Behind The Scenes: The Life Of A Superliga Photographer
A lot of football happens outside of what we see for 90 minutes on the pitch. This is one of a series of ‘Behind The Scenes’ articles where I attempt to uncover some of the lesser known parts of the Danish game.
For the lucky few of us to be there when amazing things happen in football, the memories are indelibly imprinted into our brains. For everyone else, photographer Lars Rønbøg is there on the sidelines right across the country, capturing the highs and the lows of the Superliga through incredible pictures. I caught up with him to discover more about life behind the lens of a sports photographer…
How did you get into sports photography?
I am from a football family, so when I got into photography in the mid 80s it was natural that the first roll of film I made was football photos. Then in mid-90s I got a place at the Danish School of Journalism in Aarhus. It was my plan the whole time to go into sports photography so when I graduated in ‘98 I immediately started with cycling, football and handball. I actually did my first Superliga game in ‘94 but only covered a few each year, especially AGF and Silkeborg, whilst I was studying. At first, I was very much into cycling, I covered the Tour de France and all the classics, where I was traveling for 100 days a year, with some football inbetween. But for the last 15 years it has been very much football and now it is almost exclusively football.
Dancing through the defence: Anthony Jung goes on a dribble for Brønbdy (Photo: Lars Rønbøg)
How do you decide which games to cover and what are the logistics like of travelling around the country?
My colleague and I have a contract with Getty Images, who have various clients in Denmark including six Superliga clubs: FC København, Brøndby, AaB, Randers, FC Midtjylland and AGF. So we have to shoot those six teams each weekend and I tend to cover ⅔ of them, including all of the big games. Last week we got the dates and times for the first seven rounds of the season confirmed so I’m already planning the logistics. It means being on the road constantly, especially in July and August with all the European games, so I am often away 5 or 6 days a week during that time. I calculated my mileage last year and I covered 43,000KM just for work! Although that’s lower than it has been in previous years.
What does a typical matchday look like for you?
The nearest Superliga stadium is 1hr away from where I am and I normally arrive about 2hrs before kick off to set up the laptop, connect to the WIFI, then go out and shoot the game. For the past 4-5 years we have been able to send photos directly from camera to Getty. The clubs need these photos fast, if there’s a goal for example. It’s no longer shooting, shooting, shooting then at half time sorting through them and sending, it’s shooting and constantly looking for photos to transmit. It can be a little stressful from time to time as sometimes I have 200 photos from a goal and celebration for example, but it’s quite easy to know which one is the picture.
Are there any grounds that are particularly challenging to get good photos at?
AC Horsens’ stadium is architecturally beautiful with the roof, but for me the background is what I look for most with my pictures and at Horsens there are two-metre-tall commercials in the background which is not pretty and doesn’t make for great pictures. When I look at Premier League photos it’s almost only fans in the background which makes for a nice and clean background.
It’s all in the backdrop: Horsens’ advertising boards dominating the background (Photo: Lars Rønbøg)
Do you know the moment you’ve captured something amazing or is it only afterwards when you’re processing the photos that you realise? The Khouma Babacar celebration photo from last season for example.
With the Babacar photo I realised it at once because he came over to celebrate right where I was placed. I could have been over the other side of the goal and it wouldn’t have been a good photo, but he came over to me and was screaming at the fans behind so I knew it would be a good photo. In fact that picture was actually an exception as I do not normally stand in that spot. My colleague was meant to be covering the match so I just went for the second half to shoot some different stuff to normal and it just happened.
Right place, right time: Khouma Babacar’s emotion is captured on camera (Photo: Lars Rønbøg)
There was also the photo of Pep Biel scoring at Brondby, where the ball went right into the very top corner. I knew I had something when I pushed the button but it was only afterwards that I saw I had captured the exact moment where the ball was placed at the intersection of the bar and the post.
Timing is everything: Pep Biel’s precise ‘postage stamp’ finish in the derby (Photo: Lars Rønbøg)
How do you decide where to set up for a match?
I try to find the best background, whether there is sun or shadow, and I try to shoot mostly against the sun, with a dark stand to create a clean background. Of course I also have to try and place myself in the best spot to capture the team who is the Getty client which is just a reality of the job. For the Euros last summer you had to decide a spot before the game and stay there and for the Denmark v Finland game I was among the last to pick. The spot ended up being about 15 metres from where Christian Eriksen suffered his heart attack. I have a few photos of the incident but I’ll never release them, I don’t think it’s right that they go out to the public. But that’s a decision you have to make in a split decision at the time.
Which is your favourite stadium or team to photograph?
FC København and Brøndby - I think because they have the biggest fanbase there are always a lot of people in the stadium so it makes for nice pictures. I don’t want empty seats in the background! They also play good football so the 90 minutes are packed with action.
Spilling over: tensions flare during the Copenhagen derby (Photo: Lars Rønbøg)
Are there any unwritten laws between photographers at a game?
There’s an official rule that you never go onto the pitch. Especially after the game there are often new photographers running onto the pitch but you have to stay out. Then there are rules where if you have 3, 4, 5 photographers in a row you have to place yourselves so everyone has a clear view of goal. Again that is something new photographers often get wrong. Everyone needs good pictures so we have to stay clear of each other.
