My name is Dave Holland and I shoot winter sports. I’ve been to three Winter Olympics and Paralympics as well as countless world cups and world championships. My daily life is at the Canadian Sport Institute Alberta, the training centre for most Olympic and Paralympic winter athletes at some point.
Whether it is the bright lights of competition or the daily grind of training, the Sony a9III and the 300mm f/2.8 GM are a killer combination in my daily work as a sports photographer. I couldn’t be happier with the a9III and 300mm. This combination performs in virtually any condition, indoors, outdoors, and even in the freezing cold, ensuring I go home with the photos I expect.
One challenge common to most winter sports is that the athletes wear helmets, cages, goggles, sunglasses, buffs, hoods and even motorcycle helmets. This is where the real-time recognition autofocus helps capture images when you only have one chance at it.
Many training venues can be challenging to work in. The Ice House, the bobsleigh training facility in Calgary, has a mix of lighting, including some daylight and a mix of new LED and old mercury vapour lights. This is where the world’s first global shutter system shines, taking care of that annoying light flicker from your images.
These darker training environments also benefit from 5-axis image stabilization, which allows you to use slower shutter speeds at high ISOs. I frequently shoot at ISO 6400 and 800th of a second, which I try not to go below.
At the 2024 Youth Winter Olympics in Korea I was fortunate to work with pre-production models of the a9III and the 300mm lens together. What a superb setup for hockey, figure skating and curling. The autofocus was snappy and the images had that crispness that only Sony cameras make.
At major events where there is often only one chance to get the photo, you want the best equipment for the job. It may be the big save or the moment of victory, which is why I rely on the Sony a9III and the amazing line of lenses.
About Dave Holland – Visit Website
I am a Calgary-based Olympic and Paralympic sport and athlete photographer working out of the Canadian Sport Institute Calgary. I am privileged and grateful to work with Canada’s best elite amateur athletes on a daily basis, helping to raise their profiles in an ever-crowded online world. There is nothing I’d rather do!
The home for Canadian elite athlete images is Canadian Sport Institute Calgary Photos. This image bank allows athletes access to their photos, free for them to use on social media and their websites. Images are available to the mainstream media as well as national sport organizations at a modest price. It’s a work-in-progress at the moment so please be patient with it.
I’m proud to have been part of Team Canada at the inaugural World Photographic Cup and to bring home the gold medal in the Reportage category, Canada’s first and lone gold medal at the prestigious competition. I won the category with this photo of John Kucera competing the Super-G at Lake Louise.
I’ve become a full-time Sony Alpha shooter. Love the cameras and lenses and am happy I made the switch from Canon. There is a certain crispness to the images, and what really matters is at the end of the day I get more keepers.
Image Credits: Dave Holland
