the athlete– the adrenaline rush as they push to the finish line and the satisfying relief on the other side of it. Visually, I love the movement. Movement and color are the key pillars of my work. I love how hair wraps around the face when a boxer takes a swing or the lines that trace down the arms when a swimmer pulls through the water. It’s so fast and unpredictable. It’s a thrill to capture moments of pain and victory in a split second, just at the right time.
I’ve found myself in precarious situations at times shooting sports. For example, I photographed the Jai Alai team in Miami, made famous by the documentary “Magic City Hustle.” Jai Alai is a sport where the athletes, mostly former NFL and MLB players, whip a ball three-quarters the size of a baseball and harder than a golf ball 300 km/hr towards a wall. When I was not getting just the right angle, I halted the volley.
I told the manager, “I want to shoot from there, facing the athletes,” and pointed to the wall.
“You can’t!” he retorted, seemingly amused I would even think that.
“Why not?”
“If the ball hits you, you’ll end up in the hospital.”
“Well, they’re precise- they won’t hit me; I could wear a helmet!”
“We couldn’t even legally.”
“Well, what if you stepped out of the room to take a quick call?”
Soon enough, I found myself, helmet on, crouched in a corner with balls flying around me at terrifying speeds.
But I got the EXACT shot I wanted.
Another time, I found myself sitting back against the tennis net facing Robing Soderling. He was formally rated #4 in tennis singles and the first player to defeat Rafael Nadal at the French Open. When I was photographing his serve, his swing was so fast that my eye could barely track it. I had to time the shot from what I thought was the peak of his extension and push the trigger, allowing for the time between my brain saying “now” and my finger pressing the shutter to be fast enough to match his swing.
The stories could continue, but they can be summarized by one of my personal life quotes, “If you can’t beat the fear; just do it scared.”
As far as gear selection, the assignment I’m on often plays a role in what I can and can’t use.
For my camera body, I have Canon’s new mirrorless R5. I hesitated about the upgrade from my Mark IV, which performed phenomenally, but I must say, it did not disappoint! The sharpness, focusing, and image stabilization on it is remarkable. Additionally, it has the ability to take 12 frames per second which is very useful. There are jobs such as when I shoot for the Spartan or Tough Mudder races that I’m not allowed to use external lighting. Thousands of racers fly through obstacles, and we are asked, as much as we can, to capture every single one for a shooting day that ranges from 5 to 12+ hours.
Often “teams” run together, bringing 8 to 12 people by your lens, full speed, and I have to tack them and pick them off with my trigger one by one like a snipper would. Having smart and fast gear makes a big difference in the field. My ideal set up though is shooting methodically and precisely with external lighting.
Many of my sports clients, such as boxing powerhouse Tapout Fitness or individual portrait athletes, allow me to do this.
I shoot with Godox strobes; the AD 600BM, and the AD400 Pro. I love cross lighting. I often place one light behind the subject at a 45-degree angle and the other in front. The light from behind wraps around the edge of their body, creating a crisp rim light on their muscles and hair. Then, I place it at a 45-degree angle with the front strobe and create dimension and shape. My favorite lens to use for sports is the 70-200mm 2.8, which is remarkably crisp and has this beautiful softness for the backgrounds.
I also use my 16-35mm a lot in sports when it’s a wide image with an important background, such as for golf, boxing, or OCR racing, where the context ads to the shot. I love laying on the floor with that lens and shooting up; it gives athletes a ‘larger than life’ look with the natural distortion of the lens. Occasionally, I will use my 24-70mm 2.8 if I need quick versatility, the ability to move out for a wide shot, and in for a portrait quickly. It’s a great all-purpose lens when I have to move a lot and have access to a wide range of compositions. I employ a range of softboxes based on how much I prioritize portability vs. diffusion functionality. When I have to shoot mid-day in the hot sun, I take everything off the strobe and shoot bare bulb. In order to get the sky not to be blown out, I have to produce the same amount of light with my strobes as the bright midday sun, so I just go full blast.
It gives a bright, crisp commercial look which I love, and as any good photographer knows, “Always shoot for highlights!”
“If you can’t beat the fear; just do it scared.”
Being a female sports photographer has its challenges at times. Occasionally, I have to come up against biases and preconceptions as a I step on the often all-male team. I’ve had demeaning comments like, “Go to the finish line and shoot- you can be the reward for the racers” Or, “Do you even know how to change your shutter speed?” (To which I retorted, “Yes, I can build a working camera with an oatmeal box, can you?”). When I shot the Miami Marathon in 2018, it was 22 male photographers and me: it’s not always like that, but it’s a commonplace that I’m the only female on the teams. Sometimes, I mentally prepare myself before starting a job and decide to overlook the ignorance in advance. Over the years, I’ve had to learn the art of letting comments not bother me and let my work win their respect. It’s not always this way, though. Most of the time, my peers include me as ‘one of the guys,’ offering me a Budweiser and something greasy I would never eat after the race while we talk shop. In the beginning, I had to field more bias, but as I have been in the industry for a few years now, my peers have become great friends and extremely supportive of me and my career. I’ve been grateful to so many sports brands that gave me a shot based on my work and my work alone.
I had the honor last year of being assigned an enormous sports contract for APTA (American Physical Therapy Association) celebrating their centennial. I put out some work for C4 Energy and Fox Ultimate that got raving feedback. It would be easy to assume that a woman, especially someone that looks like I do, would not be able to produce strongly masculine, gritty, and edgy work- and some people still do make those assumptions- but other times, I’m given the opportunity to create that type of imagery. I’m grateful every time I can break a stereotype.
Although I’ve had a few years and some big wins under my belt, I feel that I’m just getting started in the sports world, and I look forward to a long and illustrious career.