Over the course of your career which is the single biggest game changing bit of technology or kit?
For me as a sports photographer it’s the ability to transmit photos from the camera. The other thing is that TV has become so important, that for me as a sports photographer it’s difficult to make something better than what they can do. They have 12-14 cameras, capturing the game from every angle, so it’s almost impossible to create something better than that. As a result, I try not only to catch the action on the pitch but also shoot pictures that involve fans or players doing interesting things from different angles.
Given how important they are to the backdrop of your pictures, how has the spectacle of supporters changed over the past years?
I think it has become more and more professional, if you can use that expression. With tifos for example and singing, not just sometimes, but almost constantly through a game. I remember a game in 1993 where Dortmund came to play at Brøndby and the BVB fans were singing throughout the match - I was really impressed by that. But it’s kind of the same in Denmark now, and with the addition of pyros, which are used not just at the start as the players are coming out but also during the game. It feels like something inspired from Greece, Turkey or South America.
Heating up: Brøndby’s Sydsiden erupts with noise, flags and pyro (Photo: Lars Rønbøg)
Northern lights: FC København’s Sektion 12 in full voice (Photo: Lars Rønbøg)
How has nature of your work changed over the years?
Things become old news very quickly. Even a game that was played two hours ago is old news now. It’s not like before where you look forward to the next day to see the analysis. As soon as a game is done, everyone moves on to the next one. It’s a little bit depressing for me as a photographer as my pictures get old extremely quickly.
It’s almost a mirror of society in that respect right? The relentless focus on the new.
Yes exactly. Take Twitter for example, you read something and straight away you move on. It’s depressing but it’s also one of the things that pushes me to try to make something better. If you fail or get something wrong at the game at 2 o’clock you can try again to make it better at the game at 6 o’clock. So it goes both ways in a sense.
Has that shift altered the type of photos you take?
For the clubs it’s extremely important to get happy pictures, so I’m of course looking at celebrations of both fans and players. A few years ago you could settle with a good action picture. Now you have to really focus on capturing emotion, attitude, the expressions on players’ faces.
Full of emotion: Tosin Kehinde is all smiles as he celebrates for Randers (Photo: Lars Rønbøg)
Do you have a photo you’re most proud of?
No, I’m not that kind of photographer where I keep my best shots in a folder or on the wall. Whenever people ask me for something for an article for example, I have to dig into old folders and look. I can’t say ‘this is the best picture’, that’s for other people to decide.
Given how much time you spend at football matches are you still able to watch football for pleasure or do you have to completely switch off from it?
I find myself watching less and less as time goes on. The exception is when Denmark are playing away games, but I don’t even think I watched the Champions League final. That’s probably because I’m covering 120-130 games a year. When I watch a game I often watch it through the eyes of a photographer and sometimes I’ll even follow the Getty feed as I’m watching a game to see what is being captured from the incidents. I actually checked the feed for the Champions League final even though I didn’t watch the game and before it had ended there were already 3,000 pictures from the match. It was kind of overwhelming. Where do you even start?
I read a statistic the other day that 98% of photos taken nowadays are only seen once. For you that must be more like 99.9%!
A month ago at one game I counted all the cards from the camera and how many photos I took. It wasn’t one of the big games and I’d taken 6,500 pictures, of which I only use 100…so 1.5%. That’s what comes from shooting 30 pictures a second - a few years ago the older cameras could only shoot 12 pictures a second.
When it comes to photography outside of sport is it something you enjoy or have you had enough of photography through your job?
I really enjoy it. When I get the opportunity to shoot other stuff it’s great - last week I shot a fashion conference which was completely different work for me. I did a thing for Brøndby recently too where their sponsors were out playing golf and I enjoyed that very much too.
Fire and ice: fans relax in a hot tub during Hobro v FCK (Photo: Lars Rønbøg)
Which club has the best food for the press?
That’s easy - Silkeborg have a press buffet which is fantastic. Aalborg also has quite a nice traditional offering, but everywhere else it’s sandwiches or sausages only. Before the pandemic we used to get the same food as the sponsors at Brøndby which was great but that’s changed now - sadly for us!
Do you have any relationships with players or managers as a result of your time covering the league?
Not really, I try to be a fly on the wall, so I don’t talk to players or managers or anything. Of course, I do know some of the managers but I want to be separate and not interrupt. When I was covering cycling it was the complete opposite, I was so close to the riders and I’m still in contact with many of them today. In football, 48hrs before the game you can’t talk to anyone in order to not disturb them, it’s completely different. I don’t want too much contact because if it becomes too friendly it spoils the pictures, it stops it being real photojournalism where they don’t see me but I see them.
If you were to go back to yourself in ‘98, coming out of the Danish School of Journalism what advice would you give yourself?
To pay attention to quality all the time. It might sound strange but don’t go into the business to make quick money, go into it to make quality pictures. You have to spend a lot of money to achieve that - both in terms of time and equipment. I have seen photographers think they can do it easily but you have to be serious and do it 100% just as if you were a footballer. If you think you can make good football pictures only by shooting two games each month, it’s just not true. You have to be there all the time to get good pictures.
On international duty: Lars captures Christian Eriksen celebrating for Denmark with a knee slide (Photo: Lars Rønbøg)
