After my shoot with Howard Shu, the country’s number-one ranked mens badminton player and, as of this week, first time Olympian, he asked me if Instagram annoyed professional photographers because everyone now thinks they’re a photographer. I thought about it for a second and, without going into the myriad ways the digital revolution has positively and negatively affected my industry and people’s perception of photography, told him that it was probably similar to everyone he’s ever met who’s played a drunken game of backyard badminton telling him they’re also pretty good at the game. I think he got my point.
Unfortunately, like cell phone photography, I think backyard badminton is probably the extent of most Americans’ experience with this sport, which hasn’t had much in the way of mainstream success here as it has in other countries, such as China, Korea, Britain and Sweden to name a few. So it was an exciting opportunity for me when I recently got to enter the real world of competitive badminton to photograph Shu for the Wall Street Journal‘s ongoing “What’s in Your Bag?” series. The shoot took place on a Monday morning at the Los Angeles Badminton Club in El Monte, about 18 miles east of downtown LA. A cavernous gymnasium with fluorescent lighting, it was a difficult location to light, but I had fun shooting a variety of portraits, details of the contents of his travel bag, and him practicing with his training partner, as other club members played and practiced on neighboring courts. He was a nice guy and very easy to work with. According to the article, the U.S. has never won a medal in the sport, which is largely dominated by China, but I’ll be sure to watch this week and am wishing them the best. Click below to see a few more photos from the shoot!
David Zentz is an editorial and commercial portrait and documentary photographer based in Los Angeles, Calif. For bookings reach him at dz@davidzentz.com.