All sports photographers have only one goal – to capture a moment that would last a lifetime, a photo that transcends a message to the people who will be looking at it. Sports photography has become the face of the reality of sports. It has been the mirror of many victories and success, as well as the agony of failures and defeats. With all the moments, there is an eye that sees what others cannot. As every great person starts in a humble beginning, same goes with Bob Martin.

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The bright green and gold of the Socceroos fans automatically draw you into the exhilaration felt by the crowd after the Socceroos vs The All Whites World Cup match on May 24th, 2010. The final score was met with excitement after the first quarter team was booed off the field. Brett Holland scored the final buzzer-beating goal making the final score 2-1.

2010 FIFA Australia v New Zealand World Cup Pre-Tournament Match – Images by Shawn Smith

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You know you’re good at what you do (in this case, taking photos) when well-known publications like Sports Illustrated (SI) trust you to take pictures of big-shot sports superstars (Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, and Michael Jordan among some).

Walter worked for SI for more than 20 years. From that, we can deduce that Walter truly has the talent and passion for what he does; because you can’t shoot the same athletes and same kind of events for more than two decades, and still be able to produce out-of-the-ordinary results every single time, if you don’t have the skill, and more importantly, the heart to do the job. Walter is so good at what he does that more than 300 of his photos were used as SI covers.

One of his most remarkable photos that he took for Michael Jordan, where the legendary basketball hero was dunking a ball amidst…

“Someone once said that wherever I am is the perfect picture. I didn’t like the way it sounded but I believe that. It’s not that I’m positive of it deep down inside, it’s that I have to believe it. When you make that decision – ‘This is the place to go’ – you’ve got to live with it. There’s no alternative.”

That’s what Walter Iooss said when he was asked about his long, successful career. And true enough, the perfect shot always seem to follow Walter, wherever he may be—the fact that more than 300 of his shots were used as covers for Sports Illustrated magazines is more than enough proof.

Decades ago, when Walter was a teen, he couldn’t imagine life beyond the playground games he used to play–not knowing that someday he will photograph kids who also can’t (or simply don’t) imagine life beyond the street games they play.

Walter was born in Temple, Texas, but moved to East…

This is part of a NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) 2009 show reel for the new HD, high speed camera system from I-Movix. It’s the only true HD 1000fps broadcast capable camera in the market. This thing blows the doors to creativity wide open. That’s especially true in the world of sports where all of the interesting stuff takes place in a fraction of a second.

Can you imagine what will happen when they have one of these at every game? All of those can’t miss moments will be recorded in perfect slow motion at a ridiculously high resolution. T.V. stations will start building up huge archives of the most important ones. I don’t know. When I saw this video and how creatively it was done, it truly has made me see the huge potential digital video has in the future.

Pretty soon, the amateur videographer will be able to do as much as a professional, and for a…

At the end of each season, the NBL awards those who have produced the best pieces of media for the year. The awards range from Best Feature Article, Best Photograph – Action, Best Photograph – Non-Action, Best Television Feature Story, Best Television News Story, Best Radio Presentation Package and Best Radio News Package. The two which are specifically for photography are Best Action and Best Non-Action photograph.

We’re very excited to have been picked for this year’s awards. Frankly, we’re as shocked about the award as we are about the actual photos themselves. Who would ever have thought that dunk could have turned out so amazing? You never plan for these things. You just set up your equipment, get there for the moment, and press the shutter during that fraction of a second when it needs to be pressed.

Anyway, here’s what the NBL had to say about us:

So without further ado I give you winners, both courtesy of Blinq Photography. Congrats Shawn…

I’ve been thinking a lot about moments. I can’t stress how much of photography has to do with the moment. You can get all of the right equipment, the best flashes, a team to manage everything in the background, but if the moment doesn’t happen, well… it just doesn’t happen. So here’s my philosophy. Do take the time to get setup for everything, but focus on the moment. Where do you think the big moment of the night is going to happen? Get ready for that, and you just might get lucky enough to get a shot like this.

So if you aren’t fortunate enough to go to tonight’s NBL game between the South Dragons and…

We were lucky enough to get access to some of the best NBL basketball players for season 2008/09. We were commissioned to shoot 8 guys and the brief was totally up to us – something that rarely happens.

The team that was assembled was a hair and make-up artist, 1 lighting genius and who could have forgotten the fantastic assistants. The next was to start scouting out our locations around the city. This was central to all the players given that some of them were staying in the hotel around the corner.

I woke to a fairly mild Sunday morning in Melbourne. Over the last 2 weeks we had prepared our shoot schedule to coincide with players flights and other requirements. That included working with General Managers, Team Managers and the players themselves – not a small a job.

First two players up were a visiting team who had played the night before – I’m not going to mention any names here. However, they never showed up. We called just about…